Gender roles

We're continuing with our Monday arts and crafts mornings, designing posters for rural workshops run by the women's organisation, Xilonem. This week, it was gender roles - how are they and how should they be?
This poster sums up a typical countryside scene. For the girls, it's dolls, dresses and washing clothes; for the boys, it's bats, balls and machetes. For the young ladies, it's virginity and sweetness; for the lads, it's getting it on with as many young ladies as possible - surely there is a paradox here? For the women, traditionally, it's babies, babies, babies, fidelity, sweeping the house, washing the clothes and preparing and cooking the food; for the men, it's land, horses, meetings, posturing and a few women on the side. Obviously, it's not all like this but many aspects of it are the reality for a surprising number of families. We're learning more about this with our time spent in the countryside and participating in the workshops in Sontule.

Simon depicted the happy scenes of caring and sharing. Notice how the woman chopping wood is keeping a safe, stretched distance from the log. Maybe he is keen to avoid her being weed on by a caterpillar and contracting a weeping wound on her neck.