Feminism…..really??

This article was published in Campus Magazine, July '12 issue.


For the past ten years, I’ve believed, or rather was brought up to believe, that I should be a strong, career oriented, successful woman in order to fulfill myself and reach my potential; and that if I didn’t get the highest grades, worked my head off and became SUPER-woman…..I’d be just an “ordinary” person (ordinary said with disdain)…

Very strongly, I followed this principle throughout the years and was pressured from the very first minute in every academic year to study and study, whether I actually enjoyed what I studied or not. Not only that, but in summer when most of the people were “just chilling” I was again pressured to work and gain experience in different fields. (I say “pressured” in this way because there was no one actually pressuring me but own subconscious self)

On a different note, being the “dreamy romantic” that I am 8)….. I’ve always loved “el zaman el gameel”. I've always wanted to live in the fifties or sixties, when the women looked pretty, with their elegant dresses and skirts and the men would still open doors and hold chairs for the women to sit.......when they were still called “gentlemen”!

However, recently I started to look back in time and remember the Shakespeare and Jane Austen’s novels we used to study. I watched classic movies, not from the fifties but from way back in the century. But this time I didn’t look at what women wore but how they BEHAVED. For weeks now this idea hasn't left my head; when I'm studying, when I'm thinking about my future and worrying that maybe after all of the trainings and activities no one will hire me, when I'm looking at myself in the mirror and thinking that I should take more care of my health and my beauty. The idea keeps growing and evolving.........I wanna BE like those women, I wanna behave like them and be treated like them...

Why should I study physics and biology when I could learn how to cook a nice meal or hold a party? Why should I memorize equations and statistical rules when I could learn how to play the piano? Why study velocities and momentum when I could learn to draw, dance and sing? Why is it that we have to know how to nail an interview and make a successful presentation when we should be learning the rules of etiquette and being a lady?

Don’t get me wrong girls (and women); I’m not against feminism or anything….. I believe women should work and excel and prove themselves, but only if they WANT to, I mean really truly and FULLY want to. If they’re okay with sacrificing some things like, cooking for their husband or enjoying a good book or looking beautiful (at ALL times)....if they don’t mind missing special moments with their kids and being witnesses to their lives while they’re growing up...if they don’t care for a cup of coffee and a chat with school friends (which they’ll never have the time for if they’re working); then so be it! Work from 8 to 5, open up your own business, join political institutions and compete with men in their fields of success..........GO FEMINISM!!!!

Note: all of what I said above does NOT imply that women are to be naïve, airheaded, or shallow. There are always books, newspaper and the internet, where they could read and learn about anything they want. They could be more knowledgeable than any man in the world……….without forgetting to be LADIES!