Sohaila from Jeddah writes: “You are a well-known writer who champions the cause of women. You are always willing to suggest solutions for their problems. My present request is that you give us women some insight into men’s true nature so that our quest for happiness and security becomes easier. I am anxious to know what effect women produces upon men. You should also tell me if men are clever enough to realize all the varied feminine tricks. The most important information I want concerns men’s attitudes toward their responsibilities such as their commitment to their wives and their trust in her.

“I am also curious to know about their attitudes toward success in work as well as their own ideas of manhood. Are they really interested in national and local issues? Let me also have an insight into their thinking processes. Do they have the same silly thoughts as we women sometimes do? Of course, I also want to know about their preoccupation and priorities in general. The most important matter that concerns me is how women can make men happy. Are they really pleased with what we do for them or are we just wasting our time? If you can provide some answers to my questions, you will no doubt give us the key to the closed gate of human happiness.”

My dear Sohaila, I am sorry to say that you ask me to undertake an impossible task. You ask me to discuss the totality of human relations. It might be a coincidence that I recently wrote an article dealing with some of the points you brought up. Men and women, in my view, do not differ much except that women have the ability to conceive, carry and bear children. Their emotions are very similar. Both man and woman experience the same feelings of love and jealousy. Man needs woman to boost his self-confidence and the reverse is also true. A normal man is conscious of his responsibility toward his family just as a normal woman is. An understanding man or woman shares the feelings of his fellow men in society.

A woman, who is aware of these facts, has no difficulty in winning a man’s heart. Don’t worry about tales of women’s tricks. Men too like to emphasize how they managed to deceive the opposite sex but these matters are seldom serious.

If I am seen to take a greater interest in women’s issues, it is because I am spurred by a sense of responsibility toward Arab women. They are currently experiencing a period of social transition that requires society’s support and encouragement. For the past 20 years I have supported them and my objective in doing so is to help them achieve a better life both socially and legally.

Final thought: The wife who treats her husband like a baby is actually giving him an opportunity to run away from her just as he first ran away from his mother.