Blue jobs

This morning I was commuting to work accompanied by my father and husband, wearing white pants. I should have known at something would go wrong just because I was wearing white pants. Innocently, I accepted a travel mug of coffee. Not a chic travel mug, but a brown plastic Tim Horton's model with a giant base that will not fit any cup holder. You see where this is going...

By about kilometre three, I picked up the mug to sip my coffee elegantly and the coffee slopped out the top and all over my white pant leg. Argh! I'm heading to client meeting, but I figured, they won't care, they probably drink coffee. And the meeting was at a coffee shop too so this was all part of the scene.

The coffee was just drying into a dull brown patches when I heard a whirring noise like when you drive off the road and over the washboard pavement patch designed to wake you up. But I was awake and not veering off the road at that particular point. I looked at my dad, flat tire. S&^%!

We pulled off and my husband and father jumped into action - like they'd been waiting for something like this to happen. Out came the spare, the wrench, the bolts they moved around, read the manual, broke off a portion of the frame by lifting the car in the wrong place. I stood and phoned people, cancelled my meeting, sent e-mails and worried about the cars zooming by. Don't fall into the road Dad, I thought.

Didn't think that about my husband. He doesn't fall or stumble much. I checked.

There's a point to this story. I got to thinking, what would I have done if I were by myself? The answer was "call CAA." My only recourse was to call another man to change the tire and save the day. I realize changing a tire is a job I do not want to do or learn. Much like plumbing, electrical work and changing the seal on a toilet. These are jobs best done by men, in my view. Blue jobs.

But what does this say about Holly Dunn the feminist and 21st century wonder woman? And what hope do women have for equality and power, with people like me segmenting jobs like I do?

I like to think I'm increasing my power by focusing on the jobs I like and those I do well. I can multi-task like an eight-armed juggler. I have a mastery of the English language, and I even enjoy mowing the lawn. I have handled garbage and compost....and do so with increasing regularity.

Do I need to learn to change a tire? Maybe. But in the meantime, I share the load and leave the male species to focus on what it does best, moving heavy objects, changing occasional tires, dissembling and reassembling engines and, of course, listening to crickets....