Written history gives us very little about the lives of women through time, and I find myself musing over what their lives may have been like.
My favorite fiction novels were/are about women, from the Anne of Green Gables series and Jane Austen novels of my adolescence to the light-hearted chick-lit I read today. In fact, I find it difficult to read fiction from a male perspective. It's kind of weird.
But back to the point, I wonder what life was like for the women of the past. I wonder what it was like for women before history was even written. I wonder how they gave birth, what they used for birth control, if anything, and how they dealt with their menstrual cycles. In societies where women played an active role in every day life, or where they had some degree of authority, I imagine they must have found some way to not be incapacitated during their periods.
When I went to see the Sex and the City movie, Sara Jessica-Parker's character, Carrie, is reading a book about the love letter of great men. They were love letters written by Beethoven and other famous/accomplished men in history.
It made me wonder: What kind of a women stole their hearts? What kind of women were they that these men of great renown were smitten? We hear little of women at all, and little of wives in general, but we all know that these wives (and wives today) played the supporting role that affected every day life for each of these men.
Did these women whisper words of wisdom? Did they suggest things that sparked an invention? Did they ask questions and solve riddles at the breakfast tables of their famous partners? All-in-all I wonder how much of what we attribute to men was the work of women all along.
Even in the Bible, the women further the plot, from Eve taking the first bite, to the feuds between the mothers/wives of famous men. From Deborah, Ruth, to Mary and Martha, there are countless women silent in written history; they fed, clothed, nurtured and loved the men who 'made history'... and conveniently left them out.
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