Women Do

Now I’m trying really hard not to identify what men don’t do – their “lack” if one wishes to transmogrify Freud – rather I wish to focus on what women “Do” to sustain the fine, almost invisible net that supports the super-structure of society.

As the festive season approaches and women are keeping on going to work and sustaining the routine of everyday life, they are also out there ‘erecting’ the scaffolding of the festive season too. This includes shopping, organising parties and supporting relatives, elderly or those in need, to prepare for the onslaught of carols, kisses and clicking glasses.

You see these organised social supporters everywhere. They have the bags of colourfully wrapped presents, trolleys of food and gourmet items, and the mobile phones to book venues for parties. Just ask yourself, “How many women know what they are doing on New Year’s Eve?” Or, the other question: “How many blokes are ‘kicking back’ and scratching their balls, making ape-like noises and looking blank about New Year’s Eve?” (These are intelligent blokes, too, with degrees and more highly paid jobs than the women.)

Taking a step back, away from the festive season, and looking towards literature, Kate Grenville writes of women’s greater involvement in history, In Joan Makes History and, thereby, implied life, these are also the women who organise the diaries of world leaders, politicians, industry leaders and, sliding back into the domestic sphere, families and households. Or they could be just single women getting on with their lives and moving proactively in their cycles of friends and living independent lives.

Imagine the power - political and social - that could be generated if women could find opportunities to use this power to bring about positive, or social, change. Maybe this is what we need to do. There might be short-term havoc if women moved their attention from the domestic sphere, but this could be mirrored by a surge of positive energy around ‘sensible’ political decisions and ‘evenly calculated’ social justice interventions.



Grenville, Kate. 1988. Joan Makes History (University of Queensland Press)