Women, work and phones...

Having had several conversations the last couple of days about the pros and cons of various mobile phones, it was with great amusement I read an article in the Guardian Weekly last night about a televised debate in India on the merits of paid employment for women outside the home. According to the reporter, the most articulate man on the against-paid-work team won the debate with this gem of a comparison: Working women are like mobile phones; modern and glamorous, with exciting features. But they are easy to lose. You don’t always know where they are, and there is a danger someone else could lay their hands on them. Stay-at-home wives are like landlines. You know where they are, they are easier to maintain, they don’t need recharging and even old models work fine. I wonder how this fine gentleman would explain the ‘technical fault’ that currently is making not just my landline but also my internet completely useless at home? Last night I appreciated the modernisms, glamour, exciting features and reliability of my Sony Ericsson mobile phone even more than usual. I even considered looking up new models to equip myself with the latest model that goes with all of my modernisms and unpredictability. That is, I would have if the internet/landline was working!