November 21

On Friday in English we talked about the issue of gender and whether or not the feminist movement is needed and whether it’s the males that actually need a movement because girls are shown to be more successful in the field of academics and that girls are allowed to wear all colors, but if a boy wears purple or pink then that’s frowned upon. At first I thought that yes, girls do seem to be a lot more mature, and excel in school more often than boys. However, I thought that the way that society views working women is still an issue. I, for instance, want to become an anesthesiologist. That means that I won’t be done with school until 2020 which means that I’ll be 30. As a little girl I always swore that I’m going to hold off marriage and family until I’m finished with school. Whenever I tell people that I find it that quite often I’m judged. I’ve been called selfish for that before that I’m willing to put a career in front of a family, and as a woman my number one priority is to be a mother. I find it that the reason why I don’t want to start a family until I’m done with school is so that I could have a stable job and a future before I bring a child into this world. I want to be able to provide for the child, in case something happens to my husband or in case my marriage falls apart, or some other unfortunate event. I want to be able to secure a future for my future children. How is that being selfish? Now, if a guy says that he doesn’t want to have children until he’s done with school, whenever that is, then he’s often seen as responsible and that he is doing the mature thing by making sure that he can provide for his children? This double standard is a clear indication that women and men are not yet seen as equals. How come it seems that for women it’s often a choice between family and a career? Why is it so hard to find a balance between the two and making them co-exist?