A BAD JOKE

The 7th of December of this year, 46-year-old nurse Jacintha Saldanha, mother of two of 14 and 16 years old, of Indian origin, committed suicide.  A few days before this happened, the 3^rd of December, she received a telephone call from some announcers of a radio station in Australia, pretending to be Queen Elizabeth II, asking for Princess Kate’s health condition. She passed this call to another nurse who did give the information to the announcers.

Apparently, the rules of confidentiality on patients were broken. The Royal Household and the hospital’s authorities deny pressuring the employee… but… four days later, she committed suicide.

This situation, which we know very little of because information has not been given, has made us think about women’s poor culture, carried since many centuries ago, globally speaking. Today, al though of women’s inclusion in Universities, work jobs, culture… they still have a quantum of “vital ignorance”.

Women are, in themselves, “ignorant” in a society where the cultural, economic, emotional, affective, working standards, etc. were not created by women. We could say that, even though our actual education, we don’t know very well where we stand.

Maybe this is what happened to Jacintha. Al though she was a qualified person, maybe she lacked knowledge of the ground: the royal household’s protocols, for example. We find it hard to imagine the Queen herself making a telephone call anywhere.

She had been living in England for nine years. The greatest part of her life, she belonged to another culture with very specific traits, not similar at all with the European’s. Al though England dominated India for 200 years, and sometimes is better not to forget how the conqueror behaves, more so when we speak about certain conquerors.

Maybe she received excessive pressure from her colleagues, mocking, comments… Who knows?

This story of a life, as any other story of women, it is of interest to us, and moves us.

Fare well, Jacintha.

We consider it is indispensable for women nowadays to have a search attitude, curiosity, not overlooking details, not taking anything for granted, not thinking we have enough experience, or that we know everything…

Curiosity of what happens in our environment, which is the world.

Curiosity for the daily things we coexist with.

We need to know, in order to have our own criterion. Because if we limit ourselves to the things we are told, we are going to have a very limited and domesticated criterion.  The areas of interest of women are normally very narrow. We are certainly more manageable this way.

Are we familiar with the ground we are moving in?

What are your comments?