She’s in pain, it’s obvious. So what keeps her from asking for help? Uncertainty? Lack of familiarity with her surroundings and the systems and protocols governing it? Maybe so, but the urgency of her condition should override the wish to do the right thing here; she ought to demand for attention.
She knows this, but is still held back. Why? Because, in a society where women are not expected to be bold and aggressive, she cannot assert herself even though it would be the natural course of action. She must sit and suffer until the powers that be deem her worthy of their attention.
Or, another may speak for her-her husband. He might as well, because her current plight is his fault! Besides, he is a man; they’ll listen to him.
You think? On a ward for women, not much attention is paid to the other half of the species.
He approaches someone for help, aggressively begging, politely demanding that his wife be seen. The listener tells him something, maybe politely, maybe not. Whichever it is, the thoughtline is the same…”He is a man. What does he know about the pains of women? He’s just hysterical, as happens to most untrained men faced with a woman in this state…”
It isn't fair, is it? That a woman should sit silently till noticed at all times, whether she feels like this little life she has carried at the very core of her has suddenly turned against her and wishes to tear its way to the surface? That she should wait for her case to be pleaded by a man, one who will never experience the pain that she must endure to bring him honor?
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