Women’s Web is saying Goodbye! Please make sure you read this important notification.
When men label a woman as 'sensible', it isn't always a compliment. What other words have been twisted out of meaning, to suit a man's purpose?
When men label a woman as ‘sensible’, it isn’t always a compliment. What other words have been twisted out of meaning, to suit a man’s purpose?
My neighbour Martha is a hardworking woman. She is good at juggling a lot of things, be it minor plumbing work, carpentry work in the house, or homeschooling her kids during Covid. She is good at navigation, driving, and yes, housekeeping.
She is not single though. She has a cheerful husband who is fond of golf, bird photography, and catching up with his cronies every other evening at the Golf Club.
Unlike him, Martha even knows the medicine routine of his parents.
Everyone knows Martha or has at least noticed her. Maybe you have also witnessed her during your trip to the grocery store, where she is balancing five grocery bags in one hand and her child in another.
‘Martha is such a sensible woman!’ A man almost announced in the midst of a social gathering.
‘Sensible? How?’ I asked.
‘She never complains, throws no tantrums, and unlike most other women, doesn’t bug others for help in this and that. She knows how to manage things on her own.’
The man almost sounded envious of her husband.
So, if you are a hardworking mule, good at managing, are a non-demanding, non-troubling superwoman… and yes, always well-composed in public, then you are a Sensible Woman.
How many of you are this Sensible?
That’s another definition with patriarchal colours struck off from my dictionary today. Have you come across other such skewed definitions? Homely, mature, grounded, marriage type or Sada-Suhagan... What other dictionary terms has patriarchy adapted to its own twisted means?
People vector created by freepik – www.freepik.com
Vartika Sharma Lekhak is a published author based in India who enjoys writing on social issues, travel tales and short stories. She is an alumnus of JNU and currently studying law at Symbiosis Law School, read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
Dear Women’s Web Community Member,
You may have wondered at our being on the quieter side during the last couple of months. Thank you for your patience, and we wanted to come back to you with a detailed note on what’s been happening at our end of things.
When we first began Women’s Web, as a blog from one woman’s desk along with a few like-minded souls, little could we have imagined the heights that it would soar to. Over the years, Women’s Web has published over 20000 stories (almost all by women), empowered countless women with the ideas, community and resources to chase their dreams, employed hundreds of women in core and project-based roles, and in the process, emerged as the OG women’s community in India. It has also inspired many others to build communities of a similar nature, all enabling women (and other-underrepresented groups) in their own ways.
Please enter your email address