Commentary

Women have it easier

By GERMAINE SMITH, Staff Reporter

WHILE WATCHING A play on the weekend, I got to thinking that in our Jamaican context, women have life a hell of a lot easier than men.

This situation has been encouraged by both sexes alike over the years, and to me seems more of a game than anything else. A male in the play explained that women get away with things that we men couldn't dare to, only because of their gender. The culture of our island causes both men and women to be locked into certain mindsets where the man it seems can't win.

He started as early as childhood, where if a little girl goes to her parent(s) and says she wants to go in a male dominated profession, like say construction work, she gets much love and support, and is praised for her courage. If a little boy says he wants to get into female dominated professions, like tell them he wants to be a hairdresser, or ballet dancer, or nurse, the whole ballgame changes. If he does not get automatic counselling, he will surely get some automatic lashings. He also explained that when women spend their money carefully, pinching a little here and there so that they can pay their bills and save, we all perceive that woman as being thrifty, and down to earth, and smart. When a man does the same thing, however, the label of 'miser' instantly pops up. A man doing that is labelled as tight, and does not get the respect that the 'thrifty' woman gets.

Bustling hero

If a woman's car breaks down, all she has to do is pop the hood and stand beside the car. Five minutes will not pass before the bustling hero, (a man of course), will come along willing to go the extra mile to get the car running again. Should a man try the same, you will be likely to hear things like "Sell it and buy a engine!" or "Yu want a box a matches?!" or "Move yu piece a jalopy nuh bwoy?!"

Look at the dating scene as another example, some woman get to eat their cake and have it too. There are those men and women who firmly believe that as long as a man and woman get together, as soon as he gets his salary, she is automatically entitled to a portion of it. If they were close friends from childhood until now, and got together last week, when the month end comes, she is to get a portion of his pay, just like that. Just as how he counts out a portion for light, water, rent, etc. he must now count out a portion for her as well. She ends up getting two salaries, and he gets half. Just like the other examples, this to me is a big joke which defies all logic. They say that culture is the sum total of our practices and beliefs but to me this culture makes no rational sense. Probably culture is not supposed to make sense, and I am just a misguided misfit. Probably -- probably not.