As we are going our liberated way on this International Women’s Day, I’m celebrating my “liberation” by indulging in one of my favourite Sunday afternoon pursuits – cutting up spices and veggies to cook again one of my favourite all time dishes – the Malay dish of Sambal Goreng. That I suppose is what going ahead means for women – to be able to choose just what we would like to do during our leisure AND work time.
Now increasingly I am seeing that the pursuit of the joy of cooking is not seen by Singapore women as bondage to the idea of male superiority – I suppose it is due in no small part to the fact that the guys amongst us, have “liberated” themselves from the notion that domestic cooking is only for the women and have taken to the wok and ladle like ducks to water.
I say “domestic cooking” because the profession of cooking has always been a male pursuit! Not too long ago, women were not allowed out of their homes to work and socialize so all professional work was done by men, including acting as women on stage.
When I was a teenager and took up cooking as a hobby it was considered quite a freak pursuit – it was in the 1960’s during the days of Women’s Lib where one was exhorted to Burn the Bra and Make Love Not War and this pursuit of the pleasures of the kitchen was considered positively medieval amongst the young women of my generation. We were supposed to set our sights on more intellectual pursuits and that accounts for the fact that many women of my generation do not cook.
But my daughter’s generation of women, in their early 30’s are quite a different breed altogether – they have reverted to the pursuit of domestic pleasures as well as the pursuit of high powered careers and today it is quite the done thing to be making decisions to hire and fire by the droves in the day time and to return to hearth and home after that to cook up an Italian meal for family and friends.
That is something great that has happened to the women’s movement – that the young adults amongst us do not even know there was a Women’s Movement and have reverted to having babies as well as a career and are now all breast feeding their babies.
Now increasingly I am seeing that the pursuit of the joy of cooking is not seen by Singapore women as bondage to the idea of male superiority – I suppose it is due in no small part to the fact that the guys amongst us, have “liberated” themselves from the notion that domestic cooking is only for the women and have taken to the wok and ladle like ducks to water.
I say “domestic cooking” because the profession of cooking has always been a male pursuit! Not too long ago, women were not allowed out of their homes to work and socialize so all professional work was done by men, including acting as women on stage.
When I was a teenager and took up cooking as a hobby it was considered quite a freak pursuit – it was in the 1960’s during the days of Women’s Lib where one was exhorted to Burn the Bra and Make Love Not War and this pursuit of the pleasures of the kitchen was considered positively medieval amongst the young women of my generation. We were supposed to set our sights on more intellectual pursuits and that accounts for the fact that many women of my generation do not cook.
But my daughter’s generation of women, in their early 30’s are quite a different breed altogether – they have reverted to the pursuit of domestic pleasures as well as the pursuit of high powered careers and today it is quite the done thing to be making decisions to hire and fire by the droves in the day time and to return to hearth and home after that to cook up an Italian meal for family and friends.
That is something great that has happened to the women’s movement – that the young adults amongst us do not even know there was a Women’s Movement and have reverted to having babies as well as a career and are now all breast feeding their babies.
Time was, up to nearly 20 years ago, when breast feeding was considered positively savage and, having been influenced in my decision to breast feed by the late Professor Wong Hock Boon, that great champion of babies, I found myself one day, carrying my son in his Moses basket to Alexandra Hospital, to teach the new mothers how to breast feed with a real baby for the live demonstration.
Wow! Everything I think about has a “food” or “feeding” element to it – Happy Women’s Day to all the women and men out there!
Wow! Everything I think about has a “food” or “feeding” element to it – Happy Women’s Day to all the women and men out there!
