Just a Girl

Let's talk about gender roles, shall we? Even in today's society certain things are expected of men and women. Men are expected to be the providers and the protectors, women are expected to be the nurturers and care givers. Doesn't this seem like an old fashioned, 1950's type mentality? How far did women's lib really get us? Women are expected to follow a certain time table: go to school, get married, have babies, take care of your husband and children. Oh yeah, maybe throw a career in there if you want to.

What are you supposed to do when you reject your given gender role? A woman in her mid to late twenties is constantly bombarded with questions. 'When are you going to get married?', 'When are you going to have babies?' or even 'When are you going to find a decent man and settle down?'. No questions about careers or aspirations. It's like the world revolves around a woman being a wife and mother. YOU aren't following the norm therefore YOU are breaking the cycle. It's almost as if you're not a functioning member of society. And heaven forbid you say you don't want children, or have no intentions of getting married! You may as well say you're from another planet and have come to earth to dissect human brains. Guaranteed the looks you would receive wouldn't be that different.

So where does a twenty-something year old woman stand in todays society where your every indescresion is judged and labeled. You just have to push harder for what you want and let people say what they want to say. You can't control others opinions of you, you can only change your opinion of yourself. And if you can look in the mirror and be proud of who you are, that's all that matters.