*sigh*
Ever since I was a little girl, there was this sort of familial hierarchy among us 10 cousins. Dead people sit at the top, then married people, and then the rest of us actually have some fluidity in their rankings. A lot of this is based on how well we conform to gender roles. For example, I am not expected to be able to carry the pot of stew I am expected to be able to cook.
I think the first time I noticed this was when my grandmother sent a female cousin and I outside to pick flowers and had us arrange them in a glass. They have such a natural and lovely way of making things look, so elegant and clean. I really respect that, because I can't do that. I do patterns.
I can design and blueprint out machines, do calculus, program or troubleshoot a computer, plant and raise crops, cook, stab a person in the throat with a sword, drive nails, raise a tent, build a fire, keep my shoes gleamingly polished, speak five languages, analyze a novel or write an essay, draw and paint, play violin and piano, knit, and generally argue people to the ground.
But something I don't have is a talent for making environments look beautiful. I really respect that, because my mother does have it. My cousins have it. But decoration is not a skill I have, and when you don't have that ability--and it's sort of considered compulsory for your gender in your culture--you start to notice the lack of it. The "feminine touch" as they call it. The ability to make everything look great, smell good, taste wonderful, with a flair of effortlessness and mystery. Everyone knows I'm trying my ass off.
So yeah, that is something I envy.