The Duties of Woman

Introduction
I work in a library. One day as I was tidying the shelves, I came across a small, orange, dusty book. It was titled The Duties of Man, written by a Mr. Joseph Mazzini. It had to be old. The title alone got the cogs inside my brain turning. What are The Duties of Woman? And are the duties the world tells us to fulfill, correct? And if I am not fulfilling them, does this make me less of a woman? When we think of the 1950s woman, we immediately get the image in our head of a young pretty lady, apron on, making dinner, complete with ridiculous smile plastered across her perfectly made- up face. There was even a whole culture identity of this woman; she was activey encouraged to stay in the kitchen, dote on her hardworking husband, and read her babies a night time story, before taking out her curlers to get an early night in order to wake up at the crack of dawn and begin breakfast. She had her womans weekly, giving her the latest recipes, and tips on how to look pretty for her man. She had her radio, telling the tales of the perfect housewife, always there for the family, giving her all to everyone but herself. Not encouraged to earn a living, but give up her own living to serve others. Hmm. Is it just me, or when you put it like that, does it seem like subconsciously, not much has changed? Dont we still put everyone else first? Dont our male counterparts still earn (the majority) of the bacon? Dont we still worry about our weight and if we look attractive enough to snare us a decent man, and isnt this still forcefed to us on a daily basis through magazines, t.v, and dear god, internet too? Are we really the independent free creatures we wanted to be for so long? Or do we actually, secretly, pretend that we have it all, when really, we are struggling to keep up? Because all of these wonderful virtues we wanted- freedom, money, careers, power, independence- is apparently there for the taking. So why are we still looked at as meat? Why do we still earn less than men? Why does the media make us feel like were all fat and ugly? Why are there hardly any women in government? Why do we still give and give to everybody and put ourselves last? Why do we still have to go through the pain of childbirth?!?!?! Okay, I took it too far, but you catch my drift. I have two reasons. One- we dont believe in ourselves. Two- men are scared of us. These reasons seem conflicting, but I will proceed to explain. Women by nature, are nature. We can shine like the sun. We can blow like the wind. And if you piss us off, we will explode like thunder and lightning! On a serious note; we dont believe in ourselves because men are scared of us. They are onto us ladies. Yes. They have marvelled at you for some time now. Mezmerised by our beauty, our ability to multi-task, empathise, our gift to communicate and express our emotions, our logical and sensible ways of thinking, our strength, our dedication, our loyalty. Yes ladies, they are in awe of us, because we are amazing creatures. But, they dont want us to realise our full potential, because then they would have to admit that the female sex is so much better than the male! Dont get me wrong, I am neither a feminist, nor a man- hater. But who made men kings of the world?! (Men probably.) Mother nature herself is beginning to show the world who she deems less useful. Female births are outnumbering male births, which continue to decline. Evolution of the species indeed. The interesting thing in our world today, is that men are becoming more and more like us. The term metro-sexual was coined a few years ago to describe the modern man who likes to take pride in his appearance, be in tune with his emotions, enjoys cooking, and isnt afraid to have a manicure once in a while. It is now completely normal for a man to go shopping, turn off the football, and watch Desperate Housewives with a glass of wine. While women continue to balance more in their lives than ever, men are applauded for doing the things we have been doing for centuries. Role reversal anyone? But while we continue to push and claw our way up in the world, and gain a piece of the pie, we are met with a strong and stubborn force. Greedy men own the majority of everything. The wealth we want a piece of. The media that gives us unrealistic idols to emulate. The land we buy a house on. The power that speaks and decides for us. Do you really think they are gonna hand it over to us that easily? Isnt it sad when a girl grows us being told that the world is her oyster and she can become anything she wants and make a difference in the world, only

The Duties of Woman

to be stopped halfway up the ladder by a male boss who is too preoccupied with her breasts in that blouse to give her mind a blind bit of notice? I have been feeling a frustration inside me build up for some time now. I grew up in the era of girl power, feeling like I could do anything I wanted, no husband required. Now, I look around at my friends, who are a shadow of their former feisty- selves. Thanks to the airbrushed models in magazines, the half-naked airheads in the newspapers who talk about how much they were paid to have sex with a married footballer, the constant sexuality of females enticing men from the t.v, now all my friends stress about their bodies, their clothes, and whether their boyfriend will stay faithful for more than 5 minutes. Thanks to the government, starting wars for no reason other than to take over oil supplies, taxing us more and more everyday and giving my friends less and less quality of life, giving a slap on the wrists to the MPs who claimed their BMW and second home on their expense lists, but coming after me for more money if I take on a second job because the first one just doesnt pay enough! Thanks to the idiot bankers who gave us all the credit cards they could throw at us, encouraging us to spend beyond our means, and then folding left right and centre and making it even harder for us to buy our first home, not to mention repossesing us of the homes we do have because the interest rates have shot up. Thanks to the lads lads, who think that shouting nice tits will actually get them sex, and that shouting fat arse will make them look like the big man in front of their mates, when actually both makes us feel degraded and angry that all you care about is parts of our bodies that we were actually okay with until you had such a hard time keeping in your opinion of it, you just had to shout it out as we walked by (never to the face, always to our backs). So, are you still ready to take over the world girls? Of course not, you feel bleak, insecure, unsteady, and wasted. All hope depleted. The kitchen suddenly looks like a safe place to retire to doesnt it? But do you think the world would be in the state it is right now, if women were in charge? I somehow doubt it. Do you think if women were in charge, we would feel the way we do about ourselves and our prospects in life? Unlikely. So, how do we begin to make changes? How do we take back half of what is ours? After all, we live on this planet too! We have a lot of duties, us women. Now, more than ever. Isnt it time one of us wrote the book on it?... (Chapters?) 1-Thou shalt not be a traitor 2-Thou shalt not be a stereotype 3-Thou shalt cherish your femininity 4-Thou shalt not loose thyself 5-Thou shalt not listen to them 6-Thou shalt love thyself 7-Thou shalt not be afraid to put yourself first 8-Thou shalt spread the message 9-Thou shalt not hate other women 10-Thou shalt follow your path

-more half naked women in womens magazines- unequal pay- media used to make us feel bad- to buy more things to make ourselves better- where does the money come from? credit/men- do children really burden us?- why is it acceptable to grab/holler us?- do we really want a one night stand or a partner? iv treatment means we no longer need men to impregnate us- the powers at the top wont let anyone into their circle, not even other men- womens fight is linked with working class fight/ civil rights- need to infiltrate the powers at the very top-