> > When I Grow Up, I Wanna Be A Tai-Tai
> >
> >
> > The last 100 years have been golden ones for the female sex really.
> > During that span of time we got the vote, got the right to go to
schools
> > and added university degrees and Oxford PhDs to the list of 'Women Can
> > Do' without slaughtering, maiming or killing anybody.
> >
> > Well, okay ... maybe a bit of illegal protesting and bra burning.
> > Lately, we've chalked up more milestones in the business world as
> > Hewlett Packard became the first big name tech player to appoint a
> > woman CEO and according to news reports, more than 27% of new
> > businesses being launched are being headed by women.
> >
> > The result of all this history is that women of today's generation have
> > grown up with strong ideas about being career women. In secondary
school
> > canteens, we dreamt of careers as lawyers, accountants and engineers,
> > earning pots of money and somewhere along the way, meeting the suitably
> > qualified tertiery educated Prince Charming who drove a nice middle
> > class car.
> >
> > The thought of becoming a housewife was filed away under 'Stupid
> > Hairbrained Things Which Only Dumb Females Consider Doing'. Five
> > years, a university degree and a couple of years working experience
> > later, some of us are finding that gulp, we take it all back.
> >
> > Really ... all we want is to be tai-tais ...
> >
> > The truth is that working is a drudgery. Having a boss is like having
> > PMS except it's every working day of the week (and that's 5 days a
> > week x 4 weeks a month x 12 months a year).
> >
> > Nine to five hours are a miserable experience. Paperwork is asinine,
> > endless and sometimes, verges on pointlessness. And oh yes, finding
> > new ways to be idle without being caught probably should be national
> > employee pastime No 1. For gifts last year, we gave each other
> > copies of Dilbert's The Joy of Work for laughs. Bringing home the
> > bacon doesn't have a magical satisfying feel any more because you're
> > too tired and brain dead to even contemplate frying it yourself.
> >
> > You consider throwing yourself into your work and becoming one of
> > those amazing females who makes the cover of Women @ Work but decide
> > after taking into consideration the total loss of personal time,
> > absolute lack of a social life and general all round hard work you
> > need to do to achieve that goal, coupled with the glass ceiling
> > factor, finding a good husband who will bring home not just bacon
but
> > the whole damned pig seems the easier and faster road to good times.
> >
> > Longing for tai-taidom doesn't mean swopping the university
parchment
> > for the 'same druggery, different context' of housework and
> > brood-rearing.
> >
> > Tai-taidom is about having a maid tackle all those tiresome chores
> > and going out to coffee, high tea and shopping with your school
mates
> > and girlfriends. It's about gym workouts with a personal trainer,
> > having facials and and pamper sessions at the masseuse.
> >
> > It's being able to go on a vacation at the drop of a hat without
> > having to apply for leave, wait for it to be approved and then have
> > your boss whine about how it's a bad time to be taking time off.
> >
> > Tai-taidom doesn't have to be dull either.
> >
> > After all, as a lady of leisure, you will have time to undertake all
> > the hobbies, interests and skill improvements that you always wanted
> > to do but never had the time or money to. Read all those books you
> > meant to read all those years ago but never found the time. Travel
> > and see the world. Learn how to sing, play a musical instrument -
> > write a sex and shopping novel. Tai-taidom is the chance to discover
> > and exploit your hidden talents and well, find self-improvement. Take
> > typing classes.
> >
> > Wait a second - weren't these the sort of exploits of gentile young
> > ladies of the Elizabethan 18th Century? The play a musical instrument
> > and learn how to sing is almost straight out of the pages of Jane
> > Austen's books isn't it?
> >
> > Tai-taidom is a step backwards for women surely? (Elizabeth Candy
> > Staunton would be rolling in a grave over this one, you think?)
> >
> > Yes and no.
> >
> > Modern tai-tais have probably got it much better since corsets were
> > condemned and well, Elizabeth Bennet would certainly have appreciated
> > having the vote and being given the chance to go to university and as
> > well as marry Mr Darcy and be lady of leisure at some large house
> > with sprawling grounds.
> >
> > Modern tai-tais aren't tai-tais by virtue of their gender or because
> > they can't be anything else - they're tai-tais by choice.
> >
> > And being a tai-tai doesn't mean all the equality we fought for and
> > the right to sit at the table and express your views while pounding
> > the table with your immaculately manicured nails just vanishes
> > overnight.
> >
> > Rather, it's having the best of both types of worlds that women have
> > experienced.
> >
> > Which brings us of course to the one fly in the whole becoming a
tai-tai
> > ointment. Alas, achieving tai-taidom is somewhat a more tenuous uphill
> > task.
> >
> > If you thought winning the vote was a toughie, wait till you get to
> > finding a decent good husband who makes enough money for you to live
> > the life of a tai-tai. Need we repeat again how good men are hard to
> > find? Even the cads and bounders are hard to come by these
> > days.Tai-taidom is an elusive fairy tale ending that like Cinderella
> > and Sleeping Beauty, is the exception rather than the rule.
> >
> > The moral of the story at the end of the day? Screw the knight in
> > shining armour or liberated sensitive new age man - Just gimme a
> > husband who can afford to keep me in the style and manner in which I
> > would like to be accustomed to ... and I will cook all his meals and
> > let him put up his feet when he comes home ...
> >
> > Tai-taidom, here I come!
> >
