Pants ban for women draws condemnation

The sharia regulation prohibiting women from wearing pants in West Aceh regency drew strong condemnation from public circles in Aceh province. "The enforcement of the regulation is an accumulation of the negative views against women from the perspective of Islamic sharia," said Norma Susanti, the women and children's division head of Aceh Human Rights NGO Coalition.

She added that the regulation, issued by the West Aceh regent, was very discriminative in nature and very detrimental to women. "Islamic sharia is not discriminative against women, but it's different when it is used as a political means by men to restrain women's movements. [The Jakarta Post] Read more [via Religious Watch]