Women Banned from Wearing Pants

(Aceh, Indonesia) Effective January 1, 2010, a law in Aceh Province bans women from wearing pants, slacks, jeans and trousers. Police will patrol with scissors to cut the pants off of any woman in violation of the law.

Women wearing jeans and other trousers in West Aceh will now face sharia police, as will clothes vendors selling slacks for women.

West Aceh Regent Ramli M.S. issued the controversial regulation on Tuesday.

Those found wearing tight trousers, such as jeans, will have them cut by sharia police, and will be forced to wear loose-fitting attire.

"We have issued the regulation to further enforce Islamic sharia granted by the central government," Ramli told The Jakarta Post by phone on Tuesday.

To anticipate the huge number of slacks to be cut by police during raids, the West Aceh regency administration has prepared around 7,000 long skirts, which will be provided for free to those caught wearing trousers.

Women in the province are not happy.