Mystery of woman

If there was no creature called "woman", the human race would not have evolved. Nature has endowed the world with men and women to propagate the human race and maintain the continuity of life on earth. When it comes to propagation, however, woman has a greater role than man for she is the giver of life after so much of suffering.

By nature woman is more attractive than man. In the animal world, the roles are reversed. A lion is more attractive than a lioness, similarly, the peacock is a beautiful bird when compared to its female counterpart. As a result of her beauty and tenderness a woman had to give birth to children and do all the household chores in the past. Man enjoyed the outdoor life and woman was confined to the kitchen.

The role of women have undergone drastic changes during the past few decades. Today women have proved that they can compete with men in many fields of activities. Even scientifically it has been proved that there is hardly any difference between men and women when it comes to performance of tasks.

Woman is the symbol of compassion, love and honour. She always tries to produce children useful to society. She also helps to beautify the world with her physical appearance and mental agility. She is entitled to many unenviable titles in the world. For instance, only a woman can give birth to a child and become a mother. Only a woman can become an exemplary housewife although we hear of gay marriages in the west. With these titles come certain responsibilities.

A woman has to be endowed with the milk of human kindness. She should not go to war and butcher people. She has to follow a certain code of conduct to command respect from society. Men always respect a well-dressed woman who behaves in a decent manner. A half-naked woman exhibiting her beauty in public can definitely invite trouble from men.

In a way, woman is a mysterious creation of nature. Her natural beauty lights up the world and creates a favourable atmosphere for us to lead a meaningful life. I shudder to think of a world without women. If the world happened to be inhabited only by men, they would kill one another and the whole humanity would come to an end.

French detectives investigating a murder apply the rule of thumb: "Cherchez la famme" (look for the woman). They believe that in every murder a woman is involved. It is true that some women have criminal tendencies. Fortunately they belong to a minority.

Women have excelled in many fields of activities. For instance, women are better nurses than those odious male nurses. I do not think men have any qualifications to be nurses.

Secondly, women are better than men when it comes to learning languages. As a teacher I have experienced that girls pick up the language - English, French or German - Faster than boys. Thirdly, when it comes to creative art, men cannot compete with women.

All the great religions are founded by men. S imilarly, great philosophers of the world - The Budda, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, J. Krishnamurti and Emmanuel Kant - happened to be males. Although there are no female religious leaders or philosophers, women can take the credit for giving birth to and bringing up religious leaders and great thinkers.

In the developed world women have come to the top. However, women in developing countries are still struggling against certain barriers and social prejudices imposed by men.

As a result, the majority of women in the Third World are lagging behind in the path of success. One glaring factor is that these women have too much faith in myths and superstitions. For instance, if you visit an astrologer or soothsayer, their customer base mainly consists of women.

Human life is precious. Its value cannot be estimated in monetary terms. No scientist has been able to "create" a human being in a laboratory. This kind of creation can only be done by nature.

It is unfortunate that a handful of women takes to drugs and prostitution in a big way to earn more and more filthy lucre.

By doing so, they are degrading the entire human race. The damage thus caused by some women is a black mark on their image. However, it is not too late for a woman to mend her ways and lead a moral life.

It is tragic that women are regarded as inferior in certain countries such as India. The birth of a baby girl is not a welcome sight in such a society. Some mothers go to the extent of destroying the foetus if they suspect that they would give birth to a baby girl.

The dowry system has imposed another burden on women in the East. Poor parents find it difficult to give dowries and as a result many girls remain unmarried. Meanwhile, in certain parts of India the wife is forced to commit suicide by jumping into the pyre on the death of her husband.

In the West women are fighting for their rights. They compete with their male counterparts to reach the zenith of career. Meanwhile, a woman is likely to be the next President of the United States of America, the most powerful country in the world. Even though there were women Heads of States in the East, they failed to look after the welfare of women.

Many erudite men in the past treated woman in different ways. For instance, Goldsmith once said, "Women and music should never be dated." Vishnusharma condemned women when he said, "A woman talks to one man, looks at another and thinks of yet another."

George Blairs went a step further when he wrote: "Never let a woman boss you if you want to be happy at home." What Paul de Kock said about women is rather fascinating: "At 18 we learn to adore a woman in a moment; at 20 we love her; we yearn for her at 30; but at 40 we consider whether she is worth the trouble."

There is a Babylonian story of the creation which gives prominence to woman. According to that story, a woman named Omorka ruled a world of chaos populated with great beasts. Bel, the creator, split Omorka in twain and made the heavens and the earth. He then split the darkness and all animals that could not bear the light perish. The world was then set in order.

Bel then ordered one of his fellow gods to strike his (Bel's) head, mix his blood with the earth and form man therefrom. Man was thus made the partaker of divine wisdom and form. A revived Bel then created the stars, the moon, the sun and the five planets.

T. Reynolds in the following lines sums up the majority view of women:

As for the women,

though we scorn and flout 'em,

We may live with, but cannot

live without 'em.