Women in Swaziland risk arrest if they wear miniskirts or tops which expose part of their stomach as they will be violating moral standards, a police spokesperson has said.<\/p>\n
“The act of a rapist is made easy, because it would be easy to remove the half-cloth worn by the women,” Wendy Hleta was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n
Offenders face a six-month jail term under the ban, which invokes a colonial criminal act dating back to 1889.<\/p>\n
The ban also applies to low-rise jeans.<\/p>\n
“They will be arrested,” she said.<\/p>\n
Hleta said women wearing revealing clothing were responsible for assaults or rapes committed against them.<\/p>\n
“I have read from the social networks that men and even other women have a tendency of ‘undressing people with their eyes’. That becomes easier when the clothes are hugging or are more revealing,” Hleta said.<\/p>\n
Traditional costumes<\/p>\n
However, the ban does not apply to traditional costumes worn by young women during ceremonies like the annual Reed Dance, where the ruling King Mswati III chooses a wife.<\/p>\n
The monarch already has 13 wives.<\/p>\n
During the ceremony, beaded traditional skirts worn by young bare-breasted virgins cover only the front, leave the back exposed. Underwear is not allowed.<\/p>\n
The law was enforced after a march by women and young girls last month calling for protection against a spate of rapes in the impoverished kingdom, almost entirely surrounded by South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Women in Swaziland risk arrest if they wear miniskirts or tops which expose part of their stomach as they will be violating moral standards, a police spokesperson has said. “The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n