Since the U.S. Congress designated March as National Women’s History (NWH) Month and International Women’s Day on March 8, I want to dedicate this article to a Wonder Woman of my life. The NWH month has given an exceptional opportunity in our society, schools, and workplaces, to appreciate and honor the tangible accomplishments of women which have frequently been disregarded, or even altered out of history. I believe that every human being should do their best to end the discrimination against women and girls. Also, we should have a gender-neutral society, workplaces, and schools. I am so lucky and fortunate to have my mom in my life. She has not just raised me to become a good human being, but she also taught me to respect women. She often says, “man can only succeed in his life if he respects a woman.”
My mom grew up in the typical middle-class family where woman's duty is to take care of her children and her family even though she is educated. She wanted to pursue her career in social sciences, but she had lack of support from her family. One might have observed from the history that many women have been discouraged to get further education or pursue their dreams due to typical gender norms. In fact, society has assigned women as the weaker sex who need men’s support. Here, this myth constrained people to believe women cannot handle the similar task as men since they are 'women.' In other words, one is disrespecting a woman indirectly by misjudging her capabilities. My mom’s capabilities also have been misjudged by her family. Her family did not stop her pursuing her dream, but they did not encourage her and expected her to take care of their home. She sacrificed her life and decided to further move on in her life as a housewife because her parents were happy that she is married now. Her family became her most priority.
I have seen my mom spending most of her time in the kitchen, cooking food for us. Sometimes I thought my mom is a MasterChef because she was the best at what she was doing with a smile on her face. When I asked her, how can you cook so fast for that many of people (about 10)? She replied, she learned from experience. Yes, she had more than ten years of experience. As you might have heard, “A Light Cannot Be Hidden,” the time has arrived when we moved to the U.S. four years ago. To provide financial support to me and my sister, my father and mother both had to work. She got an opportunity to prove herself that she has been waiting for years. She was excited to work in the U.S. but had so many questions in her mind. However, after tons of ups and downs, she succeeds wherever she worked in last four years through her abilities to learn new things without any hesitation. Her work was appreciated by her colleagues which made her proud of herself and us. She had faith in herself, and thus she is achieving it all.
Many women have faced gender discrimination either indirectly or directly but they should never chose to give up on their dreams. I always want to express my gratitude to her, to what she has done for us beyond her limit like most of the mothers do on this planet. I have seen her struggle, a loss of confidence along with disappointment throughout my childhood but I have learned a lot from it. My mom’s sacrifice and honest hard work have motivated me to respect women in general and fight for gender equality. You and I can observe this gender gap, but often we disregard it. Maybe you want to do something about gender inequality but you don’t know where to start. I would like to tell you that you can share your story to the world with #HerStoryOurStory which will motivate other people to make gender neutral nation. All in all, I want to see a gender neutral society instead of male or female dominated one because there should exist a balance in between to have equal opportunities for both sexes. See you next week!