She moves carefully and slowly but surely. She watches every move that she takes. She stays at home and does household chores. She doesn’t participate in community affair for it is the role of the men. She wears long dresses—enough to cover her caressed silky and naturally tanned skin. These are just few of the typical characteristics of a demure Filipina way back centuries ago.
A demure Filipina is characterized for being decorous in bearing and affectedly modest. She is also sober and grave. One best example who possess those is Maria Clara, a fictional character in one of Dr. Jose Rizal’s masterpiece Noli Me Tangere.
Maria Clara is commonly used to symbolize the purity, chastity and innocence of a sheltered native woman during the Spanish regime. She does not value material things that were abundantly bestowed upon her by suitors and family alike but holds in high esteem her parents’ honor and the promise she had given to her sweetheart, Crisostomo Ibarra.
Maria Clara was related by Rizal to Leonor Rivera, his real-life childhood sweetheart. She was portrayed in the novel as a faithful lover, a good friend and an obedient daughter. She was also portrayed as the “ideal-woman-to-have for the rest of man’s life” during her time.
Today’s Modern Filipina
The Maria Clara type of Filipina is nowadays hard to find.
As time goes by, the number of Maria Clara in our society diminishes. More so, this change can be seen dramatically if one knew of the Filipina before any colonizer got hold of the land influencing and engulfing greatly the minds and ways and of the culture of Filipino society. Indeed it is a fact that Filipino women widely known as Filipina, have changed a great deal and adapted unknowingly the styles and norms of the Westerners when she came in contact with the New World. The then demure Filipinas were influenced a lot in their way of living.
Because of this influence, the behavior of Filipina, locally called Pinay, changed. A number of inevitable changes can be observed in many Filipino women now a days, especially when one is keen in observing these changes. As saying goes “nothing remains constant,” the old norms of a demure Filipina also didn’t left for a change to adopt the highly-modernized era.
Several aspects in Filipina’s characteristics have undergone transition.
There are two sides of this change in Filipina’s behavior: the negative and the positive.
Negative Change
Filipina of today is wholly opposite to a Maria Clara type of Filipina with regards to fashion. Some, but not all, love to wear few-inches-long skirt enough to cover the inner wear of the lower body part with matching sleeveless shirt or what they call “spaghetti” in the upper. Plus, the front part of the upper almost sees the world which is quite good enough for a typical men love staring at.
For some, doing such is not making herself become a “public temptation”, but it’s just a matter of showing confidence to a “coca-cola body” given by God. It is just a sense of appreciation.
Another change in Filipina norms is on the length of time on giving a sweet “yes” to a suitor. Way back then, it takes several months and even years before a Filipina releases her sweetest “yes” to a long-time and deserving suitor.
