Childhood Chores And Gender Equality

While the rest of the children in the neighborhood were out playing, I had to do household chores first and take care of my younger siblings. Being the eldest of five children inherently meant a great deal of responsibility and a sense of duty, and somehow it explains why we firstborn children are usually too stubborn. We make a poor version of our mothers when they are not around to manage the household, but I think the young ones are happy enough that, despite your monotonous motherlike nagging, they are free to do whatever they pleased while Mother is away.   

In the family we were taught early which chores must be done by which child, and the more difficult ones and policing naturally fell on me. As a small, skinny five-year-old girl I had to stand on a chair to wash dishes over the sink, get some water from the tapayan, and cook rice on the stove. Most of the chores were actually done by the first two older children, and I would often fight with my younger brother over which should have been his chore because he was a boy—for boys are supposed to be stronger than girls, and he would in turn insist I should have been the one doing it because I was a girl—for girls are supposed to become mothers in the future and mothers are supposed to take care of the home.

Soon our bickerings over these chores moved on to a higher level when Papa, out of his sheer fascination—and, I dare say, passion—for boxing, bought two small pairs of  maroon boxing gloves. You can guess what happened between my brother and me after Papa taught us how to box.