Like a Girl

I have a vivid memory from sometime in my early preteen years of having a desire to mow my family's lawn. My dad (sorry, Dad!) responded that I was too young and then asked my brother to do it - my brother who is three years younger than I. 

One year I asked for free weights for Christmas. I got them. Mine were pink. 

I've been required by more than one employer to wear dresses to look like a woman. 

I've been told I need to smile more. 

More than once at work a coworker searched for a man to carry something for her. I was right there. 

I've been told I throw like a girl. I run like a girl. These aren't compliments. 

At some point "female" began to mean "weak", "incapable", "less than". 

If a woman can't do something, surely a man can do it for her. If a woman can something, surely a man can do it better. 

Laurel Ulrich Thatcher, well-known for her quote and book entitled "Well-behaved Women Seldom Make History", paints a picture of women through history and around the world. It is both devastating and inspiring to read of women whose words were suppressed and undocumented in Shakespearean times, women who disguised themselves as men to enter into battle, women who were raped and forced into marriage, and woman who had enough of being the lesser sex. These women are wise yet sensitive, strong yet soft, and independent yet altruistic. Women possess the ability to embody characteristics that appear contradictory when embodied by men. This provokes in men feelings of both intimidation and strong desire. Causing the reader to wonder, why have women often felt the need to disguise their identity, bite their tongue, or submit to misogynistic laws and norms? 

I'm grateful to the trail blazing women around the world that haven't always been well-behaved and instead have made some pretty incredible strides and a history of women worth telling. 

The details of the lives of these women and my life as a priveliged woman in the 21st century are drastically different but issues surrounding the treatment and attitudes toward women continue to run rampant. 

In many ways I'm grateful to my dad, men I've dated, people I've worked with, society in general. Because these messages of inferiority and incapability haven't subsided as I've gotten older, these messages became stronger. And the feelings of being underestimated, marginalized, and undervalued motivated me to try harder, to prove they were wrong, and to surround myself with people who know my strength and of how much I'm capable. 

I'm confident like a girl. 

I speak my mind like a girl. 

I stand up for what's right like a girl. 

I'm strong like a girl. 

I'm smart like a girl. 

And sometimes I'm not so well-behaved. 

And I'm proud of it.