Martina Thiele

Yesterday, I watched your Today program, and saw a segment entitled "Clothes that Harm" , which I thought was informative and helpful. I would like to have seen a further piece of information added to that group. I would have liked to have seen the topic include the gowns and scarves that so many moslem women wear, which overheat their bodies and brains, leading to whole body stress, and to drowsiness. On a day of over 37 degree heat, a woman was walking around Wollongong, wearing a black neck to floor gown, and a headscarf which flapped around her shoulders and halfway down her back, also in black. The wind also exposed the tights she was wearing under her gown, and the underscarf that covered her head. She was pushing a child in a stroller, adding to the heat distress her body was experiencing. Australians are progressively heading toward full gender equality, and yet we are exhorted to respect the sort of gender inequality that this unfortunate woman represented. These clothes harm their wearers, and we must be included in the "Clothes that Harm" category.