S-01. What Women Wear

Voice 1

Hello. I'm Marina Santee.

Voice 2

And I'm Elizabeth Lickiss. Welcome to Spotlight. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

Voice 1

Farah is a woman from Pakistan. Her husband studies at a university in England. So England is now Farah's home. Farah and her family were celebrating the end of the Moslem season of Ramadan. She and her little daughter wore beautiful clothes. The clothes had detailed designs around the edges. Farah's husband had made the clothes from cloth that Farah had bought in Pakistan.

Farah's clothes were special. They had been designed with much love. Farah chose her clothes for that special day very carefully. And she is not alone. Look around you? The clothing industry is big business. Clothes are an important part of many women's lives. So what influences women to wear particular sorts of clothes?

Voice 2

Spotlight reaches many different countries. Our listeners wear many kinds of clothes. Climate is one thing that influences clothes. People need thicker clothes in colder climates. Clothes are also influenced by what materials exist. These could be anything - from animal skins in the rain forest to modern, man-made materials produced in factories. But tradition also plays a very strong part in what many women wear.

Voice 1

For example, in Pakistan and North India women wear the 'Shalwar Kameez'. The 'Shalwar' is a pair of trousers. The trousers cover the legs and lower body. The Kameez is a tunic or shirt. It covers the upper part of the body and reaches down to the knees. The Shalwar Kameez does not fit close to the body. It is loose fitting. A piece of cloth called a dupatta completes the Shalwar Kameez. If the woman is a Moslem she wears the dupatta as a scarf round her head. If she is not a Moslem she may wear it round her shoulders.

Voice 2

In India many women wear a sari. A sari is a large piece of cloth, several metres long. The woman wraps it round her body in different ways. The way she wraps it depends on where in India she lives.

The sari is a very ancient form of clothing. The word sari means 'piece of cloth' in the Sanskrit language. Some people think that the sari comes from the dhoti. Dhoti is also an Indian local word. It is a piece of cloth that men in India wear round the lower half of their bodies. Long ago, women used to wear them too. Some people think women used to wear a top piece with the dhoti or sari. Other people think that the women wore nothing to cover the top part of their bodies. Yet others say that the women wrapped the end of the sari round their shoulders but left the middle part of the body uncovered. This is because they believed that all life came from the navel - the little hole at the front of the body near the waist.

Voice 1

In Malaysia and Thailand women wear long skirts with a tunic over the top. The colours are often very beautiful. For special occasions the people who make the clothes put threads of gold into the clothes.

In modern China most women wear trousers. These are loose fitting. They also wear a short tunic. The tunic starts at the neck and goes down to below the waist. These clothes are very practical. It is easy to work in these clothes. But for special events some Chinese women will throw aside the trousers and tunic. Instead they will wear the beautiful, full-length dress called the 'cheong sam'.

Voice 2

Why do women wear the clothes that they wear? The clothes people wear are often affected by their religion or tradition. For example, in many cultures, people keep their legs covered. This is their tradition. This was true in the West until the end of the eighteen hundreds. Moslem women cover their heads when they go out. This is because their religion says so. For another example, in Chinese tradition, to show the neck is considered 'not nice'.

But in the West the clothes women wear seem a long way from tradition. Tastes in clothes are always changing - maybe too fast for some people! Shelagh Godwin lives in England. She is a grandmother. Near her home is a very big school where young people study. Every day, she sees them walking up the hill to the school. She says:

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'I am very surprised by some of the clothes these girls wear. I see short skirts that reach to half way between the waist and the knee. I see boots. (Boots are shoes that extend up to cover most of the legs.) And I see waists that are not covered. I think these girls must get very cold'.

Voice 1

Shelagh asked her daughter about the young girls. Why do they want to wear these kinds of clothes? Shelagh's daughter explains,

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'Young women in the West do not know about traditions. But they know what they see and they know what they like. They go to the cinema to see films. They watch television. And they read magazines. They see pictures of young women with short skirts, long boots, and uncovered waists, and they want to be like them. They say, 'If you think you have nice legs, or a nice waist, why not show them to the world? Doing this may encourage a man. He may then want to marry me.'

Voice 1

In the West, parents do not normally choose husbands or wives for their children. Adult sons and daughters find their own husbands or wives.

Every year the clothes companies design something different. This year they like short skirts. Next year they may design skirts that reach to the ankles. And whatever the people who design clothes design, many young women will want to wear. This is fashion. This is style.

Voice 2

However, in many parts of the world, what people wear is decided by what they believe. The Islamic Koran, for example, tells women to wear particular clothes that cover their bodies well. The Christian Bible does not say exactly what women should wear. But it does say that Christian women should dress 'modestly', respectfully. They should also not wear clothes to make themselves look rich or important. But the Bible also says that people should not judge other people by what they are wearing. In fact, it warns against judging people at all. This is because we humans cannot see the way people are inside. One famous saying from the Bible is this: 'Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.'

Voice 1

The writer of today's programme was Shelagh Godwin. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. Computer users can hear our programmes, read our scripts and see our wordlist on our website at www.radio.english.net. This programme is called 'What Women Wear'.