As women, there are constant pressures on us, be it from family, from friends, from society, or even from ourselves to be the perfect image of what "feminine" is, although, that may mean different things for different women. For those who have loft professional goals, this pressure can become a lot to handle, constantly competing with herself to be the best version of herself she can be. Empowered women truly empower other women, but that pressure to not only hold yourself up but all of those around you, can be a lot to handle, especially pushing yourself academically and professionally.
So, with that short background out of the way, may I introduce Chapter Two of this saga, answering one of the most philosophically debated questions of all time, "What is the meaning of life."
"The meaning of life is to find your voice and to use it to advance and advocate for your passions. And as a young woman in our society, I see a world where I'm expected to do and be everything. Growing up around many feminist role models I was told I could be anything. But as I got older and tried to fit within the social constructs of womanhood and femininity I identify with, I found that many people didn't share the same vision, that, as a feminine presenting and acting woman, I could be "anything." And while I've always had wonderful support, I've always felt I've had to transgress certain gender roles to achieve what I want (professionally, academically) in wags such as being more assertive, being less friendly or being colder. Growing up as a woman, I was told by my fellow feminists that I could be anything, but the social reality for me is that I had to be everything. When society values a woman for her looks more often than her brain, it becomes a challenge for young women to balance the expectation of traditional womanhood with modern day rights and opportunities. And instead of feeling empowered to do anything, we feel pressured into being everything—the perfect social definition of a woman, the career titan, the powerhouse all together. And for us, and shortcoming we feel of the crushing social expectation to be everything in modern society makes us feel like nothing. And we chase unrealistic expectations set upon us, despite their cruelty in demanding we be everything, simply because we want to be successful, we want to feel validated, we want to be beautiful, and we want to amount to the "anything we want to be" we were told as children. And when social constructs and judgments around us as women are so scrutinizing and critical, anytime we feel as if we don't meet the extreme expectations placed upon us makes us feel as if we failed in some way."
We want to be everything, and we can, but we need to begin to, as Mary Beard theorized, "allow women to create their own definitions for womanhood, not attempt to conform to society's, a task so large, to separate ourselves from society's demands, but one so necessary that the fight is worth it."
Life is tough, especially as a woman, but sister, you are so much tougher.
