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About this quote

What does it mean?
Traditional roles assign men to war and women to home, creating confusion when these are reversed.
In plain terms
Assigning men to battle and women to hearth leads to confusion if roles swap.
What can you take from it?
Rigid gender roles limit flexibility and cause tension.

Where it applies

  • family dynamics
  • workplace policies

Putting it to work

  • encourage shared responsibilities
  • challenge stereotypes

Questions to consider

  • What roles feel natural to you?
  • How can we balance duties?

Another view

Many societies have evolving roles.

More from Alfred (Lord) Tennyson

  1. Man is the hunter; woman is his game: The sleek and shining creatures of the chase, We hunt them for the beauty of their skins; They love us for it, and we rid…

    Permalink to quote #137
  2. Home they brought her warrior dead: She nor swoon'd, nor utter'd cry: All her maidens, watching, said, 'She must weep or she will die.'

    Permalink to quote #139
  3. O Swallow, Swallow, flying, flying South, Fly to her, and fall upon her gilded eaves, And tell her, tell her, what I tell to thee.

    Permalink to quote #136

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