Training to be "The Good Wife"

It's interesting how the basis for living our lives is at such variance to other traditions and religious contrivance.

As Europeans we have an individualistic concept of ourselves growing as men and women to follow paths which take in the instincts of the moment and the attendant opportunity which flows from a chance meeting. We are annoyed at being slaves to convention and have no truck with playing a role which is laid down by our elders.

In other societies the role is reversed and the individual is subsumed by tradition and culture to the point that we in the west shake our heads and cry abuse.

The Mohammedan tradition of veiling their women and excluding them from interaction with other men has a sensible side to it in that not only the men are protecting their exclusivity over the particular woman or wife but the women has laid claim to the man in that within her society she lays claim to his wealth.

A description of the wiles to which a Mohammedan girl will go to preserve her "value" in the market for finding a husband, and the training to that end by the mother, produces a remarkable self assured product which underneath the demure acceptance of the man's position, holds to herself the controlling factors within the marriage and home. Here tradition and custom set the rules to which the man must adhere or face disgrace within his fellow community of men. So you have a balance which is not always clear from the outside but within the society is set in stone.

To our eyes we see subservience and patriarchal dominance but within the fabric of the relationship there is a hierarchy of duties which provide a demarcation line and award strength to both parties.

In our "anything goes" culture we skirmish like ferrets  in a sack seeking surety like we seek riches in a Friday night lottery dip. It's a game of chance, which is no bad thing so long as we know the game we are playing !