Creative Housewives
How often do we hear a mother or a spouse described as “just
a housewife”, implying an inconsequential occupation? While we use Jean
Little’s much quoted observation “A man can work from sun to sun, But a woman's
work is never done”, home is where a woman is the most invisible. Husbands
“protect” their wives by depersonalizing them as “Ghar wali”, “ Her Indoors” or in Japanese,
Gusai, “my foolish wife”. Career women may also consider housewives as leading
less meaningful lives.
Barbara Van Schaik says many married women have a “derived
identity” determined by the needs of her husband, her children and, in some
cases, her new extended family. Her self-esteem, and self -worth is validated
with praise, and devastated by criticism. Personal interests can be pursued so
long as they do not interfere in fulfilling these responsibilities.
In reality the home is a vibrant place of energy and
vitality, where it is the presence of a woman that makes a “family”. Pablo Neruda’s 100 love sonnets to
his wife, describes the kitchen as a bustling train station, with steam rising
from cooking pots.
In addition to their housework, an estimated ten million
women, 80% of home workers in Pakistan, add to the family income, stitching
jute bags, packing matchboxes, peeling and packing prawns, and a host of other
underpaid intensive work. They contribute Rs 260 billion to the national
economy. Progressively higher up the social ladder, Gulshan Bibi of Haripur has
gathered 600 women to make and sell craft products. Nilofur gets up at 4 am to
prepare Keto meals that her runner delivers to her clients. Maroofa runs a
furniture workshop of 25 carpenters to
support her children and herself.
Then there is Arshi, mother of a young teenager and wife of
an estate agent, who writes beautiful poetry shared in tarranum on Whatsapp
with her friends and family. There is no economic benefit or desire for fame.
It is just an outpouring of the creative spirit and a way of coping with
hardships.
Village women, after a grueling 16 hour day, sit under poor
light to embroider, make colourful azarbands, and ralli quilts for the home. As
Judy Fraters writes, the use of personal motifs in embroidery reflect identity
and personality far more than technique.
Embroidery made as self-expression is a woman’s canvas.
Under the dictatorship of Pinochet, Chilean women embroidered notebook sized arpilleras depicting the plight of
“missing” relatives, folded and hidden in their purses until they could be
smuggled out for the world to know. Palestinian
Tatreez embroidery has become a symbol of defiance. When Israelis confiscated
the Palestinian flag, the women embroidered the flag, the Palestinian map and
other national symbols on their clothing. Afghani women expressed the impact of
the Soviet Occupation in motifs in woven carpets.
Across the world,
quilting clubs bring women together as a community, and were precursors to the Suffragette
Movement. The70 meter long Bayeux Tapestry embroidered by medieval English women,
depicting scenes from the 1066 AD Battle of Hastings, has become an important source
for historians.
Women artists, poets, writers and craftswomen have
contributed significantly to cultural history. Mary Cassatt, immortalized the
home life of women in her paintings. Virginia Woolf represented the inner world
of women, as did the Bronte sisters, Quratul Ain Haider, Hijab Imtiaz Ali, and
Khadija Mastur.
Pakistan has a galaxy of women artists, poets, writers, and actors,
all of whom balance home and their creative contributions. Sisters Zehra Nigah
and Fatima Surraiya Bajia, Noorul Huda Shah, Bano Qudsia, and Haseena Moin,
have given us television serials and poetry
that defined the times, writing in between their domestic duties.
Many housewives have turned their culinary skills into small
scale catering businesses. Television cooking channels are hugely popular encouraging
women to add interest to family meals. Zubeida Tariq’s iconic cooking show
caught the national imagination not just with her recipes, but her exquisite saris
and accessories and her cure-all totkas.
There are many artists off the radar - Aziz Fatima Kazi,
Asma Pathan, and Hanifa Jooma started painting once their children had grown
up. Some housewives have a flair for interior decoration, flower arranging, and
fashion. At Karachi’s Memon Foundation, an average of 100,000 women enroll annually
on craft courses.
Many women homemakers have skills honed over the years, that
remain an untapped resource. There is a
need to adjust the lens to acknowledge, as Clive Edwards puts it, “Home is
where the Art is”.
Durriya Kazi
Karachi
January 16, 2022
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