Women: creatures chockful of contradictions, yet forever mesmerising

Among many of music’s qualities, one is absolutely crucial: it is derived from the Muses, and therefore, it is feminine. That alone I believe suffices to explain why it exudes charm and beauty.

So there is something inherently feminine in music. I hear this element both when a piece unfolds in a slow adagio and when the tempo intensifies to sweep the audience away.

Music holds both the delicacy of a spring rain and all the force of a summer storm.

Is this not also reminiscent of women?

Certainly, there will always be someone ready with weighty arguments proving that, on more than a handful of occasions, women have been the reason of dispute and conflict. Duels over the beloved, acts of greater or lesser madness, yet always intended to prove the power of the man’s devotion. And if you prefer a really heavyweight example, just look at the decade-long Trojan war over a woman named Helen.

Fair enough. I’m not going to argue. What happened, happened. The world is not perfect, and neither are the people inhabiting it.

There are no perfect women, just as there are no perfect men.

Women enchant with their beauty, and we men try to respond to that charm in various ways. Some opt for a mandolin and a balcony, others for a sword.

Men may rule the world, but women rule men. If the man is the head, then the woman is the neck that turns that head. It is essential that these are turns for the better, which is not always the case.

Leonard Cohen wrote about the eternal war between man and woman, and he must have been onto something. We get on each other’s nerves, and spend hours accusing one another of misunderstandings. Yet even despite that, we attract each other – in rapture and excitement.

That excitement to a degree is bound to the difference in men and women’s internal wiring. A man is a simple mechanism, usually one-dimensional. Told to wash the tiles, it will not even occur to him to scrub the bathtub while he’s at it. His systems react to direct and unambiguous commands.

So we gaze at these more complicated creatures – here a Polish proverb springs to mind: “like an ox at a painted door”. We try to make sense of the female world, even if we know full well that the odds are the same as winning the lottery.

It is what it is. One has simply to accept certain things.

Approximately three quarters of the employees of my companies are women. A lot? Not many? I don’t know. What matters is that they perform the duties entrusted to them brilliantly. I’ve heard people saying “Why do you employ young girls? There’s a high likelihood they’ll want to start a family, have children. And that’s a headache for the employer…”

Well, is it?

For I believe that pregnancy and maternity are no obstacle to a professional career. Not only that: women who have become mothers are superbly organised and magnificently prepared to handle avalanches of duties. Anyone who has seen a mother pushing a pram with a child, doing her shopping and making an appointment with the doctor in the phone at the same time will understand that.

What would unfailingly result in a nervous breakdown in us men, to women is but another challenge to be overcome before they carry on. Without complaining and also without paeans in their honour.

This is another one of life’s mysteries: how can women be so tough and so naturally gentle at the same time? Well, let this remain a secret…

The women employed in my companies have given birth to over a hundred children. To this day, I remember the names of the first few dozen.

Has the motherhood of any staff member ever resulted in a crisis in the company? Did anything suddenly cease to work? Not at all. It is all a question of attitude and good organisation.

Today’s column is a perfect opportunity to thank all women and doff my cap to them. For their beauty and mystery, inspiration and the sense they instil this life with. For the fact that without them, this world wouldn’t just be worse: it simply wouldn’t be there.

All best wishes to you, dear ladies! Best wishes from the bottom of a sincere man’s heart.