"But that's not fucking fair!" She wanted to scream, but she knew she couldn't. So, she only exclaimed, raising her voice just a little bit.
"Watch your tongue, young lady," warned the man.
"The women in my family have been making ale for almost a century now. Do you think it's fair for you to come here and say I can't do it anymore?"
The man smiled; he was having so much fun in crushing that woman—as much fun as he had with the last one and will have with the next one, "I did not say you could not do it anymore; all I said was that from now on, ale is a trade and, as such, must be done by men."
The woman wanted to scream. The woman wanted to rip that cruel smile from the bastard's mouth. Instead, she did the only thing she could, "Please, reconsider. Change the law. I don't need a husband. I can do things on my own," she was almost crying, but she didn't cry. She didn't want to give him the boner that he desired so hard. "I've been doing things on my own since I was a kid."
"I cannot change the law," he lied.
She couldn't believe it. "Yes, yes, you can!" She asserted.
The man looked deep into her eyes like if he was thinking too hard on her words, "You know what?" He began. "You are absolutely right. I can change the law. Actually, I not only can, as I already have. Whose idea do you think it was to make the ale trade something that needs things that only men have, such as capital, cultural, legal, and social resources?"
She was trembling. The rage was consuming her. She needed to do something. She wouldn't let him get away with it.
"Before you do anything, I must remember you who I am. Take that into consideration before doing something..." he pretended to look for the word. He had given that speech many times now, more than he could count. The address was already part of him. "...irrational. However, how could I expect rationality from a woman," he said the last word with disgust. He truly hated women.
At that point, she felt defeated. She needed to do something. There was nothing she could do.
He noted that the conversation had ended. He rushed to the door; there were many more women to crush. But before he left, he turned and said, "Get yourself a husband. Women should take care of the home and the family and, more importantly, women should stay out of men's business."
He closed the door.
A couple of seconds later, she said to herself, "Are men never satisfied? Must they take more and more and never leave anything to us? When will this starvation end?"
THE END
*****
Alewife, also brewess or brewster, is a historical term for a woman who brewed ale for commercial sale. Women have been active in brewing since before the process's industrialisation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alewife_(trade)
