Apart from girls in schools where the jilbab is compulsory school uniform, who wears the jilbab and when?
In the town, most women wore the jilbab, or some version of head covering. I was quite often the only woman in public transport vehicles not wearing the jilbab; frequently at the bank I was the only woman with a bare head of hair; at callisthenics and arisan (savings group) activities, and at picnics for housewives, I was often the only woman not wearing a jilbab; when shopping in the market there are more unveiled women, but veiled women are still in the majority. However, jilbab-wearing is more common in towns than in rural areas. My senior informants, such as kin-group elders, adat leaders and Islamic preachers, were happy to point out that jilbab-wearing is effectively an invented tradition. The important items of women’s traditional dress were the loose baju kurung (long-sleeved tunic) worn over a long skirt or sarong. They said that in the old days Minang women sometimes draped a diaphanous scarf, towel or other cloth over their heads when going out, but this was not the same as
