The Asian Cultures: Does the women’s burden on culture spill over than the men? (A small Case Study)

The Asian Cultures: Does the women’s burden on culture spill over than the men?  (A small Case Study)

(Written by M.M.Nirmal Chathuranga B.Sc. Business Administration (Sp.)University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka)

   This photo was taken in Doha Asian Games 2006 in Women’s 200m final race. In this photo there are four women who represent  four regions of Asia. If we take from right hand side the woman with black dress in lane 3  (No-2405) is a Sri Lankan female athlete Susanthika Jayasinghe which represents from South Asian region, the woman who run next to Susanthika in lane 4 with a red dress is Bahraini woman Raquia Al Gazara from Middle-East region. The woman who runs in lane 5 (No. 2038) next to Al Gazara is Han Ling a Chinese female Athlete represent East Asia and the woman who runs with a light blue dress in lane 6 (No- 2502) is Guzelle Kubeva from Uzbekistan which represents Central Asian region We can do a deep discussion about Women and Asian Culture by problematizing and eliciting this photo.

The first thing is the dress worn by each female athlete. I feel that the track suit of each female athlete emphasize their cultural aspects in their own countries and freedom they have get as a woman. Although Uzbekistan is an Islamic country women are exercising freedom because Uzbekistan was a central Asian country and a part of former Soviet Union. The Russia and Soviet Union with Lenin’s Socialism ideology they tried to remove the gender gaps among the population and emphasized the freedom for woman. So with the influence of being a part of former Soviet Union the Central Asian Muslim women is exercising autonomy than other Islamic women in the world. But after collapsing of former Soviet Union in Uzbekistan is remaining as an independent country since 1991 and mixed with Europian and Russian culture. The Central Asian woman can select any dress as her own preference which is easy to run. In the case of China, it is a strong and unique culture in Asia. However that culture is more flexible. We can see Chinese as more indulgent people and today they are also have mixed up with Western culture while preserving their own unique identities. Today the Chinese women are rapidly releasing from their traditional life style and overcoming the life barriers. However according to the South Asian and Middle East cultures, their societies expect that the women should dress in a certain way. These countries are restraining countries and most of time they are reluctant to see out of the box. If a woman dresses by showing parts of the body in unnecessary way, the people worry about it and most of time resist or punish. The degree of that attitude is also varying from South Asia to Middle East. In Middle East, the Muslim/ Islamic culture is rooted and most of Middle-East countries have established Sharia law which the Humanists seen as an inhumane law. In Middle East countries most of women live in tough conditions with the influence of their culture. We can see the Bahraini woman has prepared her track suit according to their cultural norms. She cannot dress as Sri Lankan woman or Uzbekistan woman. Bahraini woman is covering her entire body apart from face and hands below the wrist. Sri Lankan woman do not dress like Uzbekistan woman or Chinese woman, because she has a burden on her own culture and on the other hand her Sri Lankan Sinhala culture is not tough as Middle-East Muslim culture. But Sri Lankans are highly concern about the courtliness or decentness of the women’s dress. That is why she wears a short by covering the upper part of her legs and wearing a skinner by covering from neck to waist. I feel that photo is a great illustration to show the heterogeneity of the Asia, on the other hand it elicit how women adapt their cultures even such an Athletics competition within a Globalized context. But if we take a photo of men’s 200m race in same championship, they all have dressed in same manner. The culture does not matter when they represents. So in this case, I argue does the women’s burden on culture spill over than the men? Do men have a less cultural influence than the women? Here I elicit another argument. My question was “does culture matter when women when women are reaching top positions in their career?” Almost all the respondents which I interviewed said “yes, it matters”. There can be a truth according to the facts and reasons they put down before me. However I feel that all above four women from different regions/cultures in Asia are in same positions on this track, they are international level female athletes who are competing in an Asian level athletics competition.  All four are become able to compete by preserving their cultural norms. Whatever the culture is, they have achieved what they want as a female athlete. Then someone can argue that, the culture does not matter because Bahraini woman is also achieved the same position of Uzbekistan woman and Sri Lankan woman even though Bahrain has a tough cultural rules and norms for Muslim women. However without referring their journey to this career and success stories it is difficult to come up with a conclusion, because there are only few native Middle East Muslim women who were competed successfully in international level Athletics championships.