Not the head, but the centre

Society ordained men the head of the house. That's the narrative in 2023. But were they really?

This isn't a conversation about today it's an explaination about what might have worked in the past and how history is framed today... But I need a favour. I need the cynicism to be shut off for 5 minutes. Just 5, then you can switch it back on, promise!

We've overlayed modern meanings to what the head, the 'boss' of the family means - that they have the final say, they order everyone around and everyone in the family serves them and have no accountability because they're in charge.

Swap that out for the term "bad manager" at work, all those descriptions above is exactly what a bad boss is and does in modern times.

Men were not "bad managers" of a business.

The man was the head of the family, but the woman was the centre of the family.

Perhaps that's just semantics? Word play? Nope.

Let's set up a parameter:

In your belief or experience, how many bad people are there compared to good? ....

10% bad? 50% bad, 97%? If you've used online interactions to form your belief, hang on tight. If you've used others driving cars only, it's pretty bleak, so what you're going to do is  rate it based on every person you've ever physically connected with, or audio, no typing only interactions.

Has that number changed? Yes? 

What about just family what about all the men you know well? 

What I'm doing is setting a base line so we're not adding bad people into the equation, people that want to abuse power. This isn't that conversation it's about regular ordinary folk poor to middle class trying to make their way in the world.

The man was the head of the family, but the woman was the centre of the family.

Being the head actually means being responsible for when things go wrong, being responsible for safety which could be literally (physical) or figuratively (resources, money). The more power the more responsibility, whoever is greatest is the greatest servant.

The centre of the family is different, it's about peace, order, prosperity, details. Similar responsibilities to the head but on a local level rather than a global level. The centre of the family has more power on a weekly basis. They are both equal but different. But when thinga fell apart someone had to be responsible and that was the man. It's not division of labour today only, it's over time, many days points over time. Together they are solving problems in the name of a common direction of peace and prosperity in the family, today, tomorrow, next year, next decade, until death.