A Look Inside

Table of Contents
Chapter Titles

Chapter 1	The Value of Womanhood	11
Chapter 2	The Decline of Femininity	31
Chapter 3	The Sacrifice of the Young	45
Chapter 4	Back to Basics	61
Chapter 5	Women in the Home	79
Chapter 6	Women in the Workplace	95
Chapter 7	The Fashion Crisis	107
Chapter 8	Where have all the Manners Gone	117
Chapter 9	Isolation	147
Chapter 10	From Caterpillar to Butterfly	159
Chapter 11	The Silencing of the Innocent	179
Chapter 12	Stand Up and Be Counted	199
Epilogue	Beauty From Within	217

Chapter One
THE VALUE OF WOMANHOOD

A Treasure in the Sand

I met her when she was in her 40's. She was a very kind and attractive woman, but there was a quiet sadness about her. One day she told me her story.

As a child of a very wealthy family, she was adorned with expensive gold jewelry, as was the custom of her culture. The family had many ser- vants who had the responsibility of caring for the children.

One day while in town shopping, a woman came up to the servant and said that the girl's father was

WOMANHOOD: Fabulous, Fascinating & Feminine

waiting for her in the car. The servant sent her with the message but her father was not waiting for her in the car. She was kidnapped and all of her gold jewelry was ripped off and she was buried in the desert and left to die. A short time passed before some people came by and noticed the irregular bump in the sand. When they uncovered the little girl, she was still alive and was soon returned to her family.

These events left her emotionally scarred with a very poor self-image and a deep rooted feeling of worthlessness. She said "All I have ever been is something to throw away." these perceptions were reinforced with the fact that her father had physically and emotionally abused her and she had been divorced by her husband.

My heart broke as I listened to her story. I felt compelled to tell her that "she was not trash to be thrown away, but a precious treasure that had been buried in the desert only to be discovered and given to me as a friend." She cried and said, "No one had ever said she had value or worth." She no longer was going to allow her past to dictate her future. She had a totally new concept of herself just because someone told her she was a precious treasure.