Page 74 - Big Idea

The Big Idea – Act 3

Competing with men may seem like a good plan,
But child-bearing will never be their chore;
So how can you do as much as a man
When mothering makes you do even more?

You’ll be working harder, losing your looks,
While men become dandies and gourmet cooks.

WOMAN 3: Why, that’s outrageous! They wouldn’t do that to us,
would they? I mean, a man’s a man, and a woman’s a woman, apart
from work and politics and anything else.

RIVAL 1:
The issue you raise has no solution;
Our society slowly developed
Out of the ignorance and confusion
In which our ancestors were enveloped.

Although we have not achieved perfection,
Experience has given us a form;
Individuals may lack direction
But the group behaves according to norm.

Human personality is driven
By social rules held from time primeval;
Throwing them out for something newly given
Leads to psychological upheaval.

Don’t think femininity will survive,
Even should you manage to stay alive.

WOMAN 1: You know, girls, I hate to admit it, but I think he has a
point. Equality is a nice idea, but we may be getting more—or less—
than we bargained for.

WOMAN 4: But The Big Idea is supposed to eliminate all the
exploitation and abuse.

WOMAN 2: It looks more like a trade for some new and unknown
forms of brutality and discrimination.

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