THE FUTURE OF WOMEN

My theory is that, in order to better the place of women in every level and aspect of life, we have to begin working with raising more sensitive children. It is interesting that, as women, we have fought so hard and so much to gain equality with men, yet we raise our children with the same stereotypes that we were raised in. We seek to balance out our condition with men, yet we expect our children to fulfill the same gender roles imposed onto us when we were growing up. I used to hear that machismo was passed on by women. If that is a fact, it is a very sad one. How can a woman be machista? Isn’t that a total denial of who we are? How can we honor ourselves as women if we instill machismo in our children?

I am raising a little boy, and the challenge goes beyond what I think is right for him in order to sensitize him to the opposite gender and develop an open mind in him. There is a constant portrayal of the same old stereotypes in the children stories that my child is listening to in school. There is the challenge to make his father understand that there is nothing wrong with our child playing with a doll. There is the fear, present in our family members, that anything that we allow Paul Vincent to do or be exposed to that is considered “unmanly” will turn him into a “sissy” (ultimately meaning that there is a fear that he will be gay if he is not taught to think and behave as a “man”). I want my child to be a strong person, not a strong man. I want my child to be a man, in whatever definition he feels fits him best. I want my child to be able to respect all women and not see them as inferior. I want my child to know that he can do anything he wants to: be a secretary, a nurse or a surgeon, without having to think twice about it because it might not fit what society and his parents are expecting of him as a man. Ultimately, I want my child to be a man with a deep knowledge and respect of and for a woman’s heart.

The future of women and the equality we seek is in our hands. We must raise children that break the old stereotypes and see life through new and different paradigms, and that are not afraid of keep changing the paradigms when the situation applies. We need to respect and honor ourselves as women and instill that in our children, with our behaviors, and also with what we are teaching them at home, in school, on TV, and everywhere else.