With Mother's day approaching, I thought I'd put together some thoughts I've had recently.
One of the great things about society today, at least in the United States, is our freedom. I'm not referring to freedom from kings or tyrants (although I am grateful for that). Rather, I'm referring to the freedom we have to choose. Any child today can be whoever he or she wants to be. If little Johnny wants to grow up to be a police officer, he can be. But that's nothing new for life in America. However, what is different today (as compared to 50 years ago) is the fact that if little Susie wants to grow up to be a police officer, she can too. I think it's great that women now have the opportunity to follow any path they want to. Unfortunately, it seems that as more and more opportunities open up to women, the position of being a mother becomes less and less desirable. Indeed, in society today, I've noticed that women who do not work outside of the home feel embarrassed when conversing with others about what they "do", and often refer to their position as being "just a mom," when in reality, the "just a..." would more appropriately be applied to every other occupation, when compared with the noble role of motherhood.
A few months ago I was in a human resources class. I believe we were talking about hiring decisions, and the use of intelligence tests for those hiring decisions. The professor made the comment that it's been shown that females actually have been shown to be slightly more intelligent than males. For some reason this was hard for me to accept. Perhaps it was the fact that the big discoveries through the ages have all been made by males. Einstein, Newton, Galileo--all men. Although I told myself that I considered men and women to be equal, deep down I still felt that males were superior intellectually. Then a funny thing happened a few weeks later at church. See, for part of church, I play the piano for the little kids during their "singing time." On that particular day, the kids were learning a new song. At one point, the chorister had the boys sing the song first, and then had the girls sing (a bit of friendly competition never hurts). I was amazed at how much better the girls did than the boys. I don't mean that the tonal quality was any better, or that they were more on key. That's setting the bar a bit high for 6 year olds. Rather, the girls actually sang. The boys just sat there, kind of singing. As I thought about this, I thought about how many other settings I've been in where the females just plain do a better job than males. As I reflected upon these observations of women doing a better job in so many instances than their male counterparts, I realized just how skewed my judgment had been, regarding males being more capable than females. As I continued pondering over this concept, I came to conclude that the reason that so many discoveries and societal changes have been brought about by men is not so much due to the fact that men are more capable of intellectual feats and such, but rather that throughout history women have primarily taken the role of raising children; raising people like Einstein, Newton and Galileo. The point I'm trying to make is that women have the capabilities of doing nearly everything that men do (I say "nearly" because there are some physical tasks that women just don't perform as well as men--such as carrying a 200 pound man out of a burning building). Indeed, women are better qualified for many tasks than men are. Unfortunately, because of that, society today tells women that they need to be out there doing the same menial jobs as men have traditionally done, and not be stuck "just being a mom." Now, let me be explicitly clear--I'm not saying that women should not be in the workforce. On the contrary, and not surprisingly, women have made very significant accomplishments to all fields, from music to literature to science and every other field. What I am saying is that it saddens me when the role of motherhood is placed on a lower level than other occupations. Yes, women have amazing skills that enable them to do amazing thing in the workplace. However, the place that those skills have the most significant impact is in being a mom. Earlier I mentioned the fact that most of the people you read about in history books are men. Well, this is just conjecture, but I imagine that if you took the mother out of the lives of those who have accomplished great things (or, if there is no mother, the significant female figure in that person's life), those same people would not have been able to accomplish those same things.
Now, to conclude, I want to reiterate that I do not think that men should be the ones working, and females should stay at home and raise kids. I think such a decisions is a very personal decision that every couple needs to make through much thought and prayer. What I am saying is that females are just as good as men, and actually in my experience do a better job than men in many (most) cases. However, what I am suggesting is that such skills are not wasted by "just being a mom", but rather are put to their most effective use. As the saying goes, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. I find comfort in knowing a role with such great responsibility usually belongs to women. I'm grateful for my own mother, and know that I wouldn't be who I am today without her.
One of the great things about society today, at least in the United States, is our freedom. I'm not referring to freedom from kings or tyrants (although I am grateful for that). Rather, I'm referring to the freedom we have to choose. Any child today can be whoever he or she wants to be. If little Johnny wants to grow up to be a police officer, he can be. But that's nothing new for life in America. However, what is different today (as compared to 50 years ago) is the fact that if little Susie wants to grow up to be a police officer, she can too. I think it's great that women now have the opportunity to follow any path they want to. Unfortunately, it seems that as more and more opportunities open up to women, the position of being a mother becomes less and less desirable. Indeed, in society today, I've noticed that women who do not work outside of the home feel embarrassed when conversing with others about what they "do", and often refer to their position as being "just a mom," when in reality, the "just a..." would more appropriately be applied to every other occupation, when compared with the noble role of motherhood.
A few months ago I was in a human resources class. I believe we were talking about hiring decisions, and the use of intelligence tests for those hiring decisions. The professor made the comment that it's been shown that females actually have been shown to be slightly more intelligent than males. For some reason this was hard for me to accept. Perhaps it was the fact that the big discoveries through the ages have all been made by males. Einstein, Newton, Galileo--all men. Although I told myself that I considered men and women to be equal, deep down I still felt that males were superior intellectually. Then a funny thing happened a few weeks later at church. See, for part of church, I play the piano for the little kids during their "singing time." On that particular day, the kids were learning a new song. At one point, the chorister had the boys sing the song first, and then had the girls sing (a bit of friendly competition never hurts). I was amazed at how much better the girls did than the boys. I don't mean that the tonal quality was any better, or that they were more on key. That's setting the bar a bit high for 6 year olds. Rather, the girls actually sang. The boys just sat there, kind of singing. As I thought about this, I thought about how many other settings I've been in where the females just plain do a better job than males. As I reflected upon these observations of women doing a better job in so many instances than their male counterparts, I realized just how skewed my judgment had been, regarding males being more capable than females. As I continued pondering over this concept, I came to conclude that the reason that so many discoveries and societal changes have been brought about by men is not so much due to the fact that men are more capable of intellectual feats and such, but rather that throughout history women have primarily taken the role of raising children; raising people like Einstein, Newton and Galileo. The point I'm trying to make is that women have the capabilities of doing nearly everything that men do (I say "nearly" because there are some physical tasks that women just don't perform as well as men--such as carrying a 200 pound man out of a burning building). Indeed, women are better qualified for many tasks than men are. Unfortunately, because of that, society today tells women that they need to be out there doing the same menial jobs as men have traditionally done, and not be stuck "just being a mom." Now, let me be explicitly clear--I'm not saying that women should not be in the workforce. On the contrary, and not surprisingly, women have made very significant accomplishments to all fields, from music to literature to science and every other field. What I am saying is that it saddens me when the role of motherhood is placed on a lower level than other occupations. Yes, women have amazing skills that enable them to do amazing thing in the workplace. However, the place that those skills have the most significant impact is in being a mom. Earlier I mentioned the fact that most of the people you read about in history books are men. Well, this is just conjecture, but I imagine that if you took the mother out of the lives of those who have accomplished great things (or, if there is no mother, the significant female figure in that person's life), those same people would not have been able to accomplish those same things.
Now, to conclude, I want to reiterate that I do not think that men should be the ones working, and females should stay at home and raise kids. I think such a decisions is a very personal decision that every couple needs to make through much thought and prayer. What I am saying is that females are just as good as men, and actually in my experience do a better job than men in many (most) cases. However, what I am suggesting is that such skills are not wasted by "just being a mom", but rather are put to their most effective use. As the saying goes, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. I find comfort in knowing a role with such great responsibility usually belongs to women. I'm grateful for my own mother, and know that I wouldn't be who I am today without her.
