The woman wearing a hijab worked in the greengrocery in Glodk

Woman with a hijab working in grocery in Glodok, Jakarta — Woman with a hijab working in grocery

I walked further and further down an alleyway in Chinatown called the Glodok District of Jakarta. Both sides of the alleyway were lined with old-fashioned shops selling groceries, and local shoppers were coming and going. Although this was a single street, it seemed to be a street market. Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, has both the face of a rapidly developing city and such an old-fashioned city where the old-fashioned shops are still operating. For all intents and purposes, this was the latter area.

In each of the shops, there are men working and women working as well. It is not unusual to see women working in shops, even in a Muslim country. It was no different from local markets in Thailand and Vietnam in that women were working vigorously.

The grocery store in this photo was also open in such a market. It displayed various vegetables on the ground. A young woman wearing a hijab, the owner of the store, was sitting under a parasol that was spread out to protect her and her goods from the sun. The female shopkeeper, who had been watching the comings and goings in a daze, laughed as if she had seen something funny.

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