The Subtleties of Womanhood: Mothers of the Universe

I am a woman and proud to be one. I do not envy men even when I feel that they are being favored over women; I seek fairness, equal opportunities and respectful treatment, but I do not wish to be a man. I am totally woman. I am not a powder puff girl or giggling idiot whose sole source of joy in life is to be kept happy by a man’s fat check book or his bulging muscles. I earn my own keep, change light bulbs, mow the lawn and take the trash out. I am glad when these tasks are shared and expect to share responsibilities within a partnership with a man or any other person who shares my space, but I do not see them as chores to be set aside for only a man or woman.

I am a woman who cherishes her feminine gender, her physical endowments, her emotional wiring, her competence and her thinking capacity. I am neither athletic nor am I a tomboy by any stretch of the imagination. I appreciate the importance of physical exercise and I do not belittle my more physical sisters because that is an expression of their personality and being. I am awed at what my body can do. Its ability to become the cocoon within which another human being grows until birth is an amazing thing. I would not trade my womanhood for anything. I respect and honor men for who they are as I expect to be respected for who I am.

I am concerned that as a woman, it is sometimes difficult to connect with some of my other sisters because it appears that they are less likely to be open and fair. It appears sometimes that somewhere along the line some of us have become distanced from the full and complete beings that I believe women to be and have learned to hide ourselves so imperfectly that it makes us ruthlessly judgmental of others while we privately continue to berate ourselves for goals not met…not thin enough, not pretty enough, not rich enough, not as popular as…etc. Some of us unendingly measure ourselves against goals not suited to our specific person and in falling short we seek scape goats and constantly blame others for our shortcomings. What is broken in our person? How can we return to or find the place of balance?

Some may say men have these problems too. I am not a man and today I choose to speak to my sisters because they are the ones with who I share a common gender. I am concerned by the fearfulness and insecurity expressed by some of my sisters who are constantly busy with futile competition and petty talk. It breaks my heart when even my religious sisters who claim immunity (partial or complete) from such ailments, step out of their religious buildings into secular settings only to display forked tongues, fangs and daggers under their cloaks ready to assail the first woman in sight. I often wonder if these too are sisters who also are able to bring innocent children into this world.

What is my point? I am concerned about the future of our people and of the world. We as women are the mothers who nurture both male and female children. We are responsible in many ways for the making of our world. The time is always right for us to take a look within, to find healing, to re-assess and re-organize our priorities so that we can be worthwhile of our important role as the mothers of the universe.