It’s been happening to me with increasing frequency lately, and often it is downright terrifying. I am driving on some poorly-lit road at night when a figure cloaked in black suddenly darts a few inches ahead of my headlights and crosses over to the other side.
Slamming on the brakes with a gut-wrenching G-force worthy of a MiG-29 pilot, and with chilling emotions coursing through me, I fervently pray that there has been no contact. A prayer, said with a rapidly rising heartbeat, that I have not played a part in damage or injury to another living soul.
Just as I pull over to the side to compose myself, I notice in the rear view mirror a fleeting shadow of a woman, all cloaked in black, and on this dark and lonely street, fate has luckily decreed that she cross safely over to the other side.
And then anger overwhelms me. Moments after uttering a few unprintable expletives, I wonder: Why for heaven’s sake was this figure so oblivious to the harm that could have befallen her? Was she stupid enough to assume that motorists drive with night vision goggles and will be able to see her dark figure and slow down? Did she believe that being a woman automatically granted her the safe right of passage across a street?
But then as always, sympathy takes over. She may have been out to get food for her small children. Or visiting a sick relative, and had no other means of getting around. Was it really her mistake? If she had the resources to own a car, would she have exposed herself to such mortal danger? Is it really her fault, or one created by the social customs of a bygone era to create the illusion of modesty?
In this land of road warriors, I am usually a defensive driver, and this one got away safely. I hate to think just how many women have been struck down by passing motorists just by being in black. And why only black?
Modesty comes in all colors. Why not brown or sky blue, purple or powder pink for that matter? Or at least have a bit of color running through their abayas to protect them in such situations. Why should one gender dictate the attire of another? Why not allow women the freedom to determine their modesty comfort zone, and dress accordingly. And for their own safety.
If they do have to cross the streets unescorted and at night for now, the least that women should be allowed to do is sew some luminescent stripes over their black abayas in a sea of black, let there be some color. Else my sanity will not take it much longer.
