A Woman’s Place

(By Jane Wood

From "BBC English"¹)

"Why can't a woman be more like a man?" So sang Professor Higgins in "My Fair Lady", the musical based on Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion". The poor professor was baffled. He could not understand Eliza, the young girl he has saved from a life of poverty. All that was wrong was that she was in live, but he accused her of being a typical woman - irrational, illogical and never thinking properly. Today, many women are asking the same question as Professor Higgins but in a differernt way. Why aren't women thought of as equal in intelligence to men and able to do many of the same tasks? Are men and women really so different or has conditioning made us think there is a difference?

Biologically, of course, there is - there has never yet been a man who bore a child - but the theory that there is a "male" character and a "female" character is not easy to prove. In Chinese philosophy there is the idea of Yin and Yang. Yin is earth, female, dark, passive and absorbing, while yang is heaven, male, light, active and penetrating: the active male and passive female. More recently, studies have shown that the division is not so clear and that most people contain a balance of "male" and "female" characteristics.

It is the biological difference, however, which has always meant that men had one part to play and women another. In the earliest human groups or tribes, the work was divided in a simple way. Women stayed at home having children and growing fruit, vegetables and crops to feed the family. Men went away from home to hunt animals which would provide more food. The partnership was equal and women and were respected for the part they played.

Since that time, the status of women has gone through many changes, sometimes being very high and other times low. But the role of women has not changed. Today, as much as any other time, most women are expected to make their lives around the home. The woman is the centrepoint of the family and provides the link between children and father, whilst the man represents the family outside the home in society.

But there have always been rebels - those who refused to accept their role and were determined to pursue another course. Hypatia was a respected teacher at the University of Alexandria in the fourth century BC and the renowned Frenchwoman Joan of Arc, defied convention by dressing as a man and leading soldiers into a successful battle against the English in 1429. Literature is an area in which women, like the Bronte sisters, have done well. Charlotte, Emily and Anne lived all their lives in the family home in Yorkshire, but, between them, they produced three of the classic novels of the English language - Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The world of acience is one which women have found hard to penetrate, but the Polish-born Marie Curie managed it. Her research into radioactivity and the discovery of radium was the beginning of nuclear science. All these women made sacrifices, often for the benefit of their families rather than themselves. Clara Schulmann, wife of the composer Robert, gave up a brilliant career as a pianist and composer to support her husband in his work and look after their numerous children.

It is said that behind every powerful man there is a powerful woman, but very few women have gained power in their own right.

For most, life had the same pattern for thousands of years. But there are an increasing number of women throughout the world who are looking for change, who want to have a greater say in the way their country, town or village is run. In every country now there are women working towards an improvement in the way their society regards them… as over half the people in the world are female, they do two-thirds of the work, get one-tenth of the wages and own one-hundredth of the world's property.

***

Text 2