Life is tough for females throughout the animal kingdom. Still, some women might enjoy life a lot better if they took life lessons from some female animals--especially female lions. One only needs to watch the National Geographic Channel and other real reality TV broadcasts to observe how lionesses share a sisterhood. Lionesses share a cooperative sisterhood that is beneficial for them and their off springs.
Lionesses accept the male lion for what he contributes to their lives and for the survival of the pride. He is there for protection and for reproduction purposes only. Lionesses know that their role is to provide food for the pride, something they are much better suited for doing than is the alpha male who with his beautiful mane is terrible at stalking prey. More importantly lionesses also understand their role in nurturing and protecting their young.
So lionesses accept the fact that the alpha male lions gets to eat first. It's the least they can do and it is better for their survival. He is after all greedy, meaner, bigger, and stronger. But when the alpha male is killed or dethroned, each lioness does her best to make sure that their young male off springs leave the pride under the protection of the lionesses so that their young male off springs are not killed by the new alpha males. Generally speaking, lioness's daughters do not need that kind of protection from the new males for obvious reasons. Human daughters do.
Every lioness understands the value of the sisterhood. It maximizes the survival of the individual lioness and of the lion pride. Cooperative companionship and cooperative community is important no matter its sources. Many women seem to understand this at least on a visceral level; men, not so much. Some say that one of the reasons women tend to live longer than men is that women tend to share companionship in the company of other women more than men share companionship in the company of other men.
This is especially a common phenomenon among retired women and widows.Many Women enjoy participation in book clubs, Bible study groups, professional clubs and organizations, social awareness groups, and other civic minded organizations. On a personal level, they also tend to celebrate each other's birthdays--whether between sisters, two friends, or a group friends; men, not so much.
Men tend to be more like the old lion who has grown too old or too wounded to defend himself and protect his female pride from younger stronger males. Dethroned alpha male lions tend to wanders off to live the rest of their life on the fringes or in complete solitude. Men, too, tend to be loners. If they are not loners they might have one or two friends with whom they interact infrequently. And when men are engaged in group functions, it is mostly in the presence of their wives and girlfriends along with other men who are in attendance with their wives and girlfriends.
The bottom line is that lion prides are viable and functions well through a cooperative sisterhood of lionesses. The human family and human culture is more viable and functions better when women share a cooperative sisterhood. More importantly, whatever other good things may be going on in a woman's life, life is better when it is shared with other women.
