 Wysłany: Pią 11:54, 25 Mar 2011 Temat postu: A Woman's Worth_2515 |
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| In the "Europe" section of The New York Times, I read an article about an Albanian woman who chose to become the man of the house after her father was murdered. She, Pashe Keqi, now 78, was able to do this at the age of 20 by becoming a sworn virgin. She said,ed hardy Diamond caps, "While a woman's life is worth half that of a man, a virgin's value is the same: 12 oxen." Her virginity ensured her equality.
That led me to ponder, how many oxen am I worth; and can I still ensure my equality if my virginity is long gone? In a world of equality, that question would be moot. Or is that moo when dealing with oxen? American women can tout equality from their L'Oreal locks down to their Jimmy Choo shoes, but they're still only paid 75.3 cents to every dollar a man makes. They are still traditionally defined by their marital status (Miss or Mrs.) before they are as an individual (Ms.). They still often give up their name for a man when they marry, and they still often pay more for a haircut and dry cleaning than a man does (even if they have shorter hair and simpler clothes). They still do not have equality. What is a woman's worth? Her ability to bear and raise children? To multitask? To bring home the bacon and fry it up in the pan? Women don't have to be like men to have equality, but they have to know that they are worthy of it and they have to see it as an inherent right that they desire. I just wonder if they do. It's impossible to ensure equality by participating in a tradition that does not promote it. Based on the fact that more than 90% of American women take a man's last name when they marry and go by "Mrs.," it begs the questions: Are women simply not interested in equality or do they not see the connections between their actions and the inequities those actions perpetuate? Any tradition that promotes inequality is a tradition worthy of reconsideration. Women are amazing and powerful. They are not afraid to have "ah ha" moments and change their lives in an instant. I believe that as more women make the connections between the choices they make and the inequities those choices create, that more women will make new choices. Source: New York Times piece By DAN BILEFSKY Published: June 25, 2008. United States Census Bureau 2003 For us, Halloween was here. Some of the older folks were concerned about tomorrow night, which was really Halloween night. We had been told, "Tomorrow night you are not leaving this house." The story was the same with all of us. There was a conspiracy among the older folks. They had it in their heads to spoil our tricking, but our plans were already made, and we had taken what our folks had said into account. We would do our tricking on this night, the night before Halloween and forget about the treats of tomorrow night.Our plan was for all of us to get out of the house as quickly as we could after supper. If your folks raised suspicions, then you were to sneak out before supper. After all, what is a meal missed when the fun of Halloween was about to begin? Just before supper, Wizzer gave our signal then hollered for me from outside the kitchen door just like we had planned. Mom never could say no to Wizzer. I had never told Wizzer about this, but one day I had heard Mom say that she felt sorry for him, what with him being a change of life baby and all. It wasn't my intent to spy on her. This particular conversation was overheard at one of her gabfests with her friend Julia. I was only trying to do what I had been trying to do with no luck at all for as long as I could remember. Namely, it was to see Mrs. Wetzel sleeping and doing something that took some watching and being careful. Just now, they was pitting and peeling peaches and getting them ready for canning. |
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