The sheer diversity of women's clothing and ethnic features function as indicators that often telegraph defining aspects of their identities, roots, religions and cultural practices.

Women and young girls whose lives have historically been anchored in tradition and who have been somewhat isolated from the modern world, are increasingly exposed to the international forces that are driving the global economy and with that exposure comes an array of new choices, questions, dilemmas, challenges and opportunities.

Islam came to Zanzibar in the 10th century with the early Shirazi settlers from Persia and today Zanzibar is more than 99% Muslim.

Reflecting a degree of religious tolerance and multiculturalism, Stone Town, Zanzibar’s capital, is home to approximately forty-eight Mosques, four Hindu temples, a Buddhist temple and two Christian Cathedrals, one Anglican and the other Roman Catholic.

Economic forces including international trade, slavery, imperialism, revolution and socialism have historically been fundamental components of Zanzibar’s tumultuous, fascinating evolution into one of the most cosmopolitan regions in Africa. Back in 1699, Omani and Arab forces drove the Portuguese colonizers off the islands and Zanzibar was brought under the rule of the Omani Sultanate. Islam forbids enslavement of Muslims and while the Omani Sultanate was in power, the Arabs made connections with African chiefs and henchmen who helped deliver hundreds of thousands of slaves from the interior of mainland Africa. These indigenous Africans were exported to Zanzibar which became the center of the East African slave trade.

Many slaves remained in Zanzibar, working on plantations owned by Arabs. Others were exported to destinations all over the Arab world. Supported by an African slave labor force, Zanzibar became a leading producer of cloves, a precious spice, highly valued for its flavoring and medicinal healing properties. Slavery was finally abolished in Zanzibar in 1873 following a strong anti-slavery crusade spearheaded by Anglican, David Livingstone. From 1890 to 1963, Zanzibar was a British Protectorate. When the British withdrew abruptly leaving Zanzibar to struggle to find its own approach to internal self-government, chaos ensued. During the bloody revolution of 1964 thousands of Arabs as well as Indians were massacred by revolutionaries from the Afro-Shirazi and Umma parties. The new revolutionary government embraced socialism, plunging the economy into an era of stagnation. As soon as the African Nationalist Party took over Zanzibar's government embracing socialism, Russian, Chinese and East German communist advisers flocked to the island. Some western critics began to refer to Zanzibar as “The Cuba of East Africa.”

Today tourism is one of the primary engines that drives the local economy, providing jobs for women in hotels, restaurants, spas, shops and in hospitality. Coca Cola and cell phone companies advertise even in some rural villages particularly on the east coast of the island in areas like Jambiani where the indigenous people live alongside foreigners who frequent beachfront resorts and build their own private beach houses.

Currently, Zanzibar has a population of roughly one million people and is a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania. The average wage is less than $1 a day. Swahili is the main language spoken by inhabitants followed by Arabic and English. In the 21st Century, Islam has replaced the trade economy as the primary unifying cultural thread. The election in Fall 2010 is expected to raise conflicts between fundamentalist clerics embracing Islamic law and those who wish to uphold the more secular ideals of democracy.