Judy Mandelbaum

Judy Mandelbaum
Brooklyn, New York, United States
June 01
Freelance writer, editor, and first citizen of Judy's World.

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SEPTEMBER 22, 2009 1:42PM

"Indecent acts": African women fight to dress as they choose

Rate: 12 Flag

This has been a bad summer for women in Africa – particularly for those who demand the right to dress the way they want. Back in July, journalist and UN employee Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein was arrested at a Khartoum cafe along with twelve other women and charged with wearing pants, a crime that the Sudanese penal code labels “public indecency.” Ten of the women pleaded guilty and received forty lashes in public. On top of that, they had to pay a fine of 120 dollars each. Al-Hussein, who has a reputation as a fiery women’s rights activist in her country, along with two other women insisted on going to court. The journalist even printed up 500 invitations to her trial and "my whipping." She was found guilty on September 7 and, while she escaped the lash, she was nevertheless given a choice between paying 198 dollars in fines or spending a month in jail.

Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein 
Sudanese journalist Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein

Here is the passage in the penal code that provoked her arrest:

Article 152: Obscene and Indecent Acts



Al-Hussein chose the jail time to raise awareness of the plight of women all across Africa. However, a relative of hers quickly paid her fine and she was back on the street the next day. “I told all my friends and family not to pay the fine," she told the Reuters press agency. “I am also not happy because there are more than 700 women still in the prison who have got no one to pay for them." She claims that thousands of women have been flogged for this same “offence” over the past twenty years without any international attention whatsoever.

Conditions in Uganda are, if possible, even worse. According to journalist Rebecca Harshbarger of Women's eNews, on September 11 male rioters on the outskirts of the capital Kampala began stopping women in the streets. Those wearing dresses were allowed to pass, but the men surrounded some twenty women wearing pants and forcibly stripped their clothes off their bodies in public. These women were then forced to continue on their way home dressed only in their underwear.

This action comes as part of broader social unrest in this troubled country, as tensions rise between different tribal groups and political districts within the country. The kingdom of Buganda, the largest region in Uganda with five and a half million inhabitants, is taking an increasingly aggressive stance against other regions and rejects the importation of what it sees as “Western” customs. This month, the Kayunga region declared its secession from Buganda, but not from the Republic of Uganda. When the king attempted to visit the troubled area, he was turned away, sparking more violence. At least fourteen people have died in the unrest in and around Kampala. As always in these situations, women end up at the receiving line when it comes to violence.

Ugandan woman 
Ugandan woman in traditional clothing

Women in Buganda are expected to wear long skirts. So what’s the big deal? defenders of such traditions ask. It’s just a skirt, after all. No, it’s more than just a question of choosing to wear a skirt or pants. Behind this choice stands the choice to do many other things as well: choose a partner, a career vs. (or in conjunction with) motherhood, a place of residence, a political party, a religion – in fact, just about anything that women in Western countries take for granted. Until women are granted the right to choose the clothes they wear on their backs (and over their legs), they will not be free to choose a self-determined life in dignity. But isn't that the whole purpose of women's dress codes in the first place?    

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That stories like this/these do not capture the attention (or is it the imagination) of the general public and politicians (as well as the "media") says more about "civilization" than anything else. Oh yeah. We are much more concerned about celebrities and "reality" TV. Because those things are SO important. HIGHLY rated.
What a story... I've heard nothing about this on our news shows.
Thank you for posting this. I'm constantly amazed that American news sources are normally so insular: Slate, for example, has a column called "Foreigners" where they segregate "... news beyond our borders". Out here in The Rest Of The World, we just call that "news".
I certainly agree on the importance of this issue, and also that Americans read far too little about what's going on in Africa - or anywhere else in the world.
Big bullies.
Little dicks.
This man doesn't need to control women as, I am not threatened by an assertive and independent woman.
THAT ids what this is ALL about.
They are little punks who are afraid of women and have no cofidence in their own sexuality and maleness.
As long as I treat a woman as an individual human being and with respect, I have ne need, no matter how neurotic to NOT be OK and proud of my maleness.
These little dicks do not qualify as thse who I would befriend.
We don't read about these things in the US media because there is no profit in it. When the news agencies became part of corporate America, they signed away their souls and many signed away their journalistic integrity as well.

Thanks for bringing this into the light a little bit. Off to Digg it.
I've been keeping up with al-Hussein as well as other issues regarding women's rights in Africa and throughout the world. It's sickening that this doesn't receive more (if any) media coverage while celeb-gossip and "reality tv" makes the headlines. I wish we could get the outrage over this the way apartheid received coverage in the 80s. Women's rights rarely get even a blip on the radar.
I know many Liberals find war abhorrent. But I wonder if there are situations and conditions which warrant one nation to go to war against another to stop/correct inhumane treatment of other humans?

Would all those feminists out there who protest against the military please let me know if perhaps this would justify maintaining a strong defense? Maybe not, but how about female circumcisum? Or would being stoned to death for committing adultery be enough? How about being beaten to death for not wearing the head-to-toe veils? How about just the Islamic Law directed at women? Would those actions be enough to consider war?

Or would it be better to remain silent at the horrors of Sharia law, and just suck it up? Peace at any price is such a nice goal for women to support so their sons will not have to go to war.
I think that all people can dress clothes as they want and no one can't say how to dress for them. So i do not understand they African women are different from other women? I will definitely try to find more information about this accident in your site. Thanks a lot for informing us.