People don't want to see women doing things they don't think

The words of Joan Jett, “People don’t want to see women doing things they don’t think women should do,” cut through centuries of expectation like a blade. They speak of the invisible chains forged not from iron, but from belief—the prison of perception that declares what is proper, and condemns what is not. She names the truth that rebellion is not only an act of action but of existence: when a woman steps beyond the narrow path society has drawn, she becomes both a vision of hope and a target of scorn.

The origin of this struggle lies in the long story of patriarchy, where the world prescribed for women only certain duties—domestic service, motherhood, silence in public matters. To step beyond these was to invite criticism, ridicule, or worse. Jett herself, a pioneer in rock music, faced such hostility. For the sight of a woman wielding an electric guitar with fire and defiance was, to many, an act of disobedience against the order they believed unshakable.

Consider the tale of Joan of Arc, a peasant girl who donned armor and led armies in defiance of every expectation of her sex. To some she was a saint, to others a heretic, but to all she was unsettling—for she was doing what women were not supposed to do. Her courage shook kings and priests alike, and though she was condemned by her enemies, her name has lived on for centuries, a testament to the truth Jett proclaimed.

Jett’s words are also a mirror to the present. Even now, women who dare to command in politics, to create in the arts, or to rise in business encounter the same resistance, cloaked in subtler forms. They are told they are “too ambitious,” “too emotional,” or “unfeminine.” The discomfort of others reveals not weakness in the women, but fear in the observers—a fear of the crumbling of old orders.

The lesson is sharp and heroic: progress is never gentle. Each time a woman steps beyond the boundary, she breaks not only the chain for herself, but weakens it for those who will come after. That discomfort, that anger, is the sound of walls falling. To do what women are told they “should not” is, in truth, to reveal what women always could.

Let future generations remember: the world has always resisted those who defy its narrow vision, yet it is only through such defiance that humanity grows. Women who do what others say they must not are not threats to order, but builders of freedom. And though society may recoil at first, it is always those very acts that light the way for those who follow.