by Ngozi Razak-Soyebi

Special to G21 AFRICA

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Ngozi
Razak-Soyebi

LAGOS, NIGERIA - Worries?

Pause. ... Think. Have you ever wondered what women carry in handbags - some the size of waste disposal units - that men carry in wallets?

Worries?

Show me a woman who'll dare step out without her handbag - bar the occasional visit to the drugstore round the corner - and I'll show you a woman without worries.

I reaffirm this belief when I take a closer look at the contents of my handbag:

• A key holder with no less than twelve keys, some of which have long outlived their usefulness - Reason: What if I discard one of them and discover soon after that it unlocks the chest to a hidden treasure?
  
• A spare key to my car tucked away in the inner compartment - Reason: It will come in handy if I accidentally lock myself out of my car.
  
• A compact - Reason: A girl's got to look good all the time. And what if I run into an old friend from school and she thinks I've run into hard times?
  
• Mobile phone - Reason: A girl needs to keep in touch all the time, right? Plus, what if I have a breakdown in the middle of nowhere and need to reach my mechanic?
  
• Address book - Reason: What if I lose my mobile phone?
  
• Mini sewing kit - Reason: Ever stepped out of a car to the harrowing sound of a ripped slit?
  
• Wallet - Yes, a wallet inside a handbag. Reason: Don't want to be caught empty-handed when I spy that special bargain.
  
• A roll of chewing gum - Like a friend once put it in my university days, pulling out a roll of chewing gum from your handbag at a party translates into a dance guaranteed. Remember that line, 'Care for a gum?' with the roll thrust under a hunk's nose. Oh, well, that was then. Now, I've got an entirely different reason for the gum. It keeps hunger at bay and stops the weight from piling on.
  
• Dental floss - Reason: It will never do to be caught with a piece of meat stuck in between my front teeth.
  
• An extra pair of breast-pads - Reason: Well, I just had a baby. Go figure!

We guard jealously the contents of our handbags. Little wonder with breast-pads jostling for space with mobiles and chewing gums! Recently, though, I spied the contents of a friend's bag and she had, amongst other things, a compact umbrella the size of a torch, just in case the weather turns wet, and - don't laugh - a spare set of fresh underwear for ? Your guess is as good as mine.

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So why do we trot around with some of these life-savers - or should I say junk? - while our brother s step out conveniently with their wallets? And don't argue that men carry briefcases when the occasion demands it. Women carry briefcases, too, and handbags, and d are I add that the contents of a sister's briefcase is distinctly different from that of her brother's. Now, pray tell, why do they call these things brief cases? What's so brief about the case?

Anyway, to get back to the point, it has been proven that women consistently report worrying two or three times as much as men. We worry about looking good all the time. Perhaps that explains the compact, the dental floss and the sewing kit. Men don't have this worry. And, hey, let's face it, no one can look good all the time. Even Sharon Stone has been photographed on a bad hair day!

We worry about a breakdown even if we haven't had one in ages. Never mind that our cars are better maintained than our happy-go-lucky brothers.

We worry about locking ourselves out of our cars, even if we've never had reason yet to use that spare key tucked away in the inner compartment of our handbags.

We worry over just about everything. As a result, we anticipate problems and seek out solutions. Now, perhaps that explains the extra set of fresh underwear in my friend's bag. Mmm...

Handbag designers must have recognized the monsters they inadvertently crea ted and recently came out with a line of handbags the size of wallets. And what did my ingenious sisters do? They fought back with mobiles the size of my little finger and compacts the size of a cell battery. A girl's got to carry what she's got to carry, right?

Okay, so now that I have exposed the hidden secrets, perhaps the time has come for me and my sisters to take a closer look at the contents of our handbags and shed some worries. On second thought, nay! What's life without a little worry?

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NGOZI RAZAK-SOYEBI - A full-time writer, Ngozi Razak-Soyebi's work has appeared on the internet website writershood.com and in the newsletter of the Women Writers of Nigeria (WRITA). More recently, her short story, The Passage, was chosen for publication in an anthology in the US. She lives in Lagos, Nigeria with her husband and seven-month-old daughter. This is her first article for The World's Magazine.