WOMEN IN THE PHILIPPINES: STATUS, STEREOTYPES, MARIA CLARA AND ABUSE

Rizal based the character that is fictional of Clara from his real-life gf and relative Leonor Rivera. Although idolized and praised, MarГ­a Clara’s chaste, “masochistic” and “easily fainting” character had already been criticized given that “greatest misfortune that features befallen the Filipina within the last few a hundred years”. An attire connected to MarГ­a Clara’s character as a maiden who is delicate, feminine, self-assured and with a sense of identity in fashion in the Philippines, MarГ­a Clara’s name has become the eponym for a Filipino national dress for females known as the MarГ­a Clara gown. +

MarГ­a Clara’s track by JosГ© Rizal:

Sweet the hours into the indigenous nation, where friendly shines the sun above! Life could be the breeze that sweeps the meadows; tranquil is death; many tender, love.

Warm kisses regarding the lips are playing once we awake to mother’s face: the hands are searhing for to embrace her, the eyes are smiling while they gaze. (more…)