There is no duty to cook, clean and wash gene found in the sex with Xx chromosome.

There is no duty to cook, clean and take care of the household gene found in the sex with Xx chromosome.

So why is it apparently natural and the duty of a woman to fulfil these roles.

Many a Ghanaian think it's a woman's job is to cook, clean, iron and fulfil the household responsibilities. A woman is incomplete if she cannot manage a home. If the woman is lucky enough she may find a man willing to help her with these duties, if not she must do them alone as well as take care of the children, because their upbringing is also on her shoulders. If anything goes wrong she will be blamed.

If her children go wayward it's her fault if her husband cheats, she wasn't woman enough and, if she wasn't fulfilling all her duties in the home exceptionally what does she expect, of course another woman will. On top of that she has to be sexy, always well groomed, well spoken, articulate, respectful to all, cultured, submissive and basically perfect. There is no room for mistakes.

A woman cannot cheat, but a man can. After all some say cheating is in a man's blood, you can only hope he comes home to you and provides for you. It's always the side chick or the mistresses fault. If a woman cheats, she has no self respect, dignity and is evil. It's never the husbands or boyfriends fault.

Even if he's unfaithful or does nothing out of love for you, you must use your cooking and cleaning skills, as well as your sexy outfits to win him back. Is this not all a bit ridiculous and humorous. Nevertheless, many actually believe in this.

This year prominent Ghanaian lawyer Tony Lithur in his leaked claim for divorce letter, wrote about how his wife was not fulfilling her wifely duties of cooking, cleaning, washing clothes and taking care of the children. Meanwhile they have chefs, baby sitters, nannies and a washing manchine. If I was Nana Oye Lithur, at the time minister for gender and social protection and senior lawyer with a busy schedule, I would also be attending conferences around the world, in the beautiful outfits Tony Lithur was talking about instead of cooking, cleaning, washing and whatever was my womanly duty. I don't understand why Tony Lithur couldn't leave his full schedule and fulfil all the duties his wife was not- Ofcourse it's because he is a man, it's not his husbandly duty.

Even though in this age men are not the sole providers in most households, they expect the women to be tending to the home, even when the woman works the same hours. This is not only inconsiderate and selfish it is also unfair. Women get tired just the same way men do. If both equally pay bills, both must also equally share household chores and looking after their children, because it's their children. The children belong to both parents !

Having children is a joy, it does not mean a woman must sacrifice her dreams and ambitions, being a wife or a girlfriend does not mean you are solely responsible for the upkeep of your household and your partners satisfaction. Being a woman is not all about sacrifice and being the mother figure the post- colonial male protégées sought for. Women are individuals and fully human, it's about time we saw them as that and not just household up keepers. A man can cook, clean and iron just as well as a woman.

Stay tuned for part 2
By Tuntum Nahana Akosua