Examining female visual privacy as a function of window treatments

Cultural factors in Libya (and other Muslim countries) require female privacy to be maintained. Outside the home, females must wear clothing that reveals only the face and hands. When inside the home and located near windows, a similar degree of clothing cover or window treatment is required. This reduces exposure to natural daylight, with resultant reduction in health benefits of daylight. We are therefore investigating the degree to which window treatments offer sufficient privacy to permit relaxed clothing in the home. Two window treatments were tested: horizontal blinds and frosted glass, varying the free area and degree of frosting, respectively. The degree of privacy offered was operationalised by identification of the clothing level worn by a target behind the window treatment, the aim being to reduce identification to a chance level. For 0.3 s observations, only the extreme level of each treatment (horizontal blinds set to 3% free area and distortion level 20 for the frosted glass) led to chance levels of clothing identification, for both actors. For 3.0 s observations, there were significant differences in clothing identification, suggesting insufficient privacy.