The iron ladies

FEMININITY is often misrepresented by the social construct at large, as a result, girls are pressured into conforming conventional pastimes and traditional career choices or otherwise subjected to critics for not acting in accordance with the ‘ideal concept’ of femininity.
It is merely an idea to emphasise lady-like attributes, but women too can be dominant, assertive, strong and resilient, yet at the same time gentle, compassionate, caring and sweet.
In many cases, they find themselves to be in a state of perpetual hardships as they struggle to challenge the weight of society expectations and peer pressure, which forces them to doubt themselves and cast aside their passion.
Pantene’s latest campaign continues to celebrate the spirit of being strong and what it means to be a woman of strength with the launch of #WANITABESI, a short film that encourages all Malaysian women to be the best version of themselves.
Starring the new Pantene Malaysia brand ambassador, Yuna alongside with two outstanding Malaysian women including health and fitness icon Linora Low and former Malaysian team diver, Adeline Chin.
Together they stand by the brand’s philosophy of “Strong is Beautiful” to inspire women to look and feel their strongest.
The short film portrays developing real-life experiences from their lives of how these remarkable women are fighting eternal stereotypes by staying strong over adversity.
Accompanied by a specially composed soundtrack, the nursery rhyme “Bangun Pagi” is given a unique twist with a re-written final verse that transformed it from a child’s song into an anthem of strength.
Yuna said: “I feel honoured to be chosen as the new Pantene Malaysia ambassador. For years, Pantene has always been part of my hair care regime and I truly love the brand for inspiring women by building up confidence through strong is beautiful campaign.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have a lot of strong women in my life, or as I now call them #WANITABESI, together we can all inspire each other to chase after our dreams,” she added.
She shared the pinnacle moment where her strength was tested at the beginning of her music career: “I was getting a lot of offers from record labels, one day I was called to a meeting and this guy who was running the record label was asking me to lose my hijab, saying that I would strive without the hijab but it’s not who I am.
“I had to ask myself, do I sacrifice my identity or do I walk away from the offer.”
With Yuna as the newest member of the Pantene family, she hopes that her story would resonate beyond discerning audiences to rise above society expectations.

At the same time, she took the opportunity to pay tribute to her mother who had shown tremendous support in her life, she said: “My mum is my #WANITABESI.”
The general manager of Procter & Gamble Malaysia, May Teoh expressed her belief of “Strong is Beautiful” that every woman is an iron lady in their own rights.

She said: “Now it’s time to flip the script with #WANITABESI. You are beautiful as long as you are doing what you love.”
“Pantene empowers every #WANITABESI through toughest test possible because a strong hair on the inside shines beautifully on the outside,” she added.
#WANITABESI is now for viewing on Pantene’s YouTube channel.