The Case of the Disappearing Abaya in Saudi Arabia
By Ann Lopez | May 07, 2012 | Saudi Arabia
Supermoon over Riyadh.Photo: Ann Lopez
I left Boston at 6:40 a.m. on Saturday morning, May 5th, and I arrived in Riyadh at 7:05 p.m. Sunday night, May 6th.
Dusk had fallen. I was greeted by the supermoon dominating the clear desert night sky.
What doesn’t greet me is…my abaya.
It’s missing.
There are five women who are participating in this Gatekeepers Editor trip to Saudi Arabia organized by the International Reporting Project. But only four abayas show up at the King Khalid International Airport.
All the other women are trying out their new abayas on the bus as we head to our hotel.
But not me.
It was supposed to be my “new best friend.” That’s what Louise Lief, the coordinator for our trip said.
I was to keep it on me at all times.
I have to wear it. If I don’t, things could get uncomfortable.
In case you don’t know, an abaya, or “cloak,” is the basic full body billowy black garment women in the Islamic world drape over themselves to hide their shape and thus exemplify modesty.
It comes with an accompanying veil, which can be tossed casually over the hair, wrapped tightly around the head, or drawn completely over the face. It’s up to you to decide how you want it to go. What you can’t decide, is not to wear it.
I had just been through eight time zones, and three continents in two days. I was dazed, disoriented and now dread was building in me since I didn’t know if I could exit the bus and enter the hotel without being properly covered.
My fear and perceptions were off base. Way off.
No one batted an eye.
Apparently my abaya isn’t the only one missing.
The veil is beginning to disappear.
I took a late night walk through a nearby mall and saw several women walking about with abayas but no veil. Perhaps they were foreigners who are not expected to follow the rules as stringently.
But our fixer is an example of an up and coming generation that has different ideas.
She is a young Saudi woman who just graduated from university. She was wearing a beautifully embroidered abaya.
“I am 100 percent Saudi,” she said.
And her head was uncovered.
Don’t get me wrong. Many women still adhere to the devout practice of the full veil, faces covered, with only eyes peering through narrow openings.
McDonald's at a mall in Riyadh. Photo: Ann Lopez
The sexes are kept apart from each other in unexpected ways. Go to the McDonald’s counter at the mall and you’ll see a partition set up so that men and women can line up separately to order their meals with out seeing each other.
But it’s evident that the culture of the veil is undergoing a transformation.
Oh, and Louise kindly let me borrow one of her abayas.
Ann Lopez, studio director of Public Radio International’s “The World,” traveled to Saudi Arabia on a Gatekeeper Editors trip with the International Reporting Project (IRP).
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