Ode to Aletta Jacobs | I didn't understand why women had to be treated so differently

ALETTA

(Aletta is very concentrated on weighing, measuring, stretching and counting
condoms. When someone enters, she does not look up).
Welcome
welcome to me

(pause)

feel free to look around
take your time

(pause)

this is where I live

(pause)

ever since 1929
the year of the first Tintin
and of the discovery of margarine
and of the stock market crash
the global economic crisis
that the world was going completely wrong

(pause)

my dying year of course
I died
75 years old
and then I ended up here
fine departure

(pause)

sometimes a bit lonely
but the TV makes up for a lot
at least I can follow a bit
what's happening on earth

(pause)

Being able to go for decades without it
and still become dependent on such a device
that is strange isn't it

(pause)

But without pulling the strings

(pause)

no low-hanging fruit either

(pause)

That's the way it is
That's why life after death
is so terribly boring

(pause)

So the television set was a godsend indeed
(She looks up)
Do you find it dusty in here
(She continues what she was doing)
But still I think
It's not really hard
I mean to say
with us women
we do have the freedom
but equality
I started at one point
quite a while back now
what year would it have been
about a hundred years ago
anyway
imagine
then I began
as the figurehead of the first feminist wave
yes really
That's how people talk about me
Really
the figurehead
incredible really
it's usually like this
(gestures the shape of a figurehead)
in such a pose
a woman
completely naked
in front of a ship

(pause)

so I started
a century ago
handing out contraceptives
not as solid as these things
(she points to a washing line with condoms)
but solid enough
to prevent a lot of trouble
in secret
because oh woe betide if my colleagues
or the husbands
so secretly
I handed out contraceptives
the pessary that is
no condoms
because the men didn't want it, did they?
Even my colleagues stopped me
let them buy a diaphragm
they yelled in chorus
But that was the problem
The women didn't have the money for it
and the men doing it
over and over again
and presto another child
like bunnies
And bunnies are sweet
But once they start
there's no stopping them
so

(pause)

That was a great success
that pessary
the Mensinga type was the most popular
because of the flexible edge of the rubber cap
there was a fine steel spring
You could hardly feel it
the Ramses type was nice
but less reliable
and the Matrisalus type
was downright
no not very pleasant no
just too rigid
very reliable though
but hey how painful
(pulls a painful grimace)
And
after a few guinea pigs
um um
forgive me
what am I saying now
I totally
I'm off my game
(laughs)
I meant
subjects
I meant
because I had test subjects
I had to start somewhere
but my test subjects
they were really mad
and then
the women lined up in front of me
really
crowded the waiting room
I have rarely seen so many happy women in one pile
I looked like a saint
The women knelt before me
they adored me

(she beams)

while

(pause)

it also fascinated me

(pause)

yes but
excuse me
but it was crazy
that we women couldn't have
our own bodies
it's not some light household chore
to
(She makes the gesture of a bulging belly)
lugging around for nine months
and then
with all her might
put into the world
that's hard labour
the whole body gets
completely out of whack
no more and no less
just plumb heavy
I saw the working-class women in the Jordaan
They decayed
At breakneck speed
Two children on their arms
and five, six, seven more at the skirt
Screaming, crawling, running
barefoot, snotty cold
a mess of animals
I just thought
something must be done here
yes
better one child on the arm
Than ten in the eh eh gutter
yes
don't you agree
and
if God doesn't do it
I'll do it anyway
no more and no less
(pause)
I saw them blossom
the women
strong and proud
beautiful

(pause)

Now it's all very common
girls decide for themselves
to have a child or not
although
well

(pause)

Be that as it may
girls really aren't stupid
just go to university these days
Not to brag
but if I were
17 years old
unbeknownst to my parents
had not written that letter to Thorbecke

(pause)

girls would still be going to the young ladies' school now
to learn manners
(roars with laughter, then suddenly deadly serious)
manners
what nonsense

(pause)

But my father
it was my father too
the doctor
the liberal
He also had to give permission
not only Thorbecke
but he did
fortunately
with great pleasure
He was very ambitious
he wanted all his children to achieve something
not just his sons
And for that time
that was very special
'Gathering knowledge for the common good must be the highest aim'
he daily scanned his life motto
Therefore I could achieve what I wanted to achieve
I mean it when I say
from the bottom of my heart
That I was very lucky to have a father like my father
with his 'knowledge for the common good'
(she smiles, but continues very sternly)
We can no longer imagine
that women were excluded
to study
to vote
I thought that was so terrible
so incredibly unfair
I didn't understand the differences
I didn't understand why women had to be treated so differently
but women at that time were considered
really
since time immemorial
I can hardly say it
as inferior creatures
you must hear
inferior
Can you believe it?
Once married
you became extension of your husband whithout will
that had to be ready for action
and ready to perform
and ready for love
Of course she does
in the hope that it would also make her
as it were
not only because of the duty
the women really want it too
but mostly it was a one-way street
I am so glad that has changed
although
When I hear such a minister de Geus
I can only
(she shakes her head)
I can only think

(pause)

there is still so much to do

(pause)

but I have no more control
no fingers in the pie

(silence)

At least back then I could protest
My husband and I protested together
against marriage
You were allowed to work as a woman
as a typist or nurse
but if you then got married
you were fired
hilarious

(she shakes her head)

But once we wanted children
we still got married, of course
we thought that was appropriate

(pause)

That that piece of value
that piece of humanity
today we are
It is the epitome of
how do I put it
I would say that
because I really think it is
and maybe some people are listening
because I'm terribly sorry for all those people
and especially for all those children
but I really think it's the height of debauchery
Not getting married
but making children
one bastard after another
I find that so
to feel terrible about
(in a loud firm voice)
So terribly indecent

(pause)

I let myself go for a moment there

(pause)

But I'm just
I might be
I don't find it easy
because this is a personal matter
do you understand

(silence)

Because children

(pause)

Motherhood

(pause)

I never

(silence. Aletta returns to her experiments with condoms.)

Do you like it here
in the underworld?
After all, you are
in the underworld
you know
my underworld
this is what my underworld looks like
I can do whatever I want
It's nothing special
What matters is
I am no longer alive
I am dead
And when you're dead
you end up in the underworld
or did you think we were in heaven
up there
We don't believe in that anymore
I find that so old-fashioned

(pause)

A biography was recently published about me
That my life was so impressive
and that I was so intelligent
and that I was so warm-hearted
I had no idea
I had never dared to say that
But this biography
about my life
the first copy will be handed over to the Minister of
Education Maria van der Hoeven
Can you wonder if Ms van der Hoeven has realised that this is
is very much honour for a CDA politician
Because if there was one political group
For those Christian Democrats
Now of course everyone wants to lavish themselves on my heroine status
I fully understand that
But let us not forget
that back then
birth control
the use of anti-conception
either contraceptives
either the diaphragm, the IUD, the pill and the condom
was not exactly due to our Christian politicians
Therefore, as far as Christians are concerned
enfin
so much for the Christians

(pause)

I know
I have many admirers
but few descendants
The room actually has only one at the moment
Therefore it would have been more appropriate
if Ayaan Hirsi Ali
had been the first to receive this hefty biography

(pause)

But anyway
what do I actually have to say
don't I

(pause)

I can no longer expect them to be listen
to me
a dead person

(Aletta totally engrossed in her experiments. She no longer even sees the person present).