The Meaure of a Woman

Can you look back in your lives for a minute and ponder all the great influential women who graced your path? Sure, we can think of public amazing people like the late Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisolm, Bella Abzug. They were and always will be admired for their unique blend of feminity, class, courage, and never-give-up attitudes. But, today I'm thinking about the women we will only know--the mothers, the women-who-mothered-us, the women we met for a reason or season, the women who we wanted to emulate. They gave us a view, an insight, a new paradigm, new hope, fresh outlooks, and helped us to believe, feel, and say that being a woman meant holding up your head high, defending your individual liberty/dignity and refusing to accept the societal lies that we were "second best". They showed us how to live in spite of adversity, discrimination, abuse, chauvinism with class, dignity, grace, polish, and toughness. Yes, toughness--a very important feminine quality--being a mother, being a woman in society requires the "stiff upper lip", the "steel backbone", and and "eagle eyes" to keep focus on what is important. Even today, in 2006, we need all these... and we need more--we need each others' mentoring, love, friendships, bondings, laughter, tears, strength, and stick-to-it-tive-ness. Unfortunately, freedom for women is still lacking around the world--even in the United States when a prominent religious leader in 1998 stated at its' religion's annual meeting that "women must submit to their husbands" clearly shows how religious in our modern times is manipulated so that women become "second best." We don't need to burn bras, dress like men, be obnoxious, or turn to anti-social means--we need to show strong character, keep demonstrating that we are complete equals -- not better nor worse than men-- and celebrate our beautiful differences. The women who influenced us were not pretty faces to us--they were our role-models, our heroes, and above all, the "mark" of the kind of woman we ourselves wanted to be. Let's make them proud by standing up, by reclaiming feminism to remind the world that we are very much here, alive, important, and deserve parity, egalitarianism, and protection of our character. Then, as we achieve these benchmarks ourselves, we will keep the circle alive when a younger woman looks up to us for her future goal. How do you wish to be measured by and how? That is clearly up to you. Make a difference--It still does count!