The Clash between Traditional women and Modern Society Women

New York is known as the largest city that shelters numerous trendy neighborhoods, architectural designs, magnificent buildings, and it is the home to various museums, parks, and monuments. However, aside from the historical building and museums, the street walls of New York are filled with the wonders of glamorous artwork. Many of these artworks depicts historical, political, social, cultural, and traditional changes or turmoil in the country. It was a Saturday afternoon I was walking on the streets of Flushing Meadows, Queens when I came across a wonderful graffiti artwork that caught my attention. The artwork was a combination of four colors red, gray, black, and white, although red was the most used color. The artwork depicted two women into different setting with different attires. The woman on the right was depicted wearing a grayish-black long coat with a symbol of a star including a face of a dysfunction man on her left arm, and she shown grasping on to a warfare rifle. The eyes of the woman depict her determination for the changes she is demanding. In the background of the woman has the word “obey” that is repeated throughout that portion. In contrast, the right side of the artwork portrays a traditional woman dressed in a cultural open head scarf. She is shown holding a small baby milk bottle in her left hand and her right hand is tightly grasping on to the head scarf, so it does not fall off her head. However, her eyes do not differ from the women on the left; they are determined and focused on the particular event. The background on her side depicts a design that would be seen mostly in homes walls.

            While looking at the artwork, there were many questions that circulated in my mind. One of the essential questions was why did the artist choose to paint this creative work, in front of a busy marketplace? Then looking back at history I understood that women still have not achieved full freedom, they are still not considered equal to men. Women are undermined and suppressed in all cultures and traditions. In the western society, women are prevented from achieving their full rights and make them considered equal to men. In our society woman are paid less than what a man would make in an hour. Furthermore, they are many position and career fields that are not widely open to the women in our society. Women are neglected and pushed away from those opportunities due to their gender. Lastly, in the western cultures the media and other sources depict women as objects. The image was drawn to depict two sides of a woman. The woman on the left shows that women in our world today are trying to achieve their freedom of rights by being more expressive and conducting the jobs most men would do. The woman on the right represents the women in most tradition. She is wearing the traditional outfit, submissive towards her family, but her eyes show her determination to do more than what is expected of her.

            Overall, the artwork reminded me of Leila Ahmed’s distinction between women and Islam. In Ahmed’s memoir, she discussed how the women were limited in their society, culture, tradition, and religion compared to the men in their society. The women in her society were required to stay home and learn the housework and the tradition of family. Similarly, the women learned their religion from the other women in the household. They were not required to go to the mosque and learn the proper interpretation of the Quran. However, the male were more open to the outside world and received proper guidance. The artwork on the wall portrays the distinction Ahmed depicts between men and women in her society. The painter of the artwork resembles that women around the world are still deprived, but they have not given up hope.