International Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day. I find that particularly comforting to know that women are esteemed. The conflicts that we face as women are incredible and the strength that we show is even more so. What with having to be a nurturer as well as pull our weight with the family finances these days, it's not an easy task balancing the two.

It's easy to concentrate on being a complete nurturer or a complete breadwinner as one's focus would be on the one thing only. But in many cases, women these days have to be both and we have to work out that balance ourselves too. It's not something that our mothers would have to contend with (in most cases again) and so role models in that arena are lacking. Personally, as a stay-home mum who works part-time from home, I find the task of balancing very challenging. Like the lady who was interviewed on Today this morning, I agree that we can't have it all and some things have to give. And, what would that be if we have to choose?

To me, it's postponing the things I would like to achieve as an individual. And, maybe because of the choices I have to make now, my choices ahead of me will be different too and I will have to come to terms with the fact that I might never see some of my dreams come true. We do live in a world with limited resources and we do have to choose and we can't have it all.

The other thing I really like to appreciate about women today is how far we have come along in having a voice, in standing up for ourselves, and in respecting ourselves for who we are. We are not the weaker half, we are the other half, which completes society today. Regardless of our role, whether as a stay home mum or the breadwinner of the family, the two are of equal weight and equal importance. An hour of hosuework at home is equivalent to an hour of meeting with the board of directors of a company. We do not do less, and we do not expect to be treated like our efforts are of a lesser value, time wise. Our input into society today and for the future should be of equal weight. Society has some improvement to do when it comes to that.

Going forward, I believe we have a lot more to work on having the nurturing role shared more equally between the two sexes. Being a nurturer is a 24x7 job, and anything pass the 9-5pm hours should be shared equally, regardless of our sex and whether or not we are a fullt-time contributor to the family finances.

Society is evolving all the time and we have to learn to adapt to change as the theory of the survival of the fittest goes. The roles of women are changing too and I believe the rate depends on how much we women will stand up for ourselves and have a voice for what is appropriate.

To all the women in this world, Happy Women's Day!