Speedbreakers
Look around yourself, observe. Observe the footwear of a 3 year old girl and that of a 3 year old boy, observe the male and female footwear of a 20 year old and then that of a male and female 50 year old.
While you are comparing the features of female and male footwear thus observed in your head, also ask yourself the foremost purpose of wearing any footwear.
Footwears are undeniably an essential part of our dressing and are basically used to keep the feet safe, among other reasons.
The comparisons drawn of a female and male footwear are centred around the idea of ‘mobility’, ‘comfort’ and “ ‘attractiveness’.
Whereas the male footwears are designed to allow ease in mobility (for running as well),the typical females’ are designed for anything but that!.
You might have seen females around you struggling in heels, falling or flaunting footwears that are simply unfit to be worn and that makes each step a life hazard. The concept of easy mobility remains aloof from these footwears as they are so fragile to allow the owner to run at will.
Why do you think it is so?
Why do the male footwear manufacturers focus on the comfort of the to-be owner whereas the female footwear counterparts focus completely on its attractiveness?
If you are a female, you might have atleast once faced the dilemma of choosing ‘attractiveness’ of the footwear you are buying over comfort, tried to balance between the two and many-a-times compromised comfort altogether. Whenever I try to question the utility of their ‘well thought-out’ purchase, why do I repeatedly hear the phrase “come on I can handle this much”? Why do we feel the need to handle it at all?
As parents as well, when we choose the footwear for our younger ones, we wish to “doll-up” our girls in the best way possible, and thus the idea of ‘attractiveness’ creeps in. While I was looking at the footwear choices of my 7-year-old niece, a pair of shiny and uncomfortable platform-heel sandals and 8 year old nephew, wearing a comfortable pair of floaters, I realized that children’s conditioning of the commodity choices expected of them doesn’t limit to colour-coded clothes, toys, beauty products and accessories only but also extend to the kind of shoes they are expected to wear. Children are undebatably very keen observers and they observe the choices the adults around them make while buying their footwears. They listen to the conversations ( I know it will be a little uncomfortable for me but it looks so pretty/it looks too shiny, show me something that is more comfortable) and then make associations for themselves. While waiting in line for the metro to come, you can find evidences of this conditioning by yourself.
As a school-goer I remember wearing the formal school-bellies and breaking the fragile buckles again and again as they left little scope for easy mobility. Many males can be found complaining about the slow pace of their female companions and the increase in reliance on assisted transportation.
These instances further contribute to the image of women as being a “fragile and dependent” creature and somewhat inferior to the assumed “strong and independent” demeanour of man.
The women who boost about ‘nailing’ those heels need to give it a second thought, apart from the sore feet and other possible medical issues that they suffer with, they also set standards for others around them and give air to unnecessary consumerism. Is it a price they are willing to pay just for the sake of ‘looking nice’? Our female celebrities are no less behind in promoting the culture of attractive footwear over comfortable footwear among other females and that is something they can’t be excused of.
As parents, we need to be extremely conscious of what ideas and values we are imparting to our children. Do we want a generation that can think for their own comfort or one which is atrociously reliable on others’ opinions of themselves?
_simran
