What Does A Woman Want?
"Despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, I have not been able to answer... the great question that has never been answered: what does a woman want?" Sigmund Freud.I don't have answers too! But some things I am sure of: women in Mukalla; women in Hadhramout - have certain priorities. They value their burqas and take much pride in the burqas; it is their most important attire. It is unimaginable, that any of them can leave their homes without being covered from head to toe, leaving only the eyes uncovered; in black. Only in black. Always in black. Except for a few bedouin women, who prefer colored burqas. I have never forced my wife to dress like that; she loves dressing like that. I some times try to coax her into leaving her face uncovered, instead of the eyes only; she would never accept doing that out of our home. She says: ' why should we imitate others?' With temperatures in some areas, at certain times, soaring up to 50 degrees centigrade, I don't know how the women manage being in the burqas!
Then there is the incense! Hadhrami women just love incense and perfumes! They say the best incense is the local one. Just as they say, the best lamb and the best honey come from Hadhramaut. They put the incense in burning charcoal in earthen jars to: smoke themselves, their burqas, their dresses and their homes. On Fridays in particular.
Gold! Of all the material priorities, gold is at the top for Hadhrami women; they adore gold! Gold is a necessity; every woman has gold; the more, the better and the more contended a woman is. Or so it seems to me. No woman attends a function without it: earrings, bangles, necklaces, belts etcetera. No woman gets married without gold.
And we: the men? Well........women are interesting! Most interesting!
"Why are women ... so much more interesting to men than men are to women?" Virginia Woolf
Comments
Personally, what I want is real equality, equal oppurtunity, and the damnation of social convictions.
If only, the Islamic world could allow women to have the same respect, dignity and equality - that the Prophet gave and had for Khadija, Aisha, Fatma, Hafsa and all the other women in his family and community at that time - the Islamic world would be the best place for a woman. Khadija, was much wealthier than the Prophet; and he allowed and supported her in her businesses. Note: she was his only wife during her life time. Aisha and Hafsa had just as powerful roles during the early days of Islam. Fatma, had more consideration and respect from the Prophet than any of his children; this, in a world then - where very little respect or consideration was give to daughters; or women in general.
But alas; women at present in most of the Islamic world are not given the Khadija, Aisha and Fatma treatment and roles any more. Social convictions and taboos, have been mixed up with Islam which makes it hard for women in most Muslim countries.
As for the Hadhrami women, I wrote and explained their position in my earlier posting: The Women of Hadhramout.
American women mainly want one thing; for men to do what they SAID they were going to do... and we wait for that in vain.
Omni
I quote this from - http://www.gender.go.jp/index2.html - And that is how it should be.
OMNI - I have to again quote Virginia Woolf:
"The history of men's opposition to women's emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself."
As much as men are opposed to women's emancipation - women have yet to have that 'liberation'. Yes, Western women have achieved much, but in the process have lost that dignity that a culture like ours still gives and has for women.
What has really degraded women in the U.S. is capitalism, not feminism. Sexualized pictures of women are used to sell everything from music to cars.
But then, I wouldn't separate gold from capitolism...
In answer to Virginia Woolf's question- I think it's because women already get their full of men, having to live in a male-dominated society. They understand us much better than we understand them, for men the world over are in power.