Women resist state's effort to police their outfits

Women in Tajikistan are being advised by the government to dress more “Tajik-style” and not wear either revealing Western clothes or Islamic head coverings supposedly to reinforce national identity.

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Some in the secular Muslim country are speaking out against the advice, including from President Emomali Rakhmon and a manual due to be issued by the government this year.

The advice to be published in July will be based on “scientific and historical sources”, Khurshed Nizomi, a culture ministry official, said.

The manual applies to women “of all ages” and will give tips on what to wear “at work, at home, at the theatre or during celebrations”, he said.

But Firuza Naimova, a pharmacist, questioned the need for government advice.

“There are many economic and social problems — a lack of electricity, the air quality, emigration” to Russia, she said in Dushanbe, the capital of the poorest former Soviet republic in Central Asia.