So in olden days women got to rest in a corner at least for four days in a month under the pretext of being unclean/untouchable.
This practice initially evolved to give rest to the woman, but degenerated into untouchability/taboo.
The reasons behind this ancient practice followed in all traditional cultures of the world may have revolved around practising hygeine. Also, when people lived so close to wilderness & nature, I am not sure how safe it would be for a menstruating lady to go around outside, animals could have smelled her out and attacked the whole group. When people relied on natural water bodies (rivers, lakes) for taking baths, a crocodile or other carnivorous fish could have been attracted by the taste of blood. And I can't stress the importance of hygeine/seggregation/separation in traditional cultures, where prevention was the only way to keep away the spread of disease.
Of course, there is also the VERY important aspect of resting your body.
If you look at any families from 50 years ago, men knew how to cook. Because they needed to cook when their women were in seclusion. This way, they would have appreciated how difficult housework is and actually appreciated their wife. Of course there were some famillies where women were really inconvinienced during their time of seclusion, I won't blame the men for this, I will blame the matriarch- any old woman who makes these rules & forces the youngesters to live by them, not for their good, but to make them fell lesser humans.
Gradually, our socioeconomic structures changed, we no longer live close to wildlife, we have modern amenities & equipment which makes housework much easier (no need to fetch water from a river or well, no need to pound or grind your own grain). We have access to better hygeine (sewage systems, piped running water, soap, disinfectants, clean bathrooms). The seclusion of women doesn't make sense, so people start questionining it and wanting to do away with it.
Then some very progressive man or matriarch decided that they won't mind the wife walking around the house & cooking... Some women welcomed this move & in fact demanded it, why should they stay away as untouchables in a corner?
The fallout: Today there are some unfortunate women who work like a continuous slave in the kitchen while their husband enjoys the free food & clean house. Even if the wife is sick, ill, she should get up and make the man his food. After all it is her work.These men come home from work and relax. They are not bothered about what goes on in their own house, they are more interested in the world: telivision, newspaper. They don't realize that although their office work ends, their wife toils all day, all night. She doesn't even get the four days of seclusion which her sisters got 50 years ago.
From what I notice, if you live in that kind of family, you would be ostracised as an untouchable 50 years ago. You will work as a slave today.
On similar lines, recently I saw a blog post gone viral, about how a stay-at-home-mom writes to a working-mom, and a working-mom writes to a stay-at-home-mom, each of them admiring each other's sacrifices in raising kids.
Well, I know some women who slog SOMUCH, they work as well as manage the home, probably such a woman should write both those letters to herself, since she works a full-time job and also does all the housework.
You see, since we have progressed to let women be educated & work, it is expected of them to bring the bacon home.
However, the household chores are still her duty. After all, it is a privilege that she is allowed to work.
I don't understand how women end up gradually in this situation, allowing this to be done to themselves, I don't understand how thoughtless a husband has to be to behave that way with his wife.
No wonder I see the popular meme being shared on FB, something along the lines of how a woman may not be a queen in her husband's eyes, but will always be her daddy's princess. O yes, none of those women can be queens after marriage, they are supposed to be daddy's princesses forever, while daddy neglects his own wife :D
Here I am not pondering on the women who LOVE working in the kitchen & do it happily wholeheartedly. Nor am I pondering on men who are so so so busy with work & no time to do anything at home. All I am thinking about is, that gender sensitivity seems to be one sided in some respects- women have taken to careers much faster than men have taken to the kitchen.
This practice initially evolved to give rest to the woman, but degenerated into untouchability/taboo.
The reasons behind this ancient practice followed in all traditional cultures of the world may have revolved around practising hygeine. Also, when people lived so close to wilderness & nature, I am not sure how safe it would be for a menstruating lady to go around outside, animals could have smelled her out and attacked the whole group. When people relied on natural water bodies (rivers, lakes) for taking baths, a crocodile or other carnivorous fish could have been attracted by the taste of blood. And I can't stress the importance of hygeine/seggregation/separation in traditional cultures, where prevention was the only way to keep away the spread of disease.
Of course, there is also the VERY important aspect of resting your body.
If you look at any families from 50 years ago, men knew how to cook. Because they needed to cook when their women were in seclusion. This way, they would have appreciated how difficult housework is and actually appreciated their wife. Of course there were some famillies where women were really inconvinienced during their time of seclusion, I won't blame the men for this, I will blame the matriarch- any old woman who makes these rules & forces the youngesters to live by them, not for their good, but to make them fell lesser humans.
Gradually, our socioeconomic structures changed, we no longer live close to wildlife, we have modern amenities & equipment which makes housework much easier (no need to fetch water from a river or well, no need to pound or grind your own grain). We have access to better hygeine (sewage systems, piped running water, soap, disinfectants, clean bathrooms). The seclusion of women doesn't make sense, so people start questionining it and wanting to do away with it.
Then some very progressive man or matriarch decided that they won't mind the wife walking around the house & cooking... Some women welcomed this move & in fact demanded it, why should they stay away as untouchables in a corner?
The fallout: Today there are some unfortunate women who work like a continuous slave in the kitchen while their husband enjoys the free food & clean house. Even if the wife is sick, ill, she should get up and make the man his food. After all it is her work.These men come home from work and relax. They are not bothered about what goes on in their own house, they are more interested in the world: telivision, newspaper. They don't realize that although their office work ends, their wife toils all day, all night. She doesn't even get the four days of seclusion which her sisters got 50 years ago.
From what I notice, if you live in that kind of family, you would be ostracised as an untouchable 50 years ago. You will work as a slave today.
On similar lines, recently I saw a blog post gone viral, about how a stay-at-home-mom writes to a working-mom, and a working-mom writes to a stay-at-home-mom, each of them admiring each other's sacrifices in raising kids.
Well, I know some women who slog SOMUCH, they work as well as manage the home, probably such a woman should write both those letters to herself, since she works a full-time job and also does all the housework.
You see, since we have progressed to let women be educated & work, it is expected of them to bring the bacon home.
However, the household chores are still her duty. After all, it is a privilege that she is allowed to work.
I don't understand how women end up gradually in this situation, allowing this to be done to themselves, I don't understand how thoughtless a husband has to be to behave that way with his wife.
No wonder I see the popular meme being shared on FB, something along the lines of how a woman may not be a queen in her husband's eyes, but will always be her daddy's princess. O yes, none of those women can be queens after marriage, they are supposed to be daddy's princesses forever, while daddy neglects his own wife :D
Here I am not pondering on the women who LOVE working in the kitchen & do it happily wholeheartedly. Nor am I pondering on men who are so so so busy with work & no time to do anything at home. All I am thinking about is, that gender sensitivity seems to be one sided in some respects- women have taken to careers much faster than men have taken to the kitchen.
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