I am a WOMAN and I am enough
I want to tell you the story of how I realized that, in this world, your gender still influences what kind of opportunities you are worth having.
Growing up, I always thought that I could be anything I wanted — I still do — and I never really imagined that being a girl could be an obstacle to achieve my dreams.
As a kid, I wasn’t aware of this issue, I was constantly hearing things like ‘’your cousin likes to play with dolls, that’s not very boyish of him’’ and ‘’That skirt is too short, do you want boys to tease you?’’. Although this is concerning and deeply rooted in our society’s gender roles normalization, the first time I realized how big of an issue this is, was when I was 13.
I was an eighth-grader and we were discussing a book in my french class. In the book, the main character was a woman and she was portrayed as someone with many opinions.
I distinctly remember the teacher saying: ‘’Do you understand the problem with this character? As a woman, she shouldn’t have this many opinions.’’ and I also remember not understanding why a woman having many opinions was a problem.
This one moment in class was my turning point and I will never forget it for the rest of my life. It changed my life forever and it still makes me feel like I lost something I will never get back.
In one of my previous blogs, I talked about the veil of ignorance. I feel like I was living under a veil of ignorance and now, that the veil has been lifted, I can never look at the world as a fair place where I can be assured that I won’t be denied an opportunity because of my gender.
The reason why I’m talking about this is that, as a 22-year-old girl who is still pursuing higher education and has no plans on settling down and having kids until her late twenties, I can’t help but feel like something is missing.
It feels wrong to be ambitious and not look forward to having kids right after doing my master's degree. It feels wrong to want to travel the world. It feels wrong to feel good to be alone. It feels wrong to be a strong and independent woman.
From an early age, as girls, we are taught that we should dream of a white wedding, a rich husband, and kids. We are taught that school is important but we are also taught that being a mother is the best thing to happen to a woman. We are taught that dating several people is a bad thing. We are taught that we can do everything we want as long as we are ready to be the perfect ‘’housewife’’.
The thing is, being the perfect ‘’housewife’’ is not a bad thing, women should be whatever they want to be without feeling pressured to fulfill the gender roles society imposed on us.
According to a report on SDG 5- Gender Equality — although there’s been a lot of progress in the fight for gender equality, discriminatory laws and gaps in legal protection remain in many countries.
Not only that, but only 27% of managerial positions in the world were occupied by women in 2018. This is very concerning!!!
It’s time things change and it’s time we start to see each other as equals regardless of our gender. It’s time we say, loud and clear, ‘’I am a WOMAN and I am enough’’!
