Implications of the Abaya Garment on Practicality, Comfort and Culture of Contemporary Working Life in Saudi Arabia

Due to significant development reform in Saudi Arabia, women are increasingly entering the workforce and working in a wide range of roles traditionally held by men. This situation has implications for clothing in the workplace, where women wear the traditional abaya that may not always be appropriate for different working environments and tasks. This has placed women in situations where there is a new approach to clothing, together with the need for comfort, practicality and cultural considerations. Specifically, the abaya may not be practical or even safe in different job roles and may not be comfortable in certain environments or when performing certain job tasks. However, the abaya still needs to meet cultural requirements. The study presents guidelines for the development of a uniform abaya for female Saudi Customs officers working at an international airport in Saudi Arabia. The guidelines show how to derive requirements, use those requirements in the development of a uniform abaya, and evaluate the abaya through a wearer trial. The guidelines consider four dimensions, which are comfort, practicality, culture, and a fourth dimension, dignity and recognition, which were revealed during the requirements stage. In order to derive requirements and evaluate the uniform abaya against these requirements the study used interviews and questionnaires with a number of different parties, including female customs officers, airport staff, designers and manufacturers of the abaya. The study resulted in the development of a uniform abaya, which was worn by female officers. The results showed a very positive response from participants that the abaya uniform met the established comfort, practicality and cultural requirements. The positive results validated the guidelines as an approach to the development of female uniforms. The originality of the study is that it responds to female uniform needs in a rapidly changing Saudi society where there has been an absence of such study and any guidance for the design of comfortable, practical and culturally appropriate female uniforms.