Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06JEDDAH467
2006-07-10 13:25:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Jeddah
Cable title:  

WESTERN DIPLOMAT IN ULTRA-CONSERVATIVE ISLAMIC

Tags:  KISL KWMN PGOV PREL SA SCUL 
pdf how-to read a cable
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PP RUEHDE
DE RUEHJI #0467/01 1911325
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 101325Z JUL 06
FM AMCONSUL JEDDAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9317
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1456
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1534
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 6646
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JEDDAH 000467 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

RIYADH; PLEASE PASS TO DHAHRAN; DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP;
PARIS FOR ZEYA; LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/07/2016
TAGS: KISL KWMN PGOV PREL SA SCUL
SUBJECT: WESTERN DIPLOMAT IN ULTRA-CONSERVATIVE ISLAMIC
DRESS - A DISCONCERTING SIGHT TO SAUDIS

Classified By: Consul General Tatiana Gfoeller, for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JEDDAH 000467

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

RIYADH; PLEASE PASS TO DHAHRAN; DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP;
PARIS FOR ZEYA; LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/07/2016
TAGS: KISL KWMN PGOV PREL SA SCUL
SUBJECT: WESTERN DIPLOMAT IN ULTRA-CONSERVATIVE ISLAMIC
DRESS - A DISCONCERTING SIGHT TO SAUDIS

Classified By: Consul General Tatiana Gfoeller, for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. SUMMARY: During a visit to a small town in the Jeddah
Consular District, a female ConGenOff decided to experience
first hand what it was like to wear the most conservative
type of Muslim women's clothing. The five-piece ensemble
proved difficult to put on and extremely uncomfortable to
wear. Most astonishing was the psychological effect on both
the wearer and those who saw her. The ConGenOff noted that
she surrendered her identity even as her physical freedom was
constrained by the enveloping garments. Even more surprising
was the effect on passers-by who had stopped to watch the
transformation of a Western woman. The watchers expressed
growing discomfort as the woman disappeared under the
traditional costume and commented that her identity was being
erased before their eyes, although they were accustomed by
tradition to accept the eradication of individuality among
local women. END SUMMARY.

FEMALE DIPLOMAT DONS CONSERVATIVE APPAREL


2. (C) Saudi Arabian women are known the world over for
donning conservative Islamic abayas and hijab. While perusing
the local market during a recent trip to a small town outside
of Jeddah, a female ConGenOff came across a traditional abaya
shop. With the assistance and counsel of the male
shopkeeper, she transformed herself into one of the
anonymous, faceless women draped in austere black fabric that
are readily seen on the streets of conservative towns across
Saudi Arabia.

TRADITIONAL COSTUME COMPLICATED AND UNCOMFORTABLE


3. (C) As ConGenOff learned, there are five specific steps
and corresponding pieces of clothing that an
ultra-conservative Muslim woman must follow as she dresses to
go out in public. The store salesman carefully laid out the
five pieces she would wear and began instructing her about
how and when to put them on. First, she put on a pair of

black polyester knee-high socks made in China. They are
similar to the non-descript black trouser socks worn by many
Western women, though in the scorching desert heat, they add
an uncomfortable extra layer of clothing. ConGenOff was
immediately aware that this transformational exercise was
going to prove to be most uncomfortable.


4. (C) Next, the shopkeeper handed the female officer a pair
of black polyester gloves, which she pulled up to her elbows.
With feet and hands concealed behind black fabric, the
shopkeeper then handed her a thin, long black scarf with
which she was to wrap her head. By this point, a small crowd
of locals had gathered to see what the Western woman, a rare
sight in the small market, was doing. When ConGenOff took
the scarf, one of the bystanders casually declared that it
was not necessary for her to wear the scarf if she was going
to don the abaya. Another spoke up and said that if she
wanted to be really conservative, she should wear both the
abaya and the scarf. In the middle of the debate, a Saudi
man sporting a traditional thobe and gutra added that, while
no woman in his family wears the scarf, he knew it was the
most conservative style.

INDIVIDUALITY IS THE PRICE OF MODESTY


5. (C) While the ConGenOff could have taken the slightly more
liberal (and decidedly more comfortable) route, she chose to
wear the scarf. The shopkeeper helped her wrap the long
fabric around her head such that not one strand of her blonde
hair would be seen, and then tucked it tightly under her
chin. Now she was ready for the fourth and most important
step. She pulled the long, austere black abaya from its box
and noticed the enormity of it given her petite frame. The
shopkeeper insisted that it was the correct size. She took a
moment to examine it: void of any detail, adornment, or
color, this abaya was one piece of black polyester fabric.
Unlike other abayas ConGenOff had seen in Jeddah, which
resemble robes that women put on like a button-down shirt,
this ultra-conservative abaya had no buttons or zippers and
had a built-in hood. As ConGenOff put her gloved hands
through the sleeves and pulled the abaya over her head, she
immediately understood its design. It prevents even the

JEDDAH 00000467 002 OF 002


slightest immodesty that can occur with less conservative
abayas whose snaps and buttons can expose glimpses of the
clothing underneath. She also immediately recognized how hot
and constrained she felt; how very inhuman she was becoming.

WOMEN ARE RESTRAINED AS WELL AS INVISIBLE


6. (C) More and more passersby stopped to watch ConGenOff in
the shop, their interest clearly piqued when they saw what
she was doing. The mood was friendly among those who
gathered as they sought to make their advice known. While
one man would explain how the women in his family wore it,
another would say that his family members dressed in a
slightly different way. In the fifth and final stage of her
transformation, the salesman handed ConGenOff a special veil,
also made of black polyester fabric, worn by only the most
devout, conservative Muslim women. It consists of three
pieces of fabric, all woven together. She picked up the veil
and looked to the shopkeeper for help on figuring out how to
wear it. With his counsel, she pulled the veil with narrow
cut-outs for the eyes over her head. A thicker band of fabric
was tied together by its two ends over the hood of the abaya
and at the back of ConGenOff's head. As soon as it was tied,
her eyes immediately became irritated as the fabric
surrounding the "peep hole" was pulled tautly against her
face and cut into the outside corners of her eyes. Another
thinner layer of fabric rested on top of the piece with the
eye cut-out so that her eyes could not be seen. In the end,
the salesman pulled a third chin-length piece of the veil
over her face. With three layers of unrelenting black fabric
covering her mouth, ConGenOff found it difficult to breathe
in the stifling mid-afternoon heat.

SAUDI MEN TROUBLED BY TRANSFORMATION OF WESTERN WOMAN


7. (C) Completely shrouded, ConGenOff took a look a herself
in the mirror. Any features that distinguished her were
gone. She suddenly felt what it was like to be completely
anonymous; devoid of any personal identity. These five
pieces of clothing had emotionally and physically incumbered
her, gradually and with each additional piece of material,
until she could be seen as nothing more than a walking bundle
of black cloth. Some of the male Saudi bystanders, who had
grown increasingly uncomfortable as ConGenOff put on the
clothing, were visibly upset when she was fully dressed.
"Even my sister doesn't wear this," said one Saudi man in a
quiet, troubled way. "It's like you're not you...you're not
even human." Another man in the store replied, "But this is
how it is. This is the most conservative that you can be!"


8. (C) It is likely that the men in the shop had never seen a
Western woman "transformed" in front of them, and some were
clearly uncomfortable. It is interesting that the men in the
smaller, more conservative cities of Saudi Arabia are used to
seeing women dressed like ConGenOff was that day, but somehow
seeing her disappear in the abaya and hijab in front of their
very eyes was unnerving. Some of the men began openly
questioning the whole concept of such extreme conservatism,
implying that if this dress is so incongruous on a Western
woman, maybe it's not appropriate for their wives, either.
The crowd quietly dissipated as ConGenOff began taking off
her shroud, but their faces said that they would continue to
ponder the spectacle and their thoughts about it. In the
end, ConGenOff bought all of the pieces she had tried on and,
as a gift, was given an additional no-frills black scarf with
simple threaded fringe. The salesman was quick to note to
the female officer that an ultra-conservative Saudi woman
would never wear such a pretty, immodest scarf.
Gfoeller