As one of my favorite writers on Medium points out in this article, women have always done heavy lifting in society. An only child raised on a ranch, I learned how to muck stalls, hammer boards back up after the horse kicked them down, and drive the tractor. When I was done with chores, I smelled like a horse and was filthy from all the dust in the barn.
I’m proud of my ability to do that work to this day. If you asked me now whether I’d rather fix the fence or dust the house, I’d say fix the fence. Not one of those domestic goddesses.
A spotless house is not my thing. It’s no wonder we have mental health problems. What you like to do is NOT related to your gender.
We’ll never evolve a better society if we insist on plugging men and women into roles they don’t like or aren’t suited for. If you think the world has always adhered to strict gender roles, you don’t know history. Do you know about the Civil War hero who was a woman?
How about James Barry? A general in the British Army and a remarkable surgeon whose real name was Margaret Ann Bulkley. No one discovered she was female until she died in 1865!
The list goes on, and some we will never know about. Many women likely traveled west as America expanded, disguised themselves as men, and worked and owned land as men. Autopsies were infrequent in the early days of Western expansion, so no one was ever the wiser.
Our gender has NEVER coincided with what we’re best at or enjoy doing. For our mental health, we need to resist the plugging of people into roles that others (talking to you, conservative old men) think they’re suited for based on their gender. And you have history on your side as a reason to resist.
Share this post