As young women, we’ve most likely been asked the questions “do you have a boyfriend?” or “how many children do you eventually want to have?” at family gatherings more times than we can count. In today’s society, there is a definite and persistent pressure that most females feel, starting when they are very young and continuing into their adult lives. The media, our churches, and sometimes even our families, in some way or another expect young women to choose their career, get married, and start a family. This precise cycle is visualized as almost a rite of passage in every woman’s twenties.
My question to the women of today is this: Why do we look at modern day women who are in their thirties and single as if they’re doing something wrong? Why is it “selfish” to want to work hard or travel, and live one’s life according to one’s own desires and expectations? There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to settle down, get married and have children, but I simply do not understand why it seems like a foreign concept in this modern day and age that the traditional lifestyle is not what every young woman dreams of.
God has ultimate control of all of our paths anyways, right? If a woman is not meant to marry in her twenties or have children, why should anyone try to make her feel as if she should do something that she doesn’t feel was meant for her? Maybe God’s plan for some of His daughters is to never settle down, but rather constantly travel the world and spread His word, and that is just as awesome.
Some women have decided that they do not see children in their futures, or at the very least in their early stages of life. I have seen the shock on someone’s face first-hand when a young woman stated that they weren’t sure they wanted to have children at all. “You’ll change your mind”, “It’s just a phase”, or “What would you do, then?” are typically some of the responses heard when someone says they aren’t sure if children are in their future. Why is it so outrageous that someone has a different idea of what they want out of life than the traditional walk of life? The answer is that it’s not outrageous. Every human is entitled to choose exactly what they want out of this life. We are all given one life, and as long as however you live is glorifying the Lord, how could you be living wrong?
Some women dream of receiving an education, building a strong career, and making a difference in the world. Some women dream of traveling the world and attempting to experience all that God has created for us to enjoy. Some women dream of finding the right man, marrying, and bringing the beautiful gift of life into the world. There are so many different journeys of life that women can choose from, and I cannot grasp why it is expected of all young women to choose the same path instead of paving their own.
