In our society today, there are several statements that are quite popular, but I personally do not agree with most of them. Some of those popular statements can be proverbs, beliefs, or notions, and when I think about them closely, I see reasons why I disagree with them.
Imagine believing that marriage is the ultimate goal in life? What will be will be? Really? These are some of those popular statements that I totally disagree with, but I will choose to discuss this particular one...
“A woman’s place is in the kitchen.”
Many decades ago, this belief placed a limit on my fellow gender in the society. There was a kind of division of responsibilities at home where women took charge of all kinds of domestic chores, including taking care of their children at home, while men were meant to go out there, work, and earn money for the family's use. Just say, men are seen as the providers, while women take their position at home, including in the kitchen. This was a strong cultural belief that interfered with how parents raised their girl child. You could hardly see a family send their girl child to school or for any skill acquisition because they believed that it's of no use to society since they will end up in the kitchen and at home with their assigned responsibilities. Good enough, this belief is no longer relevant in our today's world, except for some men who intentionally want to surprise their wives.
Today, we could see lots of women adding value to society. In politics, women are there making waves; in the church, in the communities, you could see women taking top positions where their voices are heard. Talk of any professional courses in our world, and you see my gender taking their rightful position instead of being limited in the kitchen, where ambitions are killed.
Gone are those days when we believed the popular statement that a woman's place is in the kitchen. I agree that it's the role of women to take care of kitchen duties, but who says a woman can't be relevant in society even with the kitchen duties? My mom suffered this mentality at the hands of her father. Her father refused to send her to school but always pushed her to the kitchen to help her mum. It continued that way until she got married to my dad at a very early age, say 16 years or so. It was my dad that said NO! to such a mentality and sent her to school immediately. Today, my mom is working at a local government with her school certificate while still doing her kitchen duties as a woman.
Times have changed! My place as a woman is wherever I choose to be. That belief is no longer valid, and no man, no matter how wealthy you are, should limit your wife to remaining in the kitchen. No, that's not where her values should be tied to. Women should continue to add value to society in their capabilities without any sort of limitations due to cultural beliefs or any sort of law. That era has passed, and of course that saying has expired too; total disagreement it is nowadays!
This post is in response to the Hive-Reachout Weekly Prompt 42. Interested in participating? Click here. Also tagging these two newbies to take part, @uchechi123 and @babygirl888