April 11, 2012

The feminine essence

Text by Trish Fabros

"I am a woman phenomenally, phenomenal woman that is your grandmother, that is your mother, that is your sister, that is you and that is me."
—Maya Angelou

Courageous, clever, and certain.

These characterize women nowadays. In fact, these have always characterized them. It has not been apparent though, for women have been constantly regarded as the "weaker sex", and so have seemed to be invisible in history.

Indeed, women have been looked down upon for millennia until the feminists intruded and fought for their rights. Simone de Beauvoir explains in her book, The Second Sex, "Man is the first sex, and woman is the second sex. She is also the other to man. Thus, she is passive because man is active; she is weak because man is strong; she is emotional because man is rational; she is a follower because man is a leader." Obviously, women have been unjustly treated, and deprived of their privileges. Nonetheless, when one would just analyze the case, another, and a very gratifying, angle is seen.

In her noted paper, Professor Alma Fernandez from the Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature at the University of the Philippines put in plain words man's fear of women: "Because woman alone can visibly demonstrates God-likeness or that ability to produce man in God's image because she alone can bear children, she becomes in man's mind a frightening creature who is a threat to man."

Undeniably, when something is to be afraid of, what manner should be used to treat it but to abhor. This ill-treatment took place, spanning generations

"She gave me eyes, she gave me ear; And humble cares, and delicate fears; A heart, the fountain of sweet tears; And love and thought and joy."
—William Wordsworth

Women today are being uplifted, and are started to be treated as equal by men for now women's wit and strength can match the men's. In fact, there are even instances in which women dominate over men, and times when they seem to conquer the world alone.

In the domestic aspect, work on kinship patterns has repetitively exhibited that contact and interactions between generations to a large extent are facilitated and carried out by women. Women are the "hub" of family solidarity and cohesion for they organize get-togethers, remember the birthdays, and write cards.

In a Chicago study, "Women kept close track of two other generations, their parents-in-law and their children."

"They seemed to have assumed a role of "family monitors" or family specialists," Gunhild O. Hagestad elucidated in Women in Intergenerational Patterns of Power and Influence. "They become pivotal in providing a sense of family continuity across individual lives, generational turn-over and the flow of historical time."

"There is something to me very softening in the presence of a woman, some strange influence, even if one is not in love with them, which I cannot at all account for, having no very high opinion of the sex. But yet, I always feel in better humor with myself and everything else, if there is a woman within ken."
—Lord Byron

A woman's innately gentle touch has opened doors for her to the traditionally male-dominated field of medicine. Born with a penchant for rearing and caring for people, a woman is very much capable of taking care of one's life and of improving one's health. She has delicate hands and a compassionate character along with her emotional logic. She is patient, empathic, and sensible. She is also gifted with that certain "power" to instantly recognize pain. Truly, this "Hippocrates realm" is rather difficult to live in, and yet women, armed with their God-given brilliance and munificence, will always continue to strive, and share their love for life.

"May God be praised for woman; That gives up all her mind; A man may find in no man a friendship of her kind."
—William Butler Yeats

Females are said to be capable of offering a friendship of no other kind. Because of their intrinsically generous persona, women treat their friends like their own selves—especially cherished as their jewelry, tenderly like newborn babies, and lovingly the same as the men in their lives. This is probably for the reason that women seem to always need something or someone to cling to. It does not mean, though, that this is instantaneously to be regarded as a weakness but, rather, a gift to easily connect with people.

"No one knows like a woman how to say things which are at once gentle and deep."
—Victor Hugo

In politics, the female power is also widely felt. In the Philippines, there are a good number of women government officials, and they really take their work seriously. They are outstanding and widely known for their intelligence, charisma, and dedication. With them as rulers, the country will absolutely be able to rise up again.

"What does one woman see in another than a man cannot see? Tenderness."
—Sylvia Plath

Women have certainly gone a long way. They may have encountered hardship along the lane, yet because of their perseverance and will to prove themselves, they have survived, and are now on their way to reaching to the brightest of stars. From all battles of life, they emerged stronger and wiser than ever before. They are now recognized for their essence. Yes, the women have begun to occupy their rightful place in society.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of HerWord or BusinessWorld.

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