Women, Wear Your Pants!
Clothes don’t define a woman’s identity.
I was running along the jogging track, late in the evening, listening to a spotify podcast about “women struggling to be themselves.”
That was when I heard it.
A veteran celebrity saying wearing pants was giving women “manpower” and robbing them of their womanhood. She went on to say that women lost their “women power” when they gave up wearing dresses.
This statement stopped me in my tracks. I was devastated. Why should my jeans and trousers rob me of being a woman? Why could I not wear pants and still have my “woman power” intact?
This brought me to an important question. “Why do I wear pants?” Well, pants give me a sense of freedom that I can never feel with a skirt or dress. I can hop, skip and jump through my day easily in a pair of pants. Yet, even though I am clad in pants, I am the same person on the inside, with all my womanly feelings intact.
Clothes don’t define my identity. Whether I am clad in my skinny jeans, trousers, skirt, dress or sari, I am still the same person inside. Just because I am a woman, my clothes should not define me. I should not be considered manly just because I am wearing a pant.
This is what happened back in the 19th century. In that time period, women were dictated how to dress up based on social norms. The sight of a woman wearing a trouser was thought to be unladylike and disgraceful.
Women had to fight hard to start wearing pants for sporting activities like horseback riding, hiking or hunting.
Then came along Amelia Bloomer, a women’s rights activist in the 1850s, who encouraged women to trade in their corsets and petticoats for pants to be worn under skirts.
Amelia was an American newspaper editor, women’s rights and temperance advocate. Even though she did not create the women’s clothing reform style known as bloomers, her name became associated with it because of her early and strong advocacy.
This was how the “bloomer” came into being. In the early 1920s when women started working on farms and factories, they embraced pants, trousers, boots and coats. Women had left their kitchens to become independent earners.
Today there are boyfriend jeans, classic fedoras and power suits for women, but we are still facing gender norms and social constructs.
Pants score high when it comes to comfort and practicality. There is no other piece of clothing that can protect your legs, cover them up and offer you great mobility.
My pants symbolize my equality with men and freedom from the stringent restrictions set by society and the moral police around me. My pants support my active and independent lifestyle without restricting my movements.
Women have the right to wear what they want, without fear of being judged by society or being told that their “woman power” would be robbed from them.
I will continue to push ahead of the boundaries set by society — in my pants. And I urge you women out there, please wear your pants!
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