"Man's Work"
During a recent Ladies Night- In event with some friends,
the topic of “man’s work” came about. You see, “man’s work” are task that are
considered masculine and therefore completed by men. These are things like
mowing the lawn, taking out the trash, and anything to do with fixing something
around the house. You know, manly things. But, that’s not always the case. The
women around me were shocked to find out, I am usually the person in our family
that takes care of the lawn. Just a few days before I had mowed the lawn,
edged, trimmed the bushes and trees, and sprayed the flower beds with weed
killer. Our yard looks lovely if I do say so myself. The act of mowing the lawn
had never crossed my mind but as I spoke the words, my friends looked at me in
utter shock. “You, mow the lawn?” one friend asked. “Why in the hell would you
willingly do that?” asked another.
I’d love to answer these questions with something amazing
like, “Because, I am a strong and independent woman and I can mow my own damn
lawn!” or perhaps, “I am a feminist who does not box myself into gender
stereotypes.” But really, I mow the lawn because it’s calming to me and I get
an awesome workout. Some people run to clear their head, I mow the lawn. Some
of my best thinking happens when mowing the lawn or tending to my garden. The
outdoors soothe me.
But, their questions did make me think. Why don’t more women
mow the lawn? I decided to do a google search to find the answer and it was
utterly ridiculous. It yielded results like “How to mow the law, the lost art
of being a man,” or “Man school 101: how to mow a lawn.” The only search results
about women mowing that came up were reasons why women shouldn’t mow the lawn
and silly pictures of women mowing. There was one interesting read on the “grass
ceiling” but other than that, nothing.
In my humble opinion, I feel like there are a few things
everyone woman needs to know: how to change a tire, turn on/off water and electricity,
jump-start a car, have some knowledge about tools, and you guessed it, mow the
lawn. These are things that everyone should know before they leave for college
and I intend to make sure that both of my girls know how to do all of these
things. Who knows, they may even enjoy it!
Brittany Paige
I am a 6th grade teacher and mom. Like so many of us, I put my own ambitions aside and put my children and husbands needs before my own. Along the way I have realized, my ambitions matter too and therefore, I write. I am currently working on my first novel and taking the leap into freelance writing. If you would like to connect, you can follow me on Twitter @BrittPaigeBooks or follow my blog! https://twolittlemagnolias.blogspot.com/
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