We've come a long way

Earlier this evening, I was watching "Titanic," and as I was watching a scene between Rose and her mother discussing the importance of marriage to save their lifestyle, it made me think about how far women have come in terms of their ability to live life as they wish without having to rely on men and marriage to attain the desired level of affluence. I do feel that there's still some level of inequality, some of it of our own making, and some of it a continued societal mindset regarding a woman's place in society. However, unlike Rose and her mother, women of today have more options open to them, allowing them greater control over their destinies. It is no longer a badge of poverty to work for your daily bread, nor is the idea of women in the workplace perceived with disdain. Conversely, if we do wish for a more old-fashioned life, that's ok, too; although, I suspect that there are people who would scratch their heads as to why we would choose such a life after all of the struggles that earlier women went through so we could have more than that today.

We are very fortunate to have the freedoms that we do, but to some extent, I think some women forget this. When we do encounter arcaic views, we can now challenge those views without sacrificing the areas of our lives that are most important to us: family, career, faith, our integrity, and our identity. Some women will have to make such sacrifices, but at least we have the ability to reduce that likelihood.