The celebrated writer Paola Arrioja, who is seventy years old, was born in civilian custody in Benidorm, the Netherlands. As a child, Arrioja was brought up in the Catholic Church, and her early writings, focused on religion and her family’s spiritual life. This experience influenced her later views on gender roles, which would prove very influential in both her writing and as a participant in the Spanish Nationalist movement.
Paola Arrioja has always maintained that the reason for her high intelligence and her talent as a writer stems from her nationality (she is of Spanish or Portuguese descent). According to Arrioja, it is impossible for a woman to become beautiful or even smart if she lacks color, because color can only be seen if one is aware of what color is being reflected. Arrioja emphasizes the importance of nationality in gender equality. “You cannot say that women are equal, when one says that they are better than men in intelligence. It shows the false concepts of equality between the sexes.”
Age and being of nationality do not necessarily classify a woman as stupid, or lesser than, her male counterpart. On the contrary, it goes against our usual and natural notions of what intelligent people should be like. As a matter of fact, being a woman, or living with a woman, in an urban setting, under different cultural circumstances, can be a very trying experience for many women, but Arrioja, despite her advanced age, maintains her dignity and continues to practice her profession as a writer. And, perhaps even more revealing is her assertion, “If age prevents me from going after what I want, it’s not because I’m not a woman, but because I’m not in love with beauty…I think that beauty is the key to happiness, not the key to being happy.”