Depois que o Partido Socialista organizou o Dia da Mulher na cidade de Nova York em 28 de fevereiro de 1909, as delegadas alemãs Clara Zetkin, Käte Duncker entre outras propuseram, na Conferência Socialista Internacional da Mulher de 1910, que se deveria organizar “um dia especial da mulher”. 

Depois que as mulheres ganharam sufrágio na Rússia em 1917, a data de 8 de março passou a ser feriado nacional no país. Até a década de 60, o dia era celebrado pelo movimento socialista e por países comunistas. Aí passou a ser adotado pelo movimento feminista em meados de 1967. Por fim as Nações Unidas começaram a comemorar o dia em 1975.

Este é uma breve introdução à origem desta celebração que ganhou força no Brasil a partir dos anos 2000 e agora já mencionamos março como o mês da mulher. Por isso, minha sugestão de estudo hoje envolve este tema. Vamos lá?

Em uma aula que realizei na Livraria Mandarina sobre o discurso das escritoras Virginia Woolf e Clarice Lispector, tive contato com o poema que Virginia criticou: O anjo do lar, escrito pelo poeta inglês Coventry Patmore, século XIX. Ele fala sobre o ideal de um casamento feliz, em que a mulher é colocada em um papel doméstico e que, ao seguir as suas ideias – engessadas e categóricas, traz a imagem da mulher perfeita, que torna o homem feliz.

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), escritora e crítica literária, comenta sobre esse poema e a necessidade de matar esse tal anjo do lar, para um grupo de mulheres trabalhadoras, em 1931. Ela acredita que todas as mulheres possuem esse tal anjo dentro de si e que, para uma vida saudável, é preciso combatê-lo.

FIRST ACTIVITY

Let’s study some adjectives from this text and part of a poem, they are all in bold and italicized. Write down the adjectives that suit the following definitions:

1. __________________ showing patience and humility; gentle
2. __________________ regarded as model of excellence
3. __________________ dedicated, feeling or demonstrating loyalty
4. __________________ unresistingly or humbly obedient
5. __________________ receptive and affected by external force
6. __________________ fascinating or delightful; pleasant; attractive
7. __________________ complete, faultless, no defect or blemish
8. __________________ compassionate; understanding; in harmony with one’s taste or mood
9. __________________ without authority or strength
10. __________________ strong, mighty
11. __________________ disregarding your own welfare or personal interests over those of others
12. __________________ showing religious devotion
13. __________________ having no moral failing or guilt; chaste
14. __________________ characterized by beauty of movement, style and form
15. __________________ showing a friendly, generous, sympathetic or warm-hearted nature
16. __________________ at ease; free from stress or anxiety
17. __________________ persuasive, having or exerting influence
18. __________________ intolerant; easily irritated
19. __________________ amiable, tender, docile

The popular Victorian image of the ideal wife/woman came to be “the Angel in the House”; she was expected to be devoted and submissive to her husband. The Angel was passive and powerless, meek, charming, graceful, sympathetic, self-sacrificing, pious, and above all pure. The phrase “Angel in the House” comes from the title of an immensely popular poem by Coventry Patmore, in which he holds his angel-wife up as a model for all women.

Believing that his wife Emily was the perfect Victorian wife, he wrote “The Angel in the House” about her (originally published in 1854, revised through 1862). Though it did not receive much attention when it was first published in 1854, it became increasingly popular through the rest of the nineteenth century and continued to be influential into the twentieth century. For Virginia Woolf, the repressive ideal of women represented by the Angel in the House was still so potent that she wrote, in 1931, “Killing the Angel in the House was part of the occupation of a woman writer.”

The following excerpt will give you a sense of the ideal woman and the male-female relationship presented by Patmore’s poem:

Man must be pleased; but him to please
Is woman’s pleasure; down the gulf
Of his condoled necessities
She casts her best, she flings herself.
How often flings for nought, and yokes
Her heart to an icicle or whim,
Whose each impatient word provokes
Another, not from her, but him;
While she, too gentle even to force
His penitence by kind replies,
Waits by, expecting his remorse,
With pardon in her pitying eyes;
And if he once, by shame oppress’d,
A comfortable word confers,
She leans and weeps against his breast,
And seems to think the sin was hers;
Or any eye to see her charms,
At any time, she’s still his wife,
Dearly devoted to his arms;
She loves with love that cannot tire;
And when, ah woe, she loves alone,
Through passionate duty love springs higher,
As grass grows taller round a stone.

Initially this ideal primarily expressed the values of the middle classes. However, Queen Victoria’s devoting herself to her husband Prince Albert and to a domestic life encouraged the ideal to spread throughout nineteenth century society.

SECOND ACTIVITY

There is one mistake in each quote below, I invite you to correct all of them:

Supporting and celebrating women’s rights is a year-round responsibility. But on International Women’s Day (IWD), it’s even more important to take a stand for women’s equality.

If you’re not familiar with it, International Women’s Day began in the early 1900s and is a “a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality,” according to the official IWD website.

To help you spread the word and capture the spirit of IWD, read—and share (using their hashtags, #IWD2020 and #EachforEqual). This is a list of International Women’s Day quotes:

1. “Girls should never to be afraid to be smart.” – Emma Watson
2. “A strong woman looks a challenge in the eye and give it a wink.” – Gina Carey
3. “We realized the importance of our voice when we are silenced.” – Malala Yousafzai
4. “If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something made, ask a woman.” – Margaret Thatcher
5. “A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkable difficult.” – Melinda Gates
6. “There is no limit what we, as women, can accomplish.” – Michelle Obama
7. “No one can make you to feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt 
8. “I’m tough, I’m ambitious, and I know exactly that I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.” – Madonna
9. “It’s okay if you fell down and lose your spark. Just make sure that when you get back up, you rise as the whole damn fire.” – Colette Werden
10. “A woman is like a tea bag: You can’t tell how strong is she until you put her in hot water.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
11. “What’s the greatest lesson a woman should learn? That since day one, she’s already have everything she needs within herself. It’s the world that convinced her she did not.” – Rupi Kaur
12. “A girl should be two things: Whom and what she wants.” – Coco Chanel 
13. “The best protection any women can have is courage.” – Elizabeth Cady Stanton
14. “Sometimes it’s the princess who kills the dragon and save the prince.” –Samuel Lowe 
15. “If you will obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.” – Katherine Hepburn
16. “The more beautiful thing a woman can wear is confidence.” – Blake Lively
17. “I want that every girl to know that her voice can change the world.” – Malala
18. “Nothing can dim the light whose shines from within.” – Maya Angelou
19. “Feminism isn’t about make women strong. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.” – G.D. Anderson
20. “She overcome everything that was meant to destroy her.” – Rumi 
21. “Cinderella never asked for a prince. She asked for a knight off and a dress.” –Kiera Cass
22. “Strong back.  Soft front. Wild heart. Just are you.” – Brené Brown

Answers

FIRST ACTIVITY

Devoted: dedicated, feeling or demonstrating loyalty

Submissive: unresistingly or humbly obedient

Passive: receptive and affected by external force

Powerless: without authority or strength

Meek: showing patience and humility; gentle

Charming: fascinating or delightful; pleasant; attractive

Graceful: characterized by beauty of movement, style and form

Sympathetic: compassionate; understanding; in harmony with one’s taste or mood

Self-sacrificing: disregarding your own welfare or personal interests over those of others

Pious: showing religious devotion

Pure: having no moral failing or guilt; chaste

Perfect: complete, faultless, no defect or blemish

Influential: persuasive, having or exerting influence

Potent: strong, mighty

Ideal: regarded as model of excellence

Impatient: intolerant; easily irritated

Gentle: amiable, tender, docile

Kind: showing a friendly, generous, sympathetic or warm-hearted nature

Comfortable: at ease; free from stress or anxiety

SECOND ACTIVITY

1. “Girls should never be afraid to be smart.” – Emma Watson
2. “A strong woman looks a challenge in the eye and gives it a wink.” – Gina Carey
3. “We realize the importance of our voice when we are silenced.” – Malala Yousafzai
4. “If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.” – Margaret Thatcher
5. “A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult.” – Melinda Gates
6. “There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” – Michelle Obama
7. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt 
8. “I’m tough, I’m ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.” – Madonna
9. “It’s okay if you fall down and lose your spark. Just make sure that when you get back up, you rise as the whole damn fire.” – Colette Werden
10. “A woman is like a tea bag: You can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
11. “What’s the greatest lesson a woman should learn? That since day one, she’s already had everything she needs within herself. It’s the world that convinced her she did not.” – Rupi Kaur
12. “A girl should be two things: Who and what she wants.” – Coco Chanel 
13. “The best protection any woman can have is courage.” – Elizabeth Cady Stanton
14. “Sometimes it’s the princess who kills the dragon and saves the prince.” –Samuel Lowe 
15. “If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.” – Katherine Hepburn
16. “The most beautiful thing a woman can wear is confidence.” – Blake Lively
17. “I want every girl to know that her voice can change the world.” – Malala
18. “Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.” – Maya Angelou
19. “Feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.” – G.D. Anderson
20. “She overcame everything that was meant to destroy her.” – Rumi 
21. “Cinderella never asked for a prince. She asked for a night off and a dress.” –Kiera Cass
22. “Strong back.  Soft front. Wild heart. Just be you.” – Brené Brown

Sources

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/thackeray/angel.html

https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/03/1058811

https://www.internationalwomensday.com/2020Theme

Escrito por Lígia Velozo Crispino e publicado na coluna semanal de inglês da Revista Exame. Editado para o blog da Companhia de Idiomas.