Empowered Women: The Lost Art of Feminism

I wrote this blog post a couple weeks ago, but have actually been afraid to post it. And honestly, I don't know why I was afraid. This is a huge part of everyone's life right now more than ever. And I want to share my perspective on it.

I had someone the other day call me a “self-proclaimed feminist”. And I had to contemplate that term for a second, because I didn’t realize until recently that I do indeed lean more towards being an active feminist than a neutral bystander. And while I definitely will never march for abortion, or for certain “women’s rights”, I do believe women are a powerful people who can make a huge difference in society. 

I’d like to preface this by saying I am not a feminist, and I will explain why not. I advocate for equality and for women’s rights in a different way. I agree with equal pay, for equal work opportunities, and I’m even okay with women in the military or going into combat. I don’t believe women were just created to marry and then pop out children. There is a greater purpose God created women for. But we are EQUALLY different from peers. Not just as women to men, but as women to women. We are all EQUALLY created differently... And I don't believe we are fighting for equality anymore.

Empowered women, empower women! 

I know some SERIOUS boss babes out there! 

Women who start businesses, who run Fortune 500 companies, who are CEOs of small or large corporations and these are some absolutely amazing human beings. Above all, they rose beyond the doubts and the “norm” and fought for what they wanted. 

I know women with several children who are taking classes to become nurses, Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners. I follow Instagram accounts of MDs and DOs who are residents raising twin babies, or three or four children. Women who have learned the work-life balance. Women who slay all day. Women in the military, serving their country while their children are back home with their fathers or other family members.

These brave, miraculous women who have fought for their positions. 

I advocate for this. 

I agree with this. 

I want this for my own life. 

However, being a powerful woman does not mean degrading the other half of human beings: males. 

This is why I’m not a feminist in the modern definition of it. I don’t like being called a feminist because there is so many misconceptions and agendas that lie within this grouping.

It’s no longer about advocating for equal pay, or equal work opportunities. It’s become a way to make the female population feel as if they are better than men, that they are more important than men. And here’s where I don’t agree. 

Because this feminist movement has been going on since practically the beginning of time. You see passages through the Bible about this, you see stories throughout the history books of such things. All the way up to the modern day. 

Equality is what people fight for. And it’s  no longer equality if what you’re now fighting for is to be better than men. God created us equal. He created man after His own image, and out of His own image He created precious females. 

Men and women each have different roles in society. And while that gap is closing, and more women are working while more men are staying home with children, we were created simultaneously for the same and yet different reasons. There will forever be some things I don’t think women should do or get involved in. But I will always advocate for working moms, for the rising young lady entrepreneur, for the surgical resident who has to give up a few months of training to give birth to a baby, for the the women in the military tirelessly serving the country to keep up safe and free. I will forever advocate for the women in government, and will support the first decent woman president when that time comes. 

But I will also fight against degrading man-kind. I will not support throwing them down the drain in a public setting just because. I won’t support the feminist group who fights for equality, all while trying to better than men. That’s not equality. After all, isn't that why we started this movement in the first place? To get rid of the public humiliation of opposite sexes?

There’s an art to being female. We get to grow tiny humans inside of us and give birth to life. We are the ones who can “kiss a boo-boo” and “make it allllll better”. And if there is a father in the picture, he has other roles to play. 

In the end, I definitely think it’s okay to work and have a family and fight for equality in the right way. I believe males and females do each have different roles in a family unit. I believe God created men and women to fulfill greater things. We all have the power to empower others. 

As a side-note, I just want to say that if all you want to do in life is get married and have kids and be a stay-at-home momma, that’s okay!! If you want to solely raise three, four, six babies into wonderful adults, then do it! You don’t have to be a CEO or physician, or even a senator to be a great and empowering female. 

In the modern world we live in, the opportunities are endless. Gosh, we can do it all. Females have to fight harder for they want than men do, but that journey has become less and less of struggle, and more of a triumph. Girl, you show them up! You get up, you raise kids if you want, you show up to work, and you slay! Because there is still a barrier in the work world where females have to push harder, and hopefully one day, it'll all even out and we can all equally work beside each other. 

So yes, in a way I'm feminist. But not the modern day feminist. Women have such impact on today, that we should be fighting for NOW and fighting for out children. We don't have to degrading other human beings to get there, though. There should be respect between both genders. There should be equal differences between both genders. 

We are all greater together, but we can be strong individually.  You are precious, and you are a freaking piece of art, my darling. Shine. Get up and show up. Be YOU.