“You women have a lot of
advantages” said my husband’s friend at a party. “As saleswomen, you have easy entry to homes
and offices; you can enter beauty contests and take part in fashion shows. Male colleagues help you in the office…you
have everything good going!” I listened
to him with a skeptical smile. But
thinking over what he said, I feel he isn’t far from the truth.
Yes, life for us women is
generally as good as we make it. If I
decide to be weak and clinging, I’m sure to arouse the protective instinct of
many a male. I can exploit this without
their knowing it. A weak smile, an
apologetic “Please, will you help me……” and many prototypes of Walter Raleigh
will spring up to spread out the red coat.
The more helpless I pose to be, the more enthusiastic is their offer to
help.
Can you imagine the same situation with
men? If a man is weak and clinging, he
is called a sissy and shunned by women themselves. No wonder it is said, “Blessed are the meek,
for they inherit the earth” (applicable only to women).
If I decide to be pushy and
ambitious I get enough encouragement
from male counterparts who’d rather let a woman win than their own sex. I can play a dual game here _ switch on the
weak act when things get out of hand.
The velvet glove and the
iron hand is a unique feminine ensemble.
If I decide to be a
housewife, I have a castle called my home
waiting so I can be a queen. I
can employ a cook and ayah and let them handle mundane chores. Workouts at the club, DVDs to watch, shopping
sprees, gossip sessions, kitty parties, batik classes and afternoon naps are my
multifarious activities. When I ‘m
bored, I may even go to the kitchen and bake a black forest.
If I decide to be a career
woman there are hundreds of avenues open to me.
I can take up a glamour job in an airline or ad agency or a hotel, I may
choose to become a receptionist, and I could become a physiotherapist or a
paratrooper.
If I decide to be nasty, I
have many ways to perfect my art. I can
bully my daughter –in-law into bringing gold and diamonds and if she doesn’t,
make a roast kebab out of her. I can
spread rumours about other women and malign them to the extent that they will
find life not so good after all! I can
nag my husband and drive him to the nearest bar – but then, I try not to show
this ugly side of me! My smile is a good
camouflage!
If I decide to be not a
woman, but a good human being, I can. I
can use my feminine traits of gentleness and kindness and draw on the masculine
traits of logic and reasoning and that’s when I think I have “everything good
going”,
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