Unfortunately, women *everywhere* in the world are still objectified as Nora is in Ibsen's "A Doll's House." Women continue to be treated as sex objects and caregivers with little, if anything, else to offer.

Like Nora (until the end), many women play their part in maintaining the imbalance. They still pursue the "goal" of being the "perfect wife" and many women are still completely dependent on their husbands for income. This imbalance of equality in a patriarchy often leads to women being treated like they exist solely for the pleasure of men. (And except for a few souls like the late Anna Nicole, that doesn't tend to pay much..).

The unfairness of patriarchy may seem more blatant in "A Doll's House" but consider this excerpt from Kiplinger's, which appeared in 12/06:

For example, women have longer life spans and more checkered work careers than men, moving in and out of the paid labor force more frequently. When they marry, they often face a special kind of financial dependency that is not always unwelcome but can work to their disadvantage and may be discomfiting. They often bear the main responsibility for rearing children, and then take on the added financial burden of caring for aging family members. Finally, after years of having their financial lives intertwined with the lives of others, they face the prospect of years on their own following the death of a spouse and the launching of children.

Even more recently, USA Today (1/07) ran an article about incomes which concludes: ""It does suggest that some of the gains women had been making relative to men, they are now losing," she says.

Think of these things when Nora is being called "pet" or is forging her father's name at the bank...