What You Say To Young Women

Dear Children,

After writing one hundred blogs that I haven't published, I'm realizing one thing. I am a broken mom who struggles with a sin infected world. I'm not perfect. I realize that in posting you may not have my struggles and you may not relate, but I do feel that you will later see how my parenting shaped you into who you are. And maybe you will understand why you are so messed up. ;-)

Here is my current soapbox that I want to share with you.

This article shows a part what I feel like a lot of young women are facing today.
While the feminist movement came in waves, even 50 years ago the majority of women's roles in our society did not exist outside the home.
So now we are in this new phase that makes it extremely difficult for young women.

Here are some real life examples. I know young women, myself included in these positions.

• Here is a young mom who didn't go to college or finish her degree but stays at home with kiddos. She hears this: you need to go back and finish your degree, what are you going to do when they leave, etc... 
• Here is a young mom who did finish her college education but stays home with kiddos. She hears this: it is a shame you wasted four years of your life, you aren't even using your degree, etc...
• Here is a young mom where her level of education doesn't matter. This young mom has hit a new level. She has more than two kids. She hears 'true' opinion about overpopulation and people wonder if she is the new octo-mom.
• Here is a young mom who works in a full-time job and puts her children in daycare. She hears this: you must not care about your kiddos, you can afford to stay at home so you aren't trying, etc...
• Here is a young woman that finished her higher education. She is happily married but doesn't have kids and is working on her career. She hears this: when are you having kids, you must not like kids, why haven't you had kids yet, etc...
• Or she stays at home and volunteers but doesn't have kids. She hears this: you must have infertility issues, old-fashioned, wasting valuable time, etc...
• Or the young woman who cannot have children. She also hears a blur of negative or unthoughtful words.
• There is also another group of young women that I see caught in this chasm. The young single successful woman who isn't married yet. She hears a slew of 'non-intentional' sweetness as well.

You can sum young womanhood up like this. Wrong if you do, wrong if you don't. (I used nicer words here.)

While I am blessed to have a wonderful support system in my family I know young women who do not. These comments and thoughts have come from family, friends, acquaintances and random strangers at the store.

This is why I see it as a new phase in the movement towards defining women's roles. I guess I didn't realize until I didn't finish my degree and motherhood was upon me that our society was so biased and yet undecided about women's roles. I have even heard two very opposite things from the same person!
There is an obvious lack of tact, a lack of trust in the successful young woman and an abundance of 'true' opinion.

As a Christian young woman who is bombarded with constantly making the wrong decision about my chosen career field, I feel it necessary to stand up and ask for change.

I'm not pro-feminism or pro-bonbons, I'm pro-God. I believe that He calls all of us to serve Him and in very different ways. I'm ready for the Christians and non-Christians to recognize that we all have a calling, and it often doesn't match up with others opinions, so keep it to yourself. :-) Seriously though, random strangers really need to stop telling me what I should and shouldn't do with my life! I'm going to work on changing this, starting with me.

With Love