I am the son my father never had. That is not to say I was confused about my gender or that I did not want to be a female. It is just to say that I have always known I can do whatever boys can do.
As a girl, I would climb trees right there with the boys, not stand on the sidelines like a sissy. I was a brave girl who would fall down, scrape herself up, fight the boys, and never cry. But I was still being a girl.
As I grew up, I would continue to break gender barriers. I served in the Israeli Air Force, a division dominated by men, sought out higher education, and opened my own business. Each time I did so, it was uncommon for a woman to even pursue such things, much less have success doing so.
I don’t consider myself to be a feminist, really; it’s just that I have always related better to men than to women and that facet of my personality has led me to pursue things that were more male dominated at the time.
Times have certainly changed for the most part, in the United States at least. Women are running huge corporations, serving at every level of the military, and seeking academic degrees in numbers that surpass men in many areas. Seeing this increasing equality over time is gratifying to say the least.
There are, of course, family dynamics and other factors that place women in specific roles that may be traditional in nature or not. If the woman is happy and comfortable with the arrangement then there is no reason to change it.
In some households, the woman is the breadwinner while the man stays home caring for the children and keeping the household running smoothly. In others, a more traditional arrangement reigns, in which the mother stays home and the father brings home the bacon. In still others, children are not a factor and both parties work full-time and contribute to the tasks of managing the home. There are as many different possibilities as there are family units.
Our modern society has seen more women taking on typically male roles, which has created a stigma for the stay-at-home mother who chooses to play a more traditionally female role in the household. I say that as long as the family is functioning, and the individuals are truly happy and fulfilled in their roles, then things are just as they should be. I chose and was drawn to roles that were traditionally filled by males in the society I was in at the time, and every woman today has that same choice.
Women can do whatever men can do, but they don’t have to. It’s a choice, not a foregone conclusion.
-Dr. Erica Miller