Feminism: Then and Now

Growing up as a girl, you more than likely often take after your mother figure. Although, while growing up, you soon learn the world is a lot different than your mother pictured it to be. You are no longer a little girl that dressed in pink stockings, played tea with your teddy bears, and you no longer see your life as a giant playground. The other girls did not grow up as you did, the people are not as nice, and you’re granted just a little more freedom – which can be scary.  

Many girls are asked in their younger ages, what they want to be when they grow up. What did you want to be? A teacher? A singer? All of those are valid answers; however no one thought they were practical for a seven year old in grade school who still could not tie her shoes properly. We were taught that we had to get good grades, go to college, get a real job, and marry a man to settle down with. That was the realistic life for a women, because that is what our mothers were taught as well.

However, this is not the same world our mothers were thrown into. The world we are growing in is granting us women to do a lot more, and say a lot more. Back when your mom was eighteen there was not a women running for president, women authors were not as praised, and men were always deemed in charge. 

Image Courtesy of The Messy Heads Magazine

Look at us now, how powerful we have become. As Beyonce would say “Who runs the world? Girls.” Females were not always so powerful and influential once, and as a gender, we are still constantly looked down upon. Although, that does not mean we are becoming weaker, that only makes us stronger. We fight back, we have a voice now, as we once did not. 

The world would not be able to strive without us. Without our wonderful voices speaking what we feel, and what should change. Our voices not always words jumping from our lips, we can speak in many different forms as well. Fashion, we wear what we believe. The fashion industry has changed immensely, because men and women have worked together for generations to craft it into a form of expression when you cannot speak. Wear what you want! Create your own styles! Show everyone who you are without having to introduce yourself! 

Women have taken over jobs that once men only preformed. We have become stronger, fighting for our country which our mothers could not do at our age. Who knows, maybe this time next year we’ll be reading tweets off Twitter from our very first women president. 

It is truly inspiring how much the world has changed over many decades, and we have our gender to thank for it. The finish line is more than a lifetime away, there’s so much more we are capable of. 

Title image curtesy of The Messy Heads Magazine

• feminism
• girl power
• growing up
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