Education and Women

Written by slpeidle Tuesday, 02 March 2010 01:44

Women have been fighting for equal education opportunities (as well as many other opportunities) around the world for at least the last two centuries. Colleges and universities have opened up to the idea of educating women and allowing them an equal share of the opportunities offered to men. Women today around the world can choose whether or not to become educated and to work or not. Many women have been choosing to become educated and work more over the 19th and 20th centuries. Women are asking for equal opportunities for education, employment and payment while also remaining tied to age old notions of wife and mother. However, the modern “has it all” woman seems to be growing more and more tired and depressed.

Raising children, attending college courses, working and earning an income, housework and chores fill many women’s days to the brim. Today women are expected to be intelligent, gorgeous ,high earning mothers with weekly Pilates classes and Friday night wine dinners. Women have their identities tied to how much they can juggle at once and which child and husband belong to them. They are the soccer team drivers and swim coaches, the cook, maid and mistress to hubby at home and the smart go-getters at work. But what toll does this take on an individual and honestly, is it worth it?

Today a 24-year-old girl who is four months pregnant dropped the opportunity to begin working toward a Master’s degree starting in the spring due to extreme morning sickness. She hopes to take up the class again in the fall but worries about taking a class, working full time (as hubby’s income is not enough to support two let alone three) and taking care of a newborn. Take a number sister. You are about the join the ranks of the overworked and underpaid working parents who choose taking care of children over taking care of themselves. Now this young woman is looking into day care facilities and cutting her hours back to raise a child without completely succumbing to the sole identity of mommyhood. It seems that women have fought for more than we bargained for and bit off more than we can chew. And when asked why she chose to have children now, rather than wait until after earning her Master’s degree she simply stated, “well, you have to start having children sometime and struggle is inevitable, why not now?” How sad.

When given the opportunity to choose between education and motherhood, the glorification of parenting and the removal of the choice of a life without children have claimed another victim: another woman who will try to earn a Master’s degree while juggling work, home, chores and motherhood. It is said that as a woman’s education level increases her decision to have children is delayed, or she decides to have no children at all. It’s just too bad that we can’t require high levels of education of all women prior to them having the opportunity to choose whether or not to become a parent.

Have you put off children for school or a career?  Share your experiences in The Childfree Life forums.