Former President of the Republic of the Philippines Corazon Aquino fought for the democracy so as Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma. Both of these women were caught in the troubled times and salvaged their countries from a misguided belief in politics. Indra Nooyi, the CEO of PepsiCo made it to the top three Forbes lists of powerful women. She proved that innovation is a key to a business success rather than focusing on acquisition. Not many actresses can penetrate Hollywood let alone an Asian actress. Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zang, Tia Carrere to name a few made it big in tinsel town. Mother Teresa of Calcutta showed the world the meaning of the world love. She has selflessly taken care of the unfortunate and the disadvantaged.

The world has become a witness to the evolution of Asian women from homemakers to becoming world leaders, business tycoons and superstars.

I’ve spoken with single women who take pride in playing the field as much as their male counterparts because it proves we’re equals. I have met young women who would rather raise a child alone than start a proper family because they want to be spared from co-dependencies. In order to feel free, independent and individual, is it necessary to imbibe the “new standard of living” as dictated by society even if it means dismissing the very culture and nature that makes us uniquely Asian? The obvious answer is NO and yet the world around me suggests otherwise. In our quest to free ourselves from any cultural bondage we have surrendered who we are and became willing slaves to a culture that is not and will never be ours.

Asian women today are at a crossroad. We are in a position to be whoever we want to be. The question now is: Do we still recognize who we are to know who we want to be?

That is what comes to mind as I write about Asian Women in this day and age. No longer bound by rules of the bygone masculine ‘60s and ‘70s era, the male race’s previously-not-so-significant-other has undergone so much transformation in the last two decades of the earlier millennium.

The saying: “It’s a man’s world” is now passe. Women now own the limelight. Oprah, Angelina Jolie, Leah Salonga, and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo are just some of the more well-known women who have gained their celebrity stature by way of excelling in their own fields of endeavor. Through sheer luck, others have followed suit: Charisse Pempengco and Mommy Dionisia Pacquiao.

And in Asia, where an ultra-conservative ethos pervades society in terms of culture, norms and traditions, women have stepped out into the light coming from all fields, be it politics, sports, arts, entertainment, medical, business and so on. Name it, and surely, a woman would always come out as part of the top rank players in that field.

The Asian Woman’s typical role as a woman, a wife and a mother has also evolved a great deal. From the shy, meek and conservative stay-at-home-and-look-after-the-kids type, she has undergone a major upgrade to become a sharper, sophisticated, more sociable, focused, and bolder kind of individual – a change for the better, if I may say so.

From being the “weaker sex”, she has turned out to be a force to reckon with. Women are now in control of themselves, their homes, their careers and their lives. She has gone way beyond her comfort zone to embrace the world formerly predominated by men, and is doing quite well — with flying colors, so to speak. It is no longer atypical to see a man bringing or fetching a child to school or doing menial tasks in the home. This domain of child-rearing and home management is no longer just women’s territory but is now a shared zone for both sexes.

So, for the Asian Woman, where will this role-reversal / role-expansion lead to?

From my personal assessment – better options, more challenges and a better future. Women are known to be resilient, determined, assiduous and open to change. With the advent of the new millennium, the soothsayer in me foresees that women — specifically, Asian Women — will gain better leverage as against their male counterpart in the coming years.

From hereon it will be an uphill battle for the Asian Woman. The challenges will only serve as fuel for her continued growth. And this growth will only further empower her to work for something which will bring meaning to the world.

Competitive excellence sets contemporary Asian women apart. In a world that still struggles on gender equality, women have been forthright on pursuing their ambitions beyond the traditional confines of domestication. This advocacy eventually transformed a conservative patriarchal cultural mind frame, to one more tolerant of women pursuing an educational degree and a career comparable to their male counterparts. With a steadfast resolve for equality, the gender roles have dramatically changed in recent years.

Today, we are introduced to women beyond beauty and sexual leisure. We see the quality of their faculty put into good use. We see them outside household responsibilities and submissiveness. Instead, we see an admirable determination and resolve to pursue their
personal ambitions. We see independent and empowered women with a passion to succeed. We finally recognize the qualities of women that set them at par perhaps beyond their counterparts. As the world welcomes the 21st century, society finally bears witness on what real Asian women are made of.

However, not every Asian woman is fortunate enough to have the opportunity to explore beyond the confines of tradition. Many continue to struggle within a rigid patriarchal environment, mostly behind a burkha. With the limitations imposed by such tradition, the deviants become a victim of repression and abuse. Such practice while safeguards tradition, have led women to reconsider
change within a minimal degree of empowerment. It is most unfortunate that we continue to witness the travesty of a scar behind the veil.

Yet there are women who have shown and continue to prove women’s resiliency and fortitude in the face of adversity. A notable political figure in Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of the National League for Democracy partylist. While she has the advantage of having politically influential parents, she has independently made her mark in Burmese history. Her landslide victory as Prime Minister led to her house arrest by the reigning military junta government. Yet in spite of her situation, she won the Nobel prize for her literary work in 1991 and continues to effectively perform her role as the partylist leader. More importantly, she has maintained her status as a dignified political figure respected not only by the Burmese people but likewise around the world.

Aung San Suu Kyi epitomizes the Asian woman of today. She embodies a character that vindicates the competence of Asian women not only in surpassing traditional roles but more importantly, the aptitude to excel irrespective of the challenge imposed by circumstance.

Indeed, the Asian women of today have proven their worth amidst the challenge of masculine domination. Yet it has been a journey which bears the scar of repression and mockery. With the hovering predicament on gender inequality, Asian women have learned to uphold their conviction and embrace reality with competitive excellence.

It is the Asian woman’s sense of belonging in a family, a community and an ancient, shared culture that gives her the strength and conviction to be whatever she wants to be. We can be career-oriented, but with every promotion there is the feeling of pride because we have honored the families and communities that we have come from through our achievements. We can be totally liberal in terms of political leanings or social values, but the our views on morality – whether or not they coincide with what is conventionally moral in Asian culture – will always be tinged by the inherently caring nature in all of us. The modern Asian woman is not an anachronism; she is contemporary, and she is real.

Asian women also gained international popularity for their good performances in hollywood films. Names like Lucy Liu and Michelle Yeoh are known alongside famous English-speaking actors. Playing major roles in Charlie’s Angels and Tomorrow Never Dies, respectively, Liu and Yeoh showed how versatile and world-class Asian talents are.

In the world of business, Asian women are also becoming influential. In the 2009 Forbes.com’s 100 Most Powerful Women, a number of Asian women were listed. Ho Ching, chief executive of Temasek Singapore and India’s ICICI Bank chief executive Chanda Kochhar graced the list at number five and 20 respectively. Other Asian business women and leaders from Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Philippines and Singapore also joined the list.

Indeed, Asian women has transformed from their shy and submissive personalities to aggressive, bold and even powerful individuals in the world today. From being in-charged of the domestic chores, they have now took on the challenge of caring and protecting the interests of the much bigger world.

A lot of things have changed; along with it is how women are raised. When you ask an elderly woman about how they are raised, mostly what they would tell is that during their time, a young woman is not allowed to go out by herself with a man. Second, they have curfew. They cannot stay out until midnight even though they are just with their girl friends. They cannot wear clothes that are too revealing.

Asian women know how to adopt with change, as the world gets a liberated, so do they. Now you can women wearing revealing clothes, going out to bars until dawn and hanging out with men and their girl friends. But this does not mean that they have lost their values. They are still conservative at heart. They still value their family’s reputation and would not do anything that would smear it.

Before women are not allowed to express their opinions openly, but now Asian women are speaking for themselves. You would see that most of the successful hosts are women. They are more active and involved in a lot of things especially in helping people, which only shows that even they are showing that they are strong and independent, they are still caring and soft-hearted.

During the earlier days, women are home makers. They take care of their children and run the house while their husbands make the income. Nowadays, Asian women are becoming good entrepreneurs and employees. They are exerting effort in helping their husband to make some earnings. Especially now that the world is having economic crisis, they would not sit around and wait until the economy recovers. They will try their best to increase their family’s budget by doing small businesses or part-time jobs so that they can earn without forsaking the needs of their children.

And so, do exotic beauty, timid, giving, loving, conservative, patient and kind still describe Asian women? The answer is definitely yes, with the additions of strong, open-minded, skilled, resourceful and competent. Asian women acknowledge that change is constant and keep up by changing to become better without losing their core identity

There are several studies done to answer this issue. Fenner and Young (2001) in fact presented legal bases why women should or should not be allowed to join the military as combatants. Accordingly, physical and psychological capacities are very important aspects in the military especially in combat situations. Are women capable of the demands and the pressures that combatants may have to face and withstand? On the move for the revocation of the exclusion of women as combatants, Fenner and Young stressed the need. They said that no matter how media try to reshape and manipulate the character of women they are still weak and are incapable of the pressures posed on combatants:

No matter how many movies are marketed to reshape the female psyche into GI Jane or Xenia, however real life examples of women who have been able to withstand even simulated ground combat horrors without damaged to the point of permanent disability are extremely rare. (Fenner and Young 2001, pp. 145-146)

Further more, Fenner and Young cited cases of American women in the military where the government spent twice as much as they spent for their male counterpart in recruiting them to active-duty but even with large bonuses offered to women, many still leave the army even before the service contracts are made:

“The peacetime attrition statistics for the past decade—when women are promoted at higher rates than standards less rigorous that the male standards—Irrefutably demonstrate that the army cant attract and retain good women to fighting force” (Fenner and Young 2001, p. 146.).

Pugliese (1998 as cited in Fenner and Young, 2001) that some of the reasons of the attrition their experiences of being called “slut,” “whore,” “bitch” and worst of all are the strenuous demands of the combat training.

Indeed there are many situations that have been used to discriminate women in combat. And yet, women must be respected for what they wish in their lives. The FreeLibrary.com states:

“If women want to serve in combat, it’s discriminatory to deny them; it’s like the rank discrimination that once segregated blacks in the battlefields. But there were no biological differences to justify the unequal treatment of black soldiers….” (The FreeLibrary .com).

Browne (as cited in The Free Library.com) also pointed out that the exclusion of women is more parallel to the exclusion of older people from active service, which according to him is based on biological fact. He thus states:

The “equal opportunity” argument winds up being a call for special treatment. Women can’t be expected to meet the same physical qualifications as men, and the advocates want military women to be assigned to combat only by their own choice. (Browne as cited in The FreeLibrary.com).

It is ethical for the military or the army to allow women to choose not to be in combat then? Moskos (as cited in The Free Library.com) states:

“To allow both sexes to choose whether or not to go into combat would be the end of an effective military force. Honesty requires that supporters of lifting the ban on women in combat state openly that they want to put all female soldiers at the same combat risk as all male soldiers — or that they don’t.”

There are many arguments regarding this issue. On Browne’s argument that women are not physically the same with men he was challenged by a writer in Winds of Change.net who presented the following arguments:

1. That the high-tech nature of modern warfare means that the sexes no longer differ much in combat-relevant ways;
2. That as long as a woman possesses the individual physical and psychological attributes of an effective soldier, her inclusion in a combat unit would not impair its effectiveness;
3. That the primary obstacle to integration are men’s “masculinist” attitudes, which can be overcome with adequate training and leadership.

These arguments indicate that women can indeed shoot. It indicates that women have the physical and psychological attributes to become good combatants. There have been real life situations that have manifested the ability of the women to pull the trigger when necessary.

Women should indeed be given the right to fully develop in whatever professions they believe they can be most beneficial. In
today’s society where there is the need of people who can dedicate themselves to end terrorism, one way of honoring the women is to stop the prohibition on women in combat as this had been seen as an “outmoded vestige of a bygone era that only hurts women to serve.” (McFeatters, 203). It is part of the repression of women’s right. It is part of the discrimination of women.

There are many wars that have been waged. There are many combats that have yet to be won if only to bring the society into a just, humane, and peaceful society. What most ironical there is then than when in the quest for justice, the male combatants as agents for such quest have to withhold from the women the chance to be part of such victory to make this earth a peaceful world to live in.

There is nothing wrong with women. Ethical standards call for the promotion that women in combat and in fact in all aspects of the military should not be stalled because of their sexuality. It is high time the society put an end to the many forms of women repression. It should stop blocking brave women in their desire to serve their country in the manner they deem best.

Asian women are still resilient, and will bounce back from every difficult situation, but, today, they could not just persevere, but, will also create favorable conditions of living. They will not just accept what was offered to them, but, will innovate to improve well-being. They are capable of pursuing their ambitions and achieving them.

Asian women are still devoted to the family. In fact, family will always be their top priority. They respect their “angkong” and “amma” (lolo and lola), their “papa” and “mama”. They value family unity. They will support each family member with all their might. But, Asian women of today are also devoted to the contribution they give to the society, the country and to the world they belong to. They believe they have responsibility to the family, but, they are also very much in to the welfare of their fellow citizens, their environment, their government and the world they live in.

Asian women are still conservative with their value system. They still have strong values influenced by their upbringing, by their culture and by their religion. But, today, Asian women are knowledgeable and informed. They know when to put a balance between the values they strongly uphold and the changes in the culture and society. They know how to please both worlds. They won’t want to offend the traditionals, but, still keep up with the trend. They could still be fashionable, while, maintaining their identification with their respective culture. They are allies of the “east meets west”. They will be wise to accept new influences as long as it promotes better well being, but, they will always keep their identity intact.

Asian women are still good housekeepers. They love serving their children. They love instilling in their children family and godly values, which, they will live by even as they grow up. Some of the Asian women of today would still give up their own aspirations to make sure their children will grow well and live good lives someday. Some of them might not need to with the support of open-minded husbands. Still, the fact remains that Asian women will give everything they have for the good of their offsprings and to be assured of their proper upbringing. This is something hard to change even with the growth of opportunities and technological advances.

Indeed, Asian women are more than what history dictates. They are women worth of respect not just because they are beautiful and strong willed, but, because they are full of heart willing to give much of themselves for the welfare of others.