Blog si Feminis

“You don’t work, do you?” accused a salesclerk when I was about to buy
a pair of goggles the other day, in one sport store at Ciputra Mall
Semarang.
I understood why she accused me like that. I went there
around 11.40 am (usual working hours), wearing jeans, t-shirt, a
jacket, and carrying a backpack; not usual outfit for workingwomen, is
it?
I wanted to find out what made her fussy like that (instead of just considering it as a small talk to a customer).
The first possibility: Was she jealous of me because she had to work as a salesclerk to make her ends meet?
Referring
to women from low social class who had to work hard to earn money, to
be able to give their children food and clothing (perhaps including
education) in the nineteenth century America, they could be said that
they were somewhat jealous of their fellow women citizens who came from
middle and high social classes. The latter did not need to keep their
nose to the grindstone only to buy food and clothing. Therefore, the
first probably did not have any idea what on earth made the latter
struggled to get right to work outside home.
This similar
phenomenon is also easily seen in Indonesia. Many women coming from low
class society do not understand why women from higher social class have
to work (they don’t understand self actualization as well as self
esteem needs proposed by Maslow) when their husbands can give them
enough earnings every month. (enough is always relative, isn’t it?)
The second possibility:
did she underestimate me as a financially dependent creature? Since she
thought I didn’t work, it was easily concluded that to her I was a
housewife. To some people, a housewife is just a pathetic ‘profession’
because she financially depends on her husband. Being a financial
dependant, a woman is prone to domestic violence, especially if she has
a husband who doesn’t appreciate a housewife because this ‘profession’
doesn’t make money, a husband who thinks that money maker is always
superior.
Why should she underestimate me if I chose to be a
housewife? Because in this twenty first century, with its gender
equality “phenomenon”, women are more honored when they make money?
I
assume that she needs to read this blog of mine to know my personal
‘ideology’. LOL. As a feminist I am fully aware that the core of gender
equality lies in the right to make choices in life. Women have full
rights to have their own kind of life. (You can refer to my previous
post.)
PT56 20.17 070108

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