I am a woman.

           I am a woman.  I will not hide that I am a woman; rather, I declare that I am a woman.  I choose to live life, celebrating my form.  As I grew up, my mother always told me to “reclaim my body”.  She would tell me to celebrate my inner and outer beauty, not to hide behind it.    However, we live in a society that often encourages women to hide their sexuality so that they can be taken seriously within the corporate sphere.  Women who choose to use their beauty for the pleasure of others are often criticized and disregarded by consumers.

Women became “persons” under the law in Canada in 1929.  Since that time, the rights of women have dramatically changed; however, discrimination does continue to occur.  I was reminded of this fact a few weeks ago, when I found a poster, created by an anonymous source, criticizing women in power. The poster had a picture of Marie Curie along with an atomic bomb.  Above the photo there was  the title, “The Truth”.  At the bottom of the poster it read, “The brightest Women this Earth ever created was Marie Curie, The Mother of the Nuclear Bomb.  You tell me if the plan of Women leading Men is still a good idea!”.  My immediate reaction to finding this poster was to rip it down, and tear it into a thousand small pieces so that it would never be seen again.  However, even after tearing this poster up, the idea that women continue to be oppressed within the 21^st century, in a place where equality is supposed to thrive, stuck with me.  I have lived my life in such ignorance because I have never experienced a moment where I truly felt oppressed due to my womanhood.  But on that day, I felt completely destroyed. 

                As I began to lose more and more sleep over this realization that women are still being oppressed, I began to reflect on what “being a woman” means to me, as a Canadian citizen, compared to women in India.  Much like in Canada, women in India have overcome a history that is filled with oppression.  In modern day India, women are said to participate in most activities like education, sports, art, etc.  Women have also held important offices within the political realm (i.e. Indira Gandhi served as Prime Minister of India for a period of fifteen years – she is the world’s longest serving woman Prime Minister).  However, even amidst the great strides that India has taken over the past millennia, their movement did not pick up speed until the late 1970s.  In 1979, a policeman was accused of raping a young girl in a police station.  The acquittal of this policeman led to widespread protests and feminism activism in India began to greatly increase.  This led to a change in the Criminal Code Procedure within India and it also helped to unite female activists over important issues such as gender bias, women health, and female literacy.  In 2001, the Indian Government declared that year the Year of Women’s Empowerment.  In addition, the National Policy for the Empowerment of Women was passed in 2001.  This history clearly shows that equality between men and women in India has become much closer in the past few years.  However, regardless of this information, one question still remains within my Western mind…Do the clothes that these women wear stunt their ability to be seen equal to men?  In India, the traditional garb for women is called the “Sari”.  This luxurious piece of clothing is draped over one shoulder, leaving the midriff bare.  In addition, women are expected to have coverings that reach their feet and often a head covering is worn as well.  In the Western world, an open midriff would be seen as quite scandalous when worn in a classroom or even at a celebration. 

So…what is modesty?  Is modesty truly a personal preference or is it strategically manipulated by the culture where we live?  Out of respect for the Indian culture, I will most definitely wear their traditional garb; however, I wonder if, in wearing this garb, I will feel trapped or liberated? Will I feel immodest to bare my midriff or will I forget this Western norm?  Will my entire notion of “what is modesty” shift when I return to Western civilization?