Women today have so many options… except none at all.
We can be anything we want to be… unless you mean a stay at home mom, girly girl, or domestic diva.
My experience is what people really mean when they say “you can be anything you want to be” is “my generation worked its ass off to pave the way for women like you to do whatever you want to do, so you better take advantage of it.” They certainly don’t mean you can actually do whatever you want to do and actually be whoever you want to be, especially if that means adhering to what society has historically considered a traditional female role. We’ve managed to lock ourselves in a box. We are expected to be educated, make our living outside of the home, and be independent, do-it-all women. To be anything “less” would be dishonoring those who have come before us. Never mind if you find fulfillment in keeping a home, or raising your children. You have other choices that women have fought and died for.
And while “opportunity” for women has never been greater, so has the responsibility. Sure, we can do anything a man can do — and we’re expected to. But men? I haven’t seen any movement telling men they can do anything a woman can do. I don’t see any campaign for men to take off their tie and take on a vacuum. Camouflaged as our advancement, my experience is that women are just being told to do more and are shamed by other women when they opt not to. Women aren’t being told to defy traditional gender roles or stereotypes, women are just being told to take on the mans.
We just have a long way to go.
— 2:06 AM
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