It’s
a woman’s world
“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 an amused yet 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 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 in the converse? If a man is weak and clinging, he is called parasite
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 tough and the tough exterior 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 awaiting my ‘queening it’. I can employ a cook and
ayah and let them handle mundane chores. Workouts at the club, videotapes 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, I could
become a physiotherapist or a paratrooper.
It 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 kabab 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 compassion
and draw on the masculine traits of rational thinking and that’s when I think I have “everything
good going”.
No comments:
Post a Comment