Juggling between wearing the various hats of daughter, sister, grandchild, spouse, girlfriend, best friend, career woman, colleague, employee, mentor, mother, motivator, team player, role model, cook, cleaning worker, repairman, purchasing manager, personal shopper, Queen of the house (yeah, I allow myself to call me that, living with a husband, three sons and a male dog) and all the other roles I encounter in my everyday life, it all boils down to one thing: I am a woman.
Now, the thing is being a woman in Norway today is a term which is rather open for discussion and interpretation. We are allowed to choose our own path in life and lifestyle, but it has not always been so.
In Norwegian the word for woman is "kvinne", and this is what the encyclopedia says about "kvinne":
The word "kvinne" is derived from "kone" (= wife) who was the common word for woman in old Norwegian. The word is found in the English queen. "Kone" has today somewhat changed meaning into "married woman" or "old woman." Another word for "kvinne", "kjærring" (=old woman, but is not a very positive term), is derived from the old Norwegian "karl" today "guy". From German we have the words "frue" (=mistress) and "jungfrau" > "jomfru n." (=virgin) (which originally meant "young lady"), while French has given the Norwegian madam (actually from Spanish meaning "my wife") and Mamsell (a folk form of Mademoiselle, ie "Miss "). Madam has the same origin as lady, namely the Latin domination, ie "mistress."
"Woman" is used in Norwegian usually about adult female subjects in general, but the word can also denote a person of the female a man has sexual relations with, a wife or mistress, for example in expressions such as "she is his woman." "Woman" can also be used if a person with traditionally female characteristics, such as talk of ways like "she is completely through a woman" or "to be Quinde with big Q". (http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvinne)
Hah, that turned out to be a totally pathetic attempt to translate a wikipedia article about a Norwegian word into English, but you got the essence, I suppose.
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Chart of the young woman's "two roads"
from the early 1900s:
The woman who flirts and liver dissipated,
are shunned as 40-year-old,
while the conscientious and caring
becomes a chaste grandmother when she turns 60.
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To call me a Quinde (assembles "Queen" a lot, don't you think?) with capital Q would be to exaggerate a tiny bit; In the traditional sense I'm probably not as pink as many others. Although I do have a pink helmet at work, real VIP style, pink headphones and a pink pencil case, but that is a strategic thing more than preference of colour, because men, regardless of age, are not so eager to make things which are pink disappear.
Sometimes I think of what it must be like to live a long life. Imagine having lived for 80 years, for example.
Think about how the world, country, city, town, countryside, homes has changed during that time!
Moral, clothing, utilities ... a trifle thing as to pay the bills has become something completely different than it was when they were young.
Those who are old today had to comply with a rapid development which only escalates and spins out of controle into eternity, at all levels and areas.
I am so impressed with elderly people who manage on their own.
It is not just that I'm a woman, but I'm a woman born and raised in the western world in modern times.
And the thing is: I resist to be merely a woman: I want it all! And I'm totally aware that can be perceived as if I'm basically selfish. And I might just be that, although I personally think I stretch myself in all directions to meet all the needs everybody I surround myself with have.
While I'm running around like a headless chicken to get everything I as a mother should have time and energy to do, a murmuring thought in the back of my mind reminds me about all that I really want, wish for and like to achieve.
I have a marriage, children, a kind of career, and often perform like a true artist, but I would rather prefere to travel and experience adventure. I want a well kept kitchen garden, a shabby chic home, deep, meaningful friendships and I would like to speak at least 6 languages fluently (and I do not mean random phrases I impress my surroundings with after two glasses of wine).
I have a longing to go to a museum for an entire day, all by myself, without my mobile phone, without anyone pulling and tugging my sleeve or shouting my name.
I want to go out and not eat at McDonald's. And then I want time in the bathroom completely alone without anybody rattling the door handle.
I want wine and song, and still be a good girl. I'd love to be able to express my feelings in an eloquent way ... but most of all I have a desire to be and do better, although that is a constant exhausting project which involves nerves. Self-realization is exhausting. Mostly because of that "feeling" ... I'm not getting anywhere.
Women are often known to exaggerate and over react because of meaningless details, and we claim the right to change our minds, whatever bad timing.
Yes, we would like to have everything, and yet ...
As I sit here in my comfortable bubble, which often is about to burst from an overload of impressions, expressions and pressure constantly threatening circadian rhythm, I find that my capacity for empathy is constantly challenged.
Increasingly, we get news about what women's lives are like elsewhere. Places where women represent such a big threat that they must be suppressed and humiliated. These giants of brave everyday heroes; because they are not men, they get punished.
"You were raped? Well, then you shall receive 90 lashes." "You are a minor, lovely girl on the threshold of curious youth? I just as well steal you, your identity and your life and sell you off, just because."
Reality hits me in the head like a sledgehammer, my lack of own time, and my hunger for time and self realization somehow doesn't taste as good anymore. I am so blessed to have my life, regardless of my petty discontent.
In Norway we have a Women's Group called "Ottar". For some reason these suffragettes don't have a good reputation. For some reason they are tried ridiculed and explained away. They do the unpoplular thing; to point at what's not right. This week they call for a boicot of the movie "Fifty Shades of Grey". (The link is to a related story in Time.)
Others use their skills and talent to do the same thing, only using more of their sense of humor... Like Ellen Degeneres in TheEllenShow.
It is so easy to forget, in the middle of our giggles, that these women (and men, let's not forget there are those who really speak up for women's rights), those who use their resources and talents to improve women's lives and reputation in the best way they know how, standing on the barricades and act as brave social activists, have through their social commitment given me the opportunity to be me.
