Yesterday it was women’s international day and #daywithoutawoman, and I chose to celebrate the women in my family on Facebook. Earlier in the year I travelled to Peru, and I was fortunate enough to see my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Much of the time I spent surrounded by women, since the majority of my family is made up of women whom I admire and feel close to. It was nice being surrounded by my aunts and cousins, hearing their stories, ambitions, where they are in life, their worries, as well as their triumphs. While traveling, I observed the role that Peruvian women play at home, at work, in society. I would walk, and see the women vendors, mothers taking their kids to school, or shopping in the market, well-dressed women going to work with their heels and handbags over their shoulder, teenage girls at a punk concert throwing their hands up. They seemed to have found a place that was truly their own. As an observer I don’t know the burdens they carry everyday, the people they have to deal with, the men who shut them down, the laws that don’t defend their rights, or if they feel a sense of guilt for not being the “ideal woman” carved out by society. Gathered below are some photos of the women I saw during my time in the city of Lima and Cajamarca. There is no one definition for femininity or beauty; there is just the search for a life that is truly yours, one where you are respected and not taken for granted.
Portrait of June 