Yesterday, FB Memories brought forward the image above from when I created and posted it six years ago. It leads me to the following ruminations…

Recently, a friend and I were talking about spending some quiet time together to work on a project I’m helping her with. I suggested C.C. (and Beaumont) join us.

She was a little concerned that having C.C. along might interfere with our concentration as we’d have to stop to make him breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I laughed. He can make us meals so we can work on the project whenever, however, we want without worrying about eating.…

She laughed and said, Well aren’t you a liberated woman! (She is in her 80s and spent her life being the one who took care of all the domestic needs of her family, especially her husband so he could build his corporate successes.)

I laughed again and replied, Actually, he’s liberated!

For me, it’s about not judging one thing (what men do) as greater than or better than what women traditionally have done and continue to do even as they work hard to claim equal status in society. Ultimately, I believe running a company or running a household, are equally as vital and important to the world today and the future of our children.

I also believe men are as capable as women in all the things that are traditionally seen as ‘women’s roles’.

And that includes liberating themselves enough to claim the home, from kitchen duties to taking out the trash, as a place where they can stand on an equal footing with women.

We, humans, like to judge and put a value on things. We place exalted value on a CEO of a corporation while undervaluing or outright ignoring the value of a woman running a household, bearing children and raising them to be participating members of society.

It doesn’t make sense to me because, in all of it, we continue to pay homage to the belief, “Children are our future”, If that is true, why do we demean and devalue the role of mothering in creating the children of tomorrow?

I find it interesting. Women have fought for the vote, for the right to own property, to hold office, to have their own credit card, to drive, to gain access to education, and the freedom to go where they want to go, alone and unencumbered by a man’s presence.

In all our fighting for our right to breathe and move and dress and live as we desire and where we choose, the future for our children remains a constant beacon of hope calling us to not back down. Because, for the future to be built by our children, we must be assured they are free to live with clean air, water, and earth, without fear of being shot because of the colour of their skin, being jailed because of their beliefs, being forced to be quiet in the face of abuse, discrimination, racism, and a host of social ills and political dictates, being sent underground to unearth gems they cannot afford, or sent off to fight wars they have no say in.

And while we fight for the right to own our bodies, minds, spirits, and voices, men continue to fight for peace by building weapons of destruction so war can continue to be waged in its name. Wars their sons and daughters will be forced to go off to fight.

And that’s what having the FB memory in my feed of the No. 30 creation in my #ShePersistedSeries stirred in me this morning! You can see the whole series HERE.