Sometimes I feel that being a woman is unnecessarily hard. We were dealt a rough hand so to speak, history and society wasn’t and still isn’t kind to us. We were treated like wallflowers, almost as slaves in some cases and with disregard at the best of times. So what did we do? We fought tooth and nail to overcome prejudice, to stand at equal footing next to a man, to win the right to vote. We fought for our rights.
However, sometimes I wonder if we’ve actually made it any easier or just harder. The raw ambition of our feminist ancestors hasn’t gone anywhere, it’s just been directed elsewhere – the pressure to be perfect, the determination to succeed, the ability to handle and juggle six different things, sometimes at the cost of our sanity. Is it society that makes us work so hard or is it just us ? A friend of mine recently said that she knows she wants to have the cake and eat it and I think that rings true for many of us. We play the roles of dutiful daughters, caring friends, workers, mothers, wives and god knows what else. And then there’s the other part and this is the one that makes me sad, we are so hard on ourselves and other women, we constantly judge ourselves against our ideals and always seem to find ourselves wanting. We seek improvement everywhere, whether it is in our bodies, our mothering skills, our knowledge – how often do we sit back and pat ourselves on the back for simply being great ? And how often do we tell it to other women who are also living impressive lives? I’m not saying no one does, some people I know are amazing at offering support and encouragement to other women. However, for the most part, especially on facebook which sometimes in Malta I feel has become the adult bullying ground, all I see is judgement, and nasty comments and women attacking others who don’t agree with them. What happened to our solidarity ? What happened to all that belief in ourselves ?
Pink October is about raising awareness towards Breast Cancer. This is a horrible illness that affects so many women. However, it is my belief that most people know what it is by now, they know about the need for checkups and to not ignore the warning signs. For my part, what I wish to do this month is to raise awareness for us all to not wait until it’s too late to be proud of ourselves and the women around us. To show some solidarity as women towards ourselves and others.
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