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Woman up

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Edited by Martin Cadwell, Friday 9 October 2026 at 09:30

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Opinion

Woman up

[ 1 minute read ]

Sometimes I despair.I am waiting for students to pluck up the courage to make themselves known They seem to have an imagined scenario in which the persons who have access to the same group forum are all ravenous beasts ready to tear at their soft bellies. Just say hello and retreat if you wish but at least stop waiting for someone with a spoon to feed you, No-one is going to do that. It is part of being an adult. We all have to woman-up or something. That sounds to me like weaponising ourselves with the assistance of a woman. I mean we could arm-up with guns or feed-up someone; but 'womaning-up', is a strange thing indeed.

Surely, it beats the cry of the defeated after a primary school playground fight.

       'I'm gonna tell my dad!' 

       'Go on then. I am going to get a woman!'

       'Never mind then. I'm going home. You can keep my ball.'

No, we no longer want to 'man-up'. Used to upgrades and downloads in the modern world, we should be seeking a woman as an upgrade, no?

Unfortunately, there are other ways of hearing 'Woman up'. One of them might be in a restaurant kitchen. 'Woman up. Table four.'

None of these are good. They all smack of servitude. What a pickle! Woman should not even be considered to be a commodity that can be strapped to your waist and used in a duel one misty dawn in a country park. Neither should they be served on a platter to a customer. 

You simply can't 'woman-up'.

Of course, this is all vernacular and it is preferable to be more circumspect in our use of language. 'Come forward' and 'Step up to the mark' while still idiosyncrasies, have no gender connatations. 

So, adult-up everyone!

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