New Dress Code Draws Barmaid Protest

Over 10,000 barmaids crowded into a huge park in India's financial capital, Bombay to protest new government rules that impose dress rules and a code of conduct in night clubs.

Hundreds of women, many with their faces veiled, poured out of buses and trucks and waded through slush and rainwater to make their way to the park in the heart of the city. "Down with rules, down with rules, let us also live," the protesters shouted, as bar owners slammed the government for what they called its "stepmotherly treatment" of their industry.

Bombay has about 50,000 bar girls, as they are known locally, who dance in beer bars, entertaining clients by serving liquor and dancing to the latest Bollywood film tunes. The women said they were protesting rules that forbid them to reveal bare skin and call for a 3-foot-high wall around dance floors to keep customers from getting too close and showering them with money. The women, who have been the subject of an award-winning Bollywood film, fear the rules could transform the entire beer bar culture, leaving many of them jobless. "At this rate, we will run out of business. Nobody will come to our bars," said Manjit Singh Sethi, president of the Fight for Rights of Bar Owners Association.

Over the past few years, authorities have cracked down on bars in response to complaints of indecent or obscene behavior. A wave of police raids this year forced some bars to close down. "We are being harassed always," said one barmaid, 23-year-old Pooja Patil. "Are we criminals? Why do they raid our bars and then take us into custody? We are decent girls. We support our families and work hard for our living."

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