Why Should A Wife Rest Only After Cooking For Her Husband?

Bling-bling, bling-bling…

A series of chimes on WhatsApp interrupted my ‘me-time’.

While the menstrual cramps kept gnawing at my tummy and the tiredness sucked away my energy, I reached out to my phone to see the chat -Messages from my family!

“What’s for lunch?”

“Has your husband come home for lunch?”

“What did he eat?”

I had the urge to write many things, but all I could convey was: “Period cramps… Killing me! Not in a position to cook or eat…”

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And I immediately received a reply, “Oh but what will your poor husband eat?”

This got me thinking (besides making me feel so guilty for just resting).

Once a lady is married, suddenly her life seems to revolve around the husband. From parents saying ‘please eat on time and take care of your health’, they shift to more of, ‘please feed him and then rest!’

The very idea of cooking and tending to the husband seems so wrong.

Why not call up the man and ask him if he is ensuring his wife has access to fruits and chocolates, now that she’s on her period?

Why not ask the husband to cook something delicious for the wife?

Why has it become a practice that a woman must take care of her husband even if she is not feeling well?

Why is it that a woman on her period is made to feel so guilty for not wanting to cook (simply because she doesn’t have the energy to!)?

I understand that these thoughts and beliefs have somehow passed down from one generation to another, but it’s high time we stop feeling so guilty for taking a break.

Illness or good health, taking a break or simply not doing anything is very important for mental well-being!

Image credit: a still from the short film Housewife/Indie MM, YouTube

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