female cairo

Female CairoElements influencing Cairene women dress code in public space.Ahmed Al-Adawy / 1-3966Dina Hany / 16-741

The German University in CairoDesign Theory Departement / Till BeutlingWinterterm 2010 / 2011

We too love design research.

AcknowledgementWe want to thank Till Beutling for his efforts directing the course and for constantly encouraging us to explore our topic of research. We also want to thank the administration of the “International Park” namely Dr. Adel Taha and Eng. Mohamed Gad for granting us permission to use the park for our public interaction phase of the research and for their generous support.

Introduction 9

Dress code 10

Why we chose Cairo 11

Building up to the research question 12

Research question 15

Methodology and fieldwork description 19

Observations and results 25

Layering and Interaction observation/ results 26

Interviews 32

Conclusion 35

Affirmed presumptions 36

New conclusions 36

Table of contents

Introduction

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Dress codeA dress code is a social invitation. It is a way of implementing oneself in society as an individual with character, norms and beliefs. The way you dress and how you wear it indicates a message of “gender, income, occupation, social class, political ethnic and religious affiliation, attitude, marital status, sexual availability and orientation, etc.” Clothes also communicate other social messages such as claiming cultural identity and maintaining or defying social group norms.

Fashion and Communication

In all cultures, and through our media-influenced societies nowadays, fashion dictates our choices in assembling items of clothing together in order to send a certain message. The rate of change in fashion constantly differs and changes all through time. Styles are susceptible to changing over night, over days, months and sometimes spanning generations in which case conducts more time, money and effort. “When fashion changes, the messages communicated by clothing change.”

Messages communicated through fashion tend to convey gender, social rank, occupation, ethnic and political association. In many societies, people of high social status tend to signify themselves by decorating their garmets as symbols of their rank in society, sometimes even just by the color they choose. “In ancient times, only Roman senators could wear garments dyed with Tyrian purple; only Hawaiian chiefs of high social rank could wear feather cloaks and palaoa or carved whale teeth. In China before the establishment of the republic, only the emperor could wear yellow.”

Job occupation communication

To symbolize job occupation, military, police, and firefighters usually wear uniforms, as do workers in many industries. School children often wear school uniforms, while college and university students sometimes wear academic dress. Members of religious orders may wear uniforms known as habits. Sometimes a single item of clothing or a single accessory can declare one’s occupation or rank within a profession such as police badges.

Cultural & Political communication

In many regions of the world, showing ethnic and political support is exhibited by national costumes and styles in clothing and accesories declaring alliance to a certain village, caste, religion, etc. This could be an item in itself or the pattern and color decorating the item. For instance, a Scotsman declares his clan with his tartan and a French peasant woman identifies her village with her cap or coif while a Palestinian woman identifies her village with the pattern of embroidery on her dress.

Religious communication

To show religious affiliation, a Sikh or Muslim man may display his support by wearing a turban and galabeya. Many Muslim women wear head or body covering (ranging from hijab, burqa or niqab, chador and abaya) that proclaims their status as respectable women who needn’t call attention to their physical appearance. A Jewish man may indicate his observance of Judaism by wearing a yarmulke. In India, women are obliged to dress conservatively and cannot wear sleeveless shirts or body hugging clothing, short shorts or miniskirts. It is also a sign of respect when visiting sacred places not to wear revealing attire.

From China to IranChinese people are very conservative when it comes to clothing and believe in dressing according to context where they dress to join their traditional festivals. However,in contradiction, they do not wear swimsuits on the beach. Middle aged women wear cheong-sam which is a skirt; men usually dress up in a suit and tie. The Chinese feel that wearing an indecent dress will take away your dignity.

Iran is a country which follows the Islamic jurisdiction; this includes Hijab or Islamic dress code. Native women are meant to cover their hair, body, and legs/feet. A common misconception is thinking one wear dark colors in Iran but this is not the case at all. Women cover up their hair loosely with a veil in order to be respectful of Iran’s beliefs.

Social Norms Versus RebellionClothes are capable of expressing individuality and attraction or repulsion from cultural norms and mainstream beliefs. A popular scene rebelled against these mainstream beliefs and purely existed to shock and surprise during 19th-century Europe

Introduction

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where artists and writers lived la vie de Bohème, french for “life of a bohemian”. Cross-dressing where female emancipationists wore bloomers and male artists wore velvet waistcoats and neckcloths. This counter-cultural tradition still carries on in 20th-century West by bohemians, beatniks, hippies, goths, punks and skinheads. Especially during the early 1960s, a rebellious backlash towards social norms and conventions such as covering one’s body swept throughout the west. Over time western societies have gradually adopted more casual dress codes in the workplace, school, and for pleasure.

Why we chose CairoThis is precisely where we come in; the border between rebellion and conventional stereotypes. Part of growing up in Cairo, Egypt is being visually arrested by the dominating borderline dress code the women have chosen as their day-to-day attire. The lines between right and wrong, social norm and what-not and the unification of one stereotypical dress sense are so vaguely blurred that the idea of classifying a social norm seemed so absurd, forcing us to firstly ask ourselves, “who is the Egyptian woman?” and more importantly, “where does she fit into these stereotypes?” In other words, could she be described as one model or prototype? Also, how do these diverse stereotypes coexist in one society?

Choosing the female sex seemed the obvious gender we wished to explore seeing what we are constantly bombarded with everyday, both man and woman, under the same society dealing with issues ranging from politics, tradition and religion, seemed to have reflected both more evidently and differently on the woman and how she perceives herself as a member in Egyptian society compared to the man. We saw a spectrum of girls, women and children who dressed so similarly and yet so differently, we began asking, ”why? what do they represent and reflect upon? and finally, what would happen if we provoked them into giving us an answer?” Those were all things we kept in mind while brainstorming for our next step. We were also questioning “who does she answer to? Is she exposed to gender discrimination? And what about her perception of herself and of outsiders upon her?”

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Building up to the research questionPresumptions we had according to our daily life observation and experience, before doing any research:

•Egyptian woman is a diverse & constantly mutating female.

•The Egyptian woman takes the following into consideration when she dresses:

• Social background

• Cultural traditions

• Religious beliefs (that are often distorted with above mentioned factors)

•The Egyptian woman reflects upon the following:

• Female versus male perception: Female sees herself through the eyes of a male (from the outside to the inside)

• Keywords used in male reference to dressing conservatively:

• Pride & Respect

• Jealousy mixed with Dignity (towards other men looking at wife/sister)

• Religious duty

•She answers to her society as number one, to her religion secondly.

Introduction

Transition Phase:As we progressed through our discussions and brainstorming we discovered that we already have some preconceived ideas about who this woman is.

And so we wanted to put these theories / ideas to test, narrow down and contextualize them, therefore further field research was required In order to help ourselves get a clearer picture, we put our ideas into keywords on paper. Cairo, where we both live, is the capital, a major social and cultural hub of Egypt. Seeing the nature of the City, we decided to focus on its female residents because we saw that they represent the female population of Egypt as a whole.

In order to understand this and narrow our topic down, we worked on a mind map of simple keywords, concepts and ideas that came to our minds, and started linking them together Influences by other cultures

East

West

Liberation

Distortion

Con�nementLanguage Barrier

Social Pressure

Attitude

“Carina”

Smoking

Alcohol Consumption

(Excessive) Make-up

Physical ContactHigh-heels

Hijab “Galabeya”

Stereotypes

Traditions

Spirituality

Morals

Ethics

Swimming attire

Religion

People

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Influences by other culturesMorals and ethics (city) , Tradition (city + rural) , Religion (gulf) , Media (western fashion)

How does their dress code change when they travel from one region to another? Are they forced to change it?

The green arrows represent whether or not the Cairo woman is forced to change her dress code according to where she is. For example, when visiting some countries in the Gulf, she is obliged to dress more conservatively in a manner that is socially acceptable to its native residents. On the contrary, when visiting countries in the West she is free to dress as she pleases. The case is different when visiting rural area where her dress code is dependent on whether or not she is originally from that certain village or district. If she is, she is meant to dress more conservatively and if not, then she is perceived as a tourist and may dress as she pleases.

Introduction

CAIRENEWOMAN

GULF

RURAL

WEST

Forced

Not forced

Forced

Research question

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Research question

Exploring elements influencing Cairene women dress code in public space.

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Photos from our observations in Downtown Cairo

Methodology and fieldwork

description

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Methodology and fieldwork description

1. Brainstorming and sharing thoughts on the topic

2. Observe and discover through photo ethnography.

We needed to record visually the present dress codes as well as discover new ones we haven’t thought about in the brainstorming phase.

3. Analysis of observations

We analyzed the photos and used the information gained tocome up with dress code prototypes while further analyzing them by dressing a mannequin in an isolated space and taking pictures of it.

4. Interviews

We conducted interviews with women selling clothes on the side walk by a mosque gate in Nasr City targeting women coming out of the mosque.

5. Layering coupled with interaction with participants in public space

Pulling ourselves away from the situation for a more objective outlook on matters, we took those prototypes and we displayed them on a mannequin in public space, noting the reactions and comments of passers by while video taping first impressions.

To avoid being distracted by the mannequin itself than what it is wearing and wishing to involve people and connect with them on a more personal level in order to discuss their views and opinions, we decided to have conversations with the people by calling them over to the mannequin after having received an initial reaction to its presence.

We also added a box full of clothing where we asked them to dress the mannequin according to what they believed the woman should look like and printed a poster communicating our message. Moreover, we noticed that the addition of the box and poster invited more people over as a result of believing that the clothes were for sale at first glance. This was also a point added to our research where we noted people’s reactions to whether they would buy this dress or not.

6. Analysis of feedback

We analyzed all the information gathered so far and formed a conclusion. Then, we reflected back on our research topic and sub questions.

Why we chose the mannequin

• It is the conventional way for displaying clothing items in public spaces e.g. shopping malls and stores where people are used to seeing dress codes different from theirs on mannequins.

•Would attract people to see what we’re doing.

•An objective outlook on the clothes rather than the person wearing it.

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Dress code Social Interaction

تفاُعل المجتمع معنوعية الِزي

A social interactive research project dealing with the ever diverse and rapidly changing egyptian woman & the reflection of her choice of dress on her behaviour and vice versa.

إجتامعي بحث مرشوع املرأة مع يتعامل تفاعيل

دامئا التغري الرسيعة املرصية للِزي اختيارها انعكاسات و

العكس. و عىل سلوكها

Female Cairoالمرأة القاهرة


Observations and results

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Layering and Interaction observation/ results Prototype 1: Carina + Western fashion clothing

Veiled woman:“incorrect/ inappropriate”

Male passer-by, sarcastically: “you should be taking first impressions from these ladies, pointing to a group of non-veiled women with him ”

Veiled girl in her teens: “beautiful, how much? - love what she’s wearing, is it for sale?”

Group of four veiled ladies in mid-twenties (Fatma, Zeinab, Wafaa and Youssra):

•Not correct clothing for a veiled lady.

•Girl wearing it is trying to be fashionable but at the sake of seeming “desirable”.

•Believes women should be conservative in order to be respectable.

•Arguments mainly voiced by -Monaqaba-

•Argues that “Carina” bodies existed primarily to be worn underneath baggy clothes and not like nowadays where they are worn under “even tighter clothes”

•All agree on following dress: striped baggy skirt + white Carina body + long sleeved blue shirt

Two non-veiled ladies, mother and father (in late 40’s-early 50’s) and daughter (20’s):

On their way into the park

•Women show repulsion in approaching the mannequin, waving me off believing we were selling

•Only until i approach them and tell them about the project that they listen and approach the mannequin

•They show reluctance in giving opinions, first giving neutral answers towards mannequin.

•Male approaches and calls this an “epidemic”, strongly showing disdain and disapproval. He starts speaking about the emancipation of the Egyptian woman in the early 1920’s by feminist, Hoda Shaarawy and her decline “50 years back” starting the 70’s due to influence by Gulf immigrants.

•Says that women have started hiding themselves out of habit rather than belief, tradition or anything else and that is also the reason why they are more comfortable gaining weight / due to being at liberty to hide it. Also that back in the 70’s, the woman was either “respectable” or not “respectable” and that this was not dependent on her clothing.

•Women begging to slightly speak more and show their dislike for the clothes, also believing it is an epidemic and that what one wears must be decent and fashionable.

* Meanwhile, passers by are asking for the price of the clothes on the mannequin *

(However,on their way out of the park)

•The same women shout out as they are passing that the “Liberal mannequin” that this is the proper attire the woman should be wearing as they laugh.

Veiled lady in early 30’s / Abaya upper body + long skirt lower body:

• “Would be nice to wear inside the house for my husband or sister”.

•Mannequin is trying to be fashionable, without going out of religious duty and betraying her eastern roots and the result is faking the two.

•Believes that women should wear baggy clothes and it is still possible to be fashionable at the same time.

•Otherwise, all other attire should be worn inside the house including wearing Carina bodies underneath.

•Distortion due to age, immaturity and incomplete personality.

Family of women, mix between veil and Neqab:

• Vision of men towards women would be indecent if liberally dressed

•Religion

•Fear of harassment

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Two veiled girls in their mid teens wearing tight fitting clothes + lots of make-up:

•Due to family / house hold rules.

•Some parents are liberal Carina, others are not so much Abaya yet both veiled.

•Fashion.

Group of girls in their 20’s:

•Religion.

•Comes in steps, transitional.

•Confess to women dressing like this due to hiding behind a religious persona. Another reason to hide was also the need not to look pretty all the time, to smell bad and to gain weight.

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Prototype 2: Western clothing (cut sleeve + pair of jeans)

Abbaya dressed lady accompanied by husband and daughter:

•First comment sarcastically, “ why isn’t she veiled?!”

• Very wrong, Haram

• “Would never let my daughter out this way”

More crowds approach, slight panic, repeated glances, more staring than initial skepticism that was the reaction towards 1st model.

Monaqaba and Sunni Husband

•Husband says: “not appropriate for young Muslim woman”.

•Wife says: “I agree”

Group of veiled 12 year old girls:

• Indecent

•Say that the veil was their choice & not forced upon them

•Choose the first outfit (without having known that it was model a while ago)

•When asked about Abaya, they replied saying “I am too young for it. When i get older maybe, I am still a young lady ‘anessa’”

• “The older I get, the more conservative”

•Purely religion related because that is God’s will.

Veiled female in early 20’s:

• In Arabic “Eat what you like, wear what the people like“ (Egyptian proverb)

A group of young teenagers (females, and later males) were very excited about the mannequin and wanted to take pictures with it to the extent that it started falling off it’s support


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Interviews

We came across a “side-walk” mini market where women were selling clothing items and accessories in front of a mosque’s gate. After speaking with some of these women, we found out that this small event takes place everyday & without authorization. The women selling these items were of poor background, little or no education and lesser social status. Upon a conversation with them, we found out that the reason they had chosen this place was not chosen haphazard and that it had been going on for years, targeting veiled women, specifically the ones coming out of the mosque after prayer.

Those savvy business women were all veiled in black Abayas layered on top of the more colorful Galabeya.

Products targeting veiled women:

• Special thick opaque “ROLA” socks. Thicker than ordinary socks so as to “cover and hide the woman’s feet” when wearing sandals.

Products targeting non-veiled women:

• Normal “Cinderella” socks (package with picture of a non-Egyptian/Italian woman)

Products targeting both veiled and non-veiled women:

• Divided into 2 categories: hair products and clothing

• Hair clips, head bands, socks, colorful galabeyas (some less conservative to be worn inside the house and some very conservative to be worn outside either alone or underneath abbaya), “esdals” - items resembling galabeyas but with extension at the back rather like a veil/hood for covering hair during prayer.


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Interview 1

Nabila: mentions that “Hijab is worn out of fear/ protection from the other gender and also out of religios reasons” (coming in second)

Fatma: tells us short story about how she used to work at this mosque and while she was getting dressed, a man walked in on her. She filed a complaint and was immediately kicked out by her male superior. As a result believes segregated by male gender and continuously calls life “unfair”.

Fatma and Nabila: are “aware of the hijab becoming a cultural phenomena” rather than a religious thing and seem appalled yet used to this.

Fatma and Nabawiya: “We hide our identity in embarrassing situations. Being exposed to the media, we don’t want our identity revealed to our parents or children because our job is demeaning”.

Interview 2

We also had a friendly discussion with an uneducated young woman that cleans cars and begs for a living around this area.

Laila: beleives she’ll be “mistaken for a prostitute if she doesn’t dress conservatively, also perceives other women not wearing hijab as disrespectful”

Overall we noticed that the ones we encountered all truly understand the position of the woman today, aware of what is conservative & what is not, what is respectful of culture and religion and what is not while possessing a mixture of reason behind their dress. They saw being veiled as no evidence for reflection of behavior yet seemed to have conflicting opinions upon their choices.

These mixtures being:

•Male propaganda (fear of the opinion of the man & his acceptance of the woman, especially as a wife)

•Decision making being passed down from older generations in family.

•Religion, strongly accompanied by fear of going to hell (with no knowledge of verses reflecting these words when asked)


Conclusion

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Affirmed presumptions

•Keeping up with western fashion - influence through media.

•Remaining true to culture and tradition.

•Religious beliefs.

•A mixture of distortion of above 3 factors.

•Male perspective / perception.

New conclusions

•Conservativeness is relative to age. The older, the more conservative and the younger the less.

•The stereotype agreeing on dress code with influence purely dictated by religion agreed upon 1 prototype: baggy clothes (the yellow pants + long blue blouse)

•Fear of speaking out amongst peers - female believing that peers would judge and outcast her.

• In some cases, the distorted dress code is merely a transitional phase.

•According to input from a European female married to a middle eastern, the dress code depends on the context. i.e. being a tourist or a resident as well as the country you’re in (Yemen, Egypt or Germany)

•She wvas not comfortable wearing Carina outfit / dress code

Conclusion

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All of our presumptions were proven to be true in addition to shedding some light on new explanations and perspectives. The Cairene woman is primarily rooted in her culture, aware of her role in society as a symbol or respect and her obligation towards her Islamic religion. Meanwhile, she is confused at applying her philosophies and ideologies in real life when constantly being fed ideas of what she is meant to look like. This is due to influences from the media ranging from television to western fashion. Ideas which represent what an appealing female looks and acts like. While some mean to keep up with these rapidly changing fashion statements, others also wish to appear desirable both to live up to this idea of the fashionable, sought-after woman while remaining desirable and attractive in the eyes of men. This is most evident by the stretchy “Carina” bodies that were introduced in the early 90’s to the target market of veiled women. These bodies are designed in a way that they are to be clipped at the waist area so that one’s back would not show when bending. However after its introduction has been abused by females and worn underneath all clothing that would otherwise be rejected. The result of this combination is a visually arresting culture clash reflecting this confusing dilemma.

In light of new observations and conclusions, we also found that how conservative or liberal a woman chooses to dress is relative to age. Countless women mentioned that naturally, the older the woman gets, the more conservative she is meant to dress as she becomes better informed of what is more proper and the younger she is, the more flexible. For instance, she would be allowed to wear trousers, shirts and a veil up until her mid-teens and afterwards start considering the Abbaya. This perception was a conscious awareness by both the teenage girls and the older women. On the other hand, many mentioned that sporting western fashion and pairing with the Carina bodies is merely a distorted transition phase in every woman’s choice to be veiled.

We found that there was no “one stereotype” to fit the Cairene woman’s dress code in. However, only one stereotype agreed upon this ideology which were the females that were convinced with the conservative dress sense purely dictated by religion. The prototype dress chosen out of the box was in the women’s words, ”the baggier, the better” choosing the yellow baggy pants and the long sleeved blue blouse in addition to Carina body underneath (irrespective of color at the moment).

Only two females left their groups to speak to us individually. We inferred that this was out of fear of speaking out amongst peers, believing that they would judge and outcast them as they told us that they preferred dressing like the Western mannequin.

And finally, according to input from a European female married to a middle eastern, the dress code depends on the context i.e. being a tourist or a resident as well as the country you’re in and its rules and social norms. She was also uncomfortable with the first stereotype wearing the Carina and western clothing saying that it was too revealing and that she “would not wear this in Cairo”. This came as a surprise to us seeing as this was the dress sense of the majority of females in Cairo.

We too love design research.

female cairo

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