Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume II — Page 142
142 to get rid of. You can only save your time by distancing yourself from them. After all, you need time to utilize the knowledge [ which you are gaining]. If you live your life in such a way that you have no spare time, then what will you achieve ? Th us, the first question is of time. You will have to change your life in such a way that you can spare time for this work. Then absolutely ev erything will be easy for you, a nd you can benefit from this time by doing scores of tasks which are essential for your progress. You alo ne must solve th e s e problem s a nd if you succeed in solving them, then your mothers themselves will be compelled to imitate you. We have seen girls who have passed their primary education, and their ignorant mothers eagerly hover around them and proudly s tate , ‘Our daughter has passed elementary school; she is very i ntelligent and sharp. ’ If mothers cannot say no to a girl with elementary schooling , then why would they not accept what you tell them when you hold a BA ? This responsibility that I have spoken to you about should not be taken lightly. It is th is very matter , which has rendered our women useless. Other nations have resolved this issue and saved six or seven hours , b ut you cannot get away from this cooking business. If you can also save six or seven hours, then you can make even more progress than those countries. For, i f they save six hours, they use two hours for national dut ies and four hours in singing and dancing , b ut you will expend all your time on ly on national and religious work. Th at is why you will have thrice the time a vailable to do you r own work compared to European women a nd when they spend four hours o f their time singing and dancing, you will spend all your time exclusively on religious work. In this way you will accomplish three times more work than them. Thus, your victory is certain because in so far as time is concerned, one of you will be equivalent to three of them. At this time, even a hundred of you cannot match a single European woman because you are less educated and cannot spare any time for the service of your nation. Howe ver, when you acquire knowledge and begin to spend more time i n the service of your nation than they do, then even a hundred European women cannot compare to you. For as long as the environment and the system of Europe remains this way and one of its women is worth a hundred of you, its victory is certain. H owever, when you transform yourselves so that a single one of you is equal to a hundred of them , then your triumph is inevitable.