My daughter is at the age where she started to have strong opinions about everything , including what she wants to wear on a day to day basis. Today she wants to wear a barbie dress, a tiara, a sparkly shoes, (and because it’s sunny) her sunglasses. Most of the times, I let her choose whatever she wants to wear even though it may not be most practical thing. I always carry spare clothes in my bag pack anyway (#mumlife)
And it’s making me sad, of what’s happening to many many girls and women in the other side of the world who doesn’t have this freedom. Not only they were dictated to dress certain ways, they also would be punished for the slightest mistake by the so called ‘moral police’. I am forever grateful that myself, and my little girl, are never subjected to that kind of suffering.
When I was younger, I remember asking my sister a hypothetical question. “Would you rather born in a country like Afghanistan/ Iran where women are subjected to so much restrictions (the way they dress, no education for women, segregation etc)…. or African countries where women are used as weapon of war and famine was common?” I know, the question was dumb. It was those hypothetical questions games that we all used to like to play… “would you rather be eaten by a lion or chewed by a shark?” or “would you rather had a bath with hundreds of cockroach or sleep 10 rats?”. It took awhile for my sister to reply. Eventually she said she rather have the latter; being born in African countries with poverty/war/famine. When I asked her why, she said it was because at least the latter option will give her the chance to fight, and to certain a degree a choice. She said, if she was born in strict Islamic countries, she wouldn’t have the opportunity to fight for her chance at all.
This conversation stuck in my core memories, because I find that her answer was quite profound.
And that’s what I am sad about right now, for the fact that some women (and men) have formed and joined in demonstrations just to have the right to choose how they dress, something that most of us don’t even have to think about every morning when we dress for the day.
I post this yesterday on my IG. “Scream so that one day, a hundred years from now another sister will not have to dry her tears wondering where in history she lost her voice”
In my privileged life, I never join any demonstrations to protest about something. And being an introvert, I am not sure I would feel comfortable being in a crowded public. But I do express my voice via my drawings. And today, I am saying I stand with the women of Iran. And I am saying that I will defend fellow women, mine, my daughter’s, my girlfriends’ right to dress how they want… tiara and fairy wings and all.
