Here is a story from my childhood that I will never forget.

When I was a child, we lived on a farm. The men and boys would go out and work the farm, and the women would stay in the house, cook, clean , do laundry, etc.

Now most people don't know that when you farm, you have 5 meals a day. Breakfast, brunch, dinner, lunch and supper. Usually you start before dawn, and you get done just after, weather permitting.

So the ladies were busy doing their part just like the men were. They would usually have meals ready for the half dozen of us working every meal. Home cooking at it's finest. Bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, pancakes, toast and coffee for breakfast. Brunch is a smaller meal of sandwiches, soups, potato salad. dinner was the big meal of the day.. full on roast beef, mashed tatters, gravey, veggies, fresh baked buns, pie for dessert.. you get the point.

Now the men are out in the fields, driving machinery, moving grain around, cleaning binds, hauling bales, and other stuff that needs to happen to keep the whole thing running. The guys would come in at specific times for meals, wash up, sit down, eat, chat for a bit over coffee, and then get back to work. The ladies would eat before/ after the men just so they could ensure that we were taken care of so we could be in and out quickly and get back to work.

Now for the moral:

One day, we're all heading back out after a lunch and the ladies are clearing up the plates and getting everything ready for the next meal, and I head my female cousin ask my grandmother why the boys don't have to clean up or do dishes and they just get to leave.... Well, I heard my grandmother tear a strip out of her that day. She said something along the lines of "They go out and do all the hard dangerous work while you get to stay inside and cook and clean all day. We can't do this without them, and they can't do that without us."

I wonder when women forgot this? It feels like men are still doing our part, but that most women have forgotten how we got here... it was together.