Movement from Feminism

My mother is a strong woman. She raised two children while traveling the world at the behest of my father’s military career. She has several undergraduate degrees, a master’s degree and a rock solid commitment to excelling in her field of employment. She’s a Christian and a Southern woman- in every sense of those two words. Her sense of family is boundless. I would never characterize my mother as a feminist.

But it was this same woman who told me, shortly after the birth of my first child, that there was no reason I had to give up my career to have a family.

I was struck dumb by that assertion.

There are many careers that are conducive to having a family. There are even those rare paragons of super-womanhood who manage to make the most stressful and time consuming job mesh with the dictates of motherhood. I’m not a superwoman and 14 hour days with a 2 hour commute as bookends were not my idea of how I wanted to spend my children’s infancy.

Life is about choices. Our options aren’t always what we’d like and our decisions aren’t always perfect, but we do have choices to make. I chose to leave behind a high profile, high paying, career to work on my own schedule, at my own pace, and spend more time with my children. I definitely won’t rise to the pinnacle of my one-timer career path, but I’ll be happy with myself and my family because I’ve made the choice that is best for us.

Feminism taught our mothers to seek self-worth and self-fulfillment through competition with men. I don’t need to compete with a man, or in a “man’s world” to value my position and goals in life. My personal choice was to seek fulfillment through realization and compromise. I don’t need to be judged by “what I do” outside of the home. I know my talents, I know my strength and I know that I was gifted in my career path and left of my own volition.

I see my self worth reflected back in cherubic smiles and belly laughs. There was a reason to give up my career for my family- and I’m happy I made the right choice for the right reasons.

Scarlett Says: Thank you Karen Hughes for your example.