The amendment to Life that has women stepping out

LAPIEH LANDU

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Government Award for Short Stories

TIMES sure have changed. It is a whole new depiction of my growing up listening to my parents talk about 'their time'. Their time was always linked to “better times”.

From fashion to stature, hygiene to thriving economy and now the desire amongst women to break away from tradition and the normality of the undesired occupation of becoming legally imprisoned by the institution of marriage.

My assumptions is that awareness, education, and self- enhancement and betterment has lured many hundreds of women to escape being drowned by certain aspects of our Melanesian culture of family engagement and becoming caught up in the vicious circle of abuse, curtailment and the orthodox lifestyle of every Papua New Guinean woman.

Our culture established boundaries. Some boundaries were set to protect but, with tables turned, served more to restrict and suppress women.

On a recent trip to Australia, the stroll in a big city was enthralling. Here were Papua New Guinean women embracing their beauty, happy and not afraid of being attacked, abused, cursed or bullied.

I walked serenely around the city - surveying people valiantly slogging out their business.

Wearing a summer dress just above my knee, I took a second glance at myself, probing my level of decency and modesty. A habitual routine I had acquired over time at home where fashion police would certify me before I left the house.

I was always livid about my parents doing checks but I now realise, it was only out of a sense of concern for the kind of society we’d been brought up in. Simply, conservatism kept people safe.

I lingered in this big Australian city – absorbing how different it felt, being here and feeling totally safe to wear what I was wearing and not afraid of having people gawk at my outfit. That was it! That was an atmosphere appeasing our desire to be totally free, safe and independent.

We didn’t have to wear handbags around our necks; look over our shoulder constantly or worry what the gallery thought of us.

Prooked by this thought, I reflected on my outfit being in a setting back home, and my thoughts triggered aversion and frustration.

Papua New Guinean women are now reaching beyond our shores for  a chance at liberty and self-betterment and for respect, security, adventure and the prospect of being happy.

Marriage has become a death penalty for some and for others, they couldn’t be happier. That disparity should not be the case.

More recently, there has been an increase in women reaching new heights whether in engineering, business, medicine or fashion. They’re realising their dreams, their potential and amplifying their value as to the real worth of being a woman.

It is a new time, a new era, an end to narrow-mindedness and conventional restraints and an awakening of an evolving culture.

The time and age has caught up with us, better to embrace differences, to take out the bad, to retain the virtuous and to keep on stepping out.

I am not just a Woman
I am and educated Woman
I am a beautiful educated Woman
I am a bona fide beautiful educated Woman

I am a certified bona fide beautiful educated Woman
I am a strong certified bona fide beautiful educated Woman
I am a strong certified bona fide beautiful educated Pacific Woman
To the all Women and to all the beautiful women in my life,

Let no man, no one tell you otherwise.
Stand Up, Stand Strong!