"With great power comes great responsibility." Peter Parker may have needed this advice, but women know how to live and breathe it. Often subject to stereotypes, misconceptions, and not to mention misogyny on different levels, ladies have powered through these situations while maintaining a complex yet alluring persona filled with both grace and fierceness. So in celebration of International Women's Month in March, we reached out to amazing influencers, trailblazers, and personalities across Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines to share #UnfilteredStatements and be unapologetically themselves as they talk about their thoughts and convictions against the most common misconceptions on being a woman.
"Women can't thrive in a 'man's' world."
She says: "I am a pilot, and I am a woman, conquering a man's world."
"Feminists are always angry for no reason."
Women who voice their opinions on gender equality are often branded as 'man-haters'. In fact, feminism has often been aligned with such extremities. However, yoga instructor, trainer, and blogger Anna Manalastas states otherwise.
She says: "They're just passionate in expressing and communicating the truth that everyone is equal."
"Women don't like other women."
In a world where competition and success often go hand-in-hand, women, more than men, are expected to be pitted against each other. However, digital content creator, host and writer Jemimah James Wei breaks her silence by disproving this expectation with a single question.
She says: "How about I just don't like people who make gender-based generalisations?"
"Women are vain."
Dress too proper, you're a prude; dress a bit too carefree, you're too liberated — women are often subject to stereotypical judgement just by the way they dress or how they put their makeup on. But influencer and entrepreneur Juliana C. Stryker proves that vanity is not always a bad thing and that women can primp themselves up and be successful all the same, no compromises needed.
She says: "I may be vain, and I love my heels. But it doesn't mean I'm superficial and lack ambition. I'm also seeking to change Singapore's healthcare landscape with my 24-hour housecall doctor service. Behind every successful woman is herself."
"Women will never be as good as men."
A common label attached to womanhood is that they are the 'lesser and weaker sex'. Men and women are often expected to take on gender roles. Boxing coach, HIIT instructor, and ACE Certified personal trainer Wen Li wants to defy expectations.
She says: "I've seen so many women out there killin' it with whatever they choose to do. Women are strong, and women should never let anyone tell them what they can and cannot do."
"Strong women have impossibly high standards."
She says: "Strong women are very efficient. So the rest of the world? Gotta keep up."
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