Aid workers need more cultural sensitivity

Clothing worn by some foreign aid workers in conservative Afghanistan following the fall of the Taliban has been deemed inappropriate by locals in the country's capital, Kabul. "I feel ashamed when I see half naked women roaming around. I don't agree with Taliban harshness but some degree of decency is necessary," maulvi (Islamic priest), Haji Ghulam Hazrat, told IRIN in Kabul. Under the hard-line rule of the Taliban, Afghan women were required to wear the all-enveloping burka. Foreign women would observe the strict dress rules by covering their heads with a scarf and wore Shalwar Khameez (a long baggy tunic and baggy trousers). Hazrat said it was the responsilbility of the new government to ensure that a strict dress code was adhered to. "Islam does not allow obscenity and even non-Muslims should respect that," he maintained. Commenting on the issue, he said female journalists and aid workers were seen wearing tight fitting western clothes. The need to respect dress codes in the Islamic nation was echoed by aid worker and consultant, Chris Johnson, a British national who has lived and worked in Afghanistan for the past six years. "Security can be undermined by dressing inappropriately, particularly for women who travel alone," she warned. "It is also important for men to pay respect to culture in Afghanistan," she added, saying that some people deemed it highly inappropriate for men to be dressed in shorts. Lars Grebius, the regional director of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) in the deeply conservative central Afghan province of Ghazni, has been living in the country for the past three years. He chose to adopt traditional clothes to facilitate his work. "I always wear the local dress to show respect to the Afghan culture," he told IRIN. "When I am on the street, I use a head scarf. There is a lot of staring either way. It's more curiosity rather than anger or hatred," Alison Gardner, an American consultant to the International NGO, CARE, told IRIN. "It's more conservative than Sudan where women used to cover their heads," she added. "My impression is that Afghan culture means different things to different people," Gardner explained. Another female aid worker felt that dressing appropriately was a great benefit in being able to work more efficiently. "We have to be sensitive to the Afghan culture. If the people feel that you are part of their culture, you have more acceptance," project manager of the women's programme for CARE, Awadia Muhammad of Sudanese decent, told IRIN. "The Taliban hangover is still around and they think that people should stick to a certain kind of dress," she added. Muhammad also cited incidents where stones were thrown at aid workers in the streets of Kabul due to inappropriate dress. Meanwhile, in the southern city of Kandahar, which is far more conservative than Kabul, female aid workers stressed the need to dress in the right way. "Young female staff in particular are wearing tight trousers and tight short shirts and it is an embarrassment, an aid worker who didn't want to be named, said. "This kind of dress is simply unacceptable here and they should be warned of what the consequences could be," he added. "As a female foreigner you attract a lot of attention, and in a place where you see few women and those you do see wear a burkha - it seems appropriate to wear long baggy clothes," aid worker for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Jalpa Ratna of Indian origin, in Kandahar, told IRIN. Commenting on the more positive attributes of local clothing, Ratna said: "It is more comfortable to wear a Shalwar Khameez in this hot weather. It is the same as wearing a suit to work in the west." While admitting that women should be able to move around freely, she said that Afghan men and women should be taking the lead role in determining what clothes women should or shouldn't be wearing. "Expats should not be setting any dress codes," she added.