“My sweet potatoe, what have you prepared for dinner?” “My darling, I don’t know oh… What have you prepared for dinner?”
If you call am woman
African woman no go ‘gree
She go say, she go say, “I be Lady o”
It’s 3:49a.m. and I’m on the phone “debating” with a gentleman caller on why I refuse to learn how to cook. I’ve always told myself I’ll never learn to cook for no man. My mother asked me if I want to end up old and alone. She told me when my husband finds out I can’t cook, he’ll send me back to my father’s house. Why is it that women are expected to cook for their men? Are we not all equal?
I wan tell you about Lady
She go say him equal to man
She go say him get power like man
She go say anything man do himself fit do
It’s the 21st century and according to society men and women are equal. Women like Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett Packard are running Fortune 500 companies. But why? Tell me why? Why must I raise a football team, dominate corporate America, then run home to my husband to fix him dinner, give him a back rub, ask him how his day was at his ordinary a** 9-5 job, and then throw it down after hours. Sorry, I’m exaggerating a little but you get my point. Women have it hard in this world we live in today. They’re expected to do one million and one things with grace and ease.
I never tell you finish
I never tell you…
She go wan take cigar before anybody
She go wan make you open door for am
She go wan make man wash plate for am for kitchen
She wan salute man she go sit down for chair
She wan sit down for table before anybody
She wan a piece of meat before anybody
I’m not saying that women should pursue the role as men in a household. Majority of our religious, media, and parental upbringing instruct us that women should be submissive to their husbands. (That’s another topic for later) What I’m saying is, when it comes to domestic housework men should put a little more on their plate. When a man comes home from work, usually his work is done. However most women today work too and come home for their next shift. If you’re wife cooks Monday-Friday, men you can whip something up on the weekends. If she’s chasing the kids around the house, run after her.
Usually in African culture they don’t encourage equality in marriage, men and women have their roles that should be played. But this is America not the village, you can’t expect an African woman to work as hard as her husband and still be the African woman that we should not lose to Western Culture (#ShotsFired). Even if you’re not married but you’re just dating, men don’t expect her to babysit you. Whether a woman can cook should not be the deal breaker.
She know him man na master
She go cook for am
She go do anything he say
But Lady no be so
Lady na master
In summation, ladies cook for your man because it makes him happy not because it is your born duty. Men raise up your women because gone are the days where she is beneath you.
P.S The lyrics throughout this piece is from this song “Lady” by Fela Kuti. Yes, some may say he might have been mocking women’s liberation but you can’t argue that the song makes a great listen….
Download: Lady
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