When you get dressed you probably put on some form of pants and a top. What if you weren’t allowed to? If you live in certain areas, are part of certain communities/religions/cultures or work in certain jobs, pants may be frowned upon or even entirely banned. As far as religion goes it is usually only the extremely traditional that don’t allow pants, and in a lot of those cases it’s not so much that it’s banned, it’s just very frowned upon.
Women today in many countries proudly wear pants. It’s such a simple, practical garment that most people don’t think twice about them. In reality there are still countries and communities that don’t allow women to wear them. It seems ridiculous, but it’s not a “days of old” issue. In fact, just this year Paris finally repealed a law that would have allowed women to be arrested for wearing pants in public. Also this year the female cabin crew for British Airways were finally allowed to wear trousers. The policing of what women wear is nothing new and there are many battles still being fought for our right to wear what we want. Lots of cultures and religions consider pants to be immodest. In some cases it’s even been said that rape cannot occur if a woman is wearing pants because they are too difficult to remove for a rapist and therefore it must have been consensual…
I don’t mind some traditions, but I find when people quote tradition for why something is done in a certain way, such as with this issue of pants, they’re just using it as an excuse to avoid progress and keep restricting others. I am all for people wearing whatever they want to wear, especially when it comes down to a practical garment like pants. Shorts, yoga pants, jeans, leggings, who cares? If you have a problem with people’s clothing, that’s your hang up.
Thanks for stopping by!
-Erin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_and_trousers
http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/02/04/it-is-now-legal-for-women-to-wear-pants-in-paris/