Hidden from view

Two Christmases ago, I finished A Thousand Splendid Suns, a novel about the lives of two Afghan women. At the time, my AP literature students had recently finished reading Jane Eyre, which boasts a message or two about gender equality in the 1800s. I recall being intrigued to see how almost 200 years later pieces of literature were still being published with similar ideas, granted they differed in circumstance and situation.

As we passed through KL and Singapore, we saw countless women who were covered in some way, be it with a simple headscarf or literally covered from head to toe. In many ways, it struck me as odd when I considered these women in the context of their current society. Around them, women were displayed in advertisements. Some covered, some not. Many women around them sported fashion styles straight out of cutting edge fashion magazines. While waiting for the MRT, it was not uncommon to see covered ladies talking with their fashionista friends. Though much of the women’s attributes were hidden, time after time I noticed that the colors and fabric chosen remarkably accentuated the eyes, face and smile of each woman, making their eyes and smiles all the more memorable.