A woman’s place? Everywhere.

“My answer is short and simple – woman’s proper place is everywhere. Individually it is where the particular woman is happiest and best fitted – the home was wives and mothers; in organized civic, business and professional groups; in industry and business, both management and labor; and in government and politics.”

From We Are Our Mothers’ Daughters by Cokie Roberts

I finished reading this book this morning (311 pages and 7 hours, 50 minutes), and you know what? I don’t regret reading it all. I wasn’t that enthusiastic about it at first. There are many notes inside my copy involving several “?!?!” remarks, but I think that’s because there are many perspectives that I don’t understand. At the end of the book, though, I can respect them.

There’s a lot to learn about how women lived in the past, how the feminist movement evolved, and how we’ve come to the rights that we have from the women that have been brave and strong enough to changing things before us.

This last quote was my favorite. The truth is, I personally would not have been happy anywhere else but at home with my kids. I enjoy being a housewife and mom more than anything else I have ever done, but that doesn’t mean everyone would.

I have spent many years being defensive about my choices and judging others for not making the same ones. Weird, right? I’m complaining about what others do and doing the same thing in turn. I guess we all do that in some way. Eventually, we grow up and become secure in who we are and the choices we have made and then stop bothering everyone else about theirs.

For me my questions have always been about the children and families. If everyone is working, who takes care of them? That’s what we need to be thinking about. And that’s what she was showing throughout the book, who and how the families were still nurtured and cared for all while women were pursuing their passions, making the world a better place, and creating to the best of their abilities.

Family creation, nurturing, and care comes down to all members of the family, not just the women. I know quite a few men that would make amazing stay-at-home dads and there is a myriad of ways a family can be cared for through extended family and close relationships. Our world is changing, as it always has, and now the possibilities are endless.

I’ll recommend this one. It made me smile, introduced me to ideas and lives I didn’t know anything about, and opened my mind. Women are amazing creatures. We always have been. It’s time we started knowing it, showing it, and sharing our power with each other instead of tearing each other down with it.

To read more, go back to my original post on this book, “We Are Our Mothers’ Daughters: New Read.”

I’ll be taking the next few days off from posting to celebrate Christmas with my family. Enjoy these winter holiday’s however you do and I’ll see you on Monday!