Category: Roles & Expectations of Women

Being a Woman in Society Today – Our Role and Our True Purpose

~ womeninlivingness

by Nicole Serafin, Woman, Wife, Mother, Pharmacy Reception, Tintenbar, NSW, Australia

Each one of us has a purpose, a role in life and for each woman that will look different.

In the past it was common for women to stay at home with the sole purpose of looking after and raising a family. It was unheard of having a job, let alone that which was of equal stature to that held by men.

Somewhere along the line we were led to believe that this was our sole purpose and that we were not here to be more than that which we were already living; a wife, housewife, mother, sister, friend, companion … Continue reading “Being a Woman in Society Today – Our Role and Our True Purpose” →

What is a True Woman?

~ womeninlivingness

by Adele Leung, Fashion Stylist/Art Director, Hong Kong

I am a woman who is single presently but I happen to have mothering duties. I have been blessed with a petite and delicate body frame and a radiating smile, yet, my power does not come from my physical looks or stature. In honesty, I do not have what society has for a long time found comfortable in labelling women as.

Being a female growing up, I have always tried to live what was expected of a woman. However, I have discovered that this definition continues to differ when I am in different parts of the world and in different cultures.  Continue reading “What is a True Woman?” →

Indian Inheritance – Re-claiming my Worth as a Woman

~ womeninlivingness

I grew up one of three girls with a brother eleven years younger. My parents immigrated to the UK from India before I was born. My mother made it clear for as long as I can remember, that to have girls was a sin and she must have done some very bad things in her past lives to get 3 girls this time round. When my mother was pregnant with my brother I recall her saying she wanted to be sent to a mental institution if it was a girl.

Continue reading “Indian Inheritance – Re-claiming my Worth as a Woman” →

Women and their Daughters

~ womeninlivingness

Growing up, I had a picture in my mind of what it would be like to be an adult. Slowly, as I got older, this picture kept changing and adjusting to keep up with all that I saw displayed by the varying influences around me. Even though I grew up in a home where there were yelling matches (which eventuated in divorce), as a really young child I didn’t see any of these problems existing in my own future. Instead, I saw the rosy pictures that were depicted on TV and in fairytales to be my own future. As I grew up I soon realised that life was something of an arduous task. The idea that life could be fun and or rosy slowly slipped from my created reality…

No-one at any time that I can remember sat me down and asked me how I viewed my future – I was a female, so it was assumed I would get married and have children. But I was never asked if this is what I wanted, or not. When adults would see either myself or my sisters play with our toy dolls, they would comment “Oh she’ll make a great mother one day”, or something along those lines. And when I started to cook, the comments would be “You’ll make some man really happy one day”. So I learned from a very young age that I was destined to become a mother and a wife. Continue reading “Women and their Daughters” →

Understanding Me through My Period and Our Cycles App

~ womeninlivingness

by Jennene, Brisbane 

Being connected to my period cycle is something that has always been very normal for me. I grew up with a mother who encouraged me to be connected to my monthly cycle – and not to interfere with it in any way.  She encouraged me to question why ‘The Pill’ was something that was so easily handed out to women without the understanding of the long term effects this would have on women’s bodies. It was a great foundation to have – and I am deeply appreciative of this.

So for the last 30 years of menstruating I stayed comfortable in this awareness of my cycle without really going any deeper than that. Whilst attending a recent Esoteric Developers Women’s Group (EDWG) meeting something amazing revealed itself to me; that is, I could feel how important it is for this awareness to be built upon, and not just be a laurel on which to rest. Continue reading “Understanding Me through My Period and Our Cycles App” →

A Life of Marriage and Motherhood? – The Celebration of Myself

~ womeninlivingness

by Cherise Holt, Nurse, Brisbane, Australia

As a little girl overjoyed to be a flower girl at a family wedding, I watched as a man and a woman proclaimed their love for each other: “I do – ‘til death do us part”. I believed I would grow up to marry a man whom I too would love forever. It appeared to me that is just what women did.

As a teenager I contended with low self-esteem, low self-worth, emotional issues, family loss and grief. I wanted a partner now more than ever, and I recall one day sharing tearfully to my mum, “I won’t ever have a boyfriend!”. And if I didn’t find one, would I be alone forever? Or perhaps worse still – who would I be in life?

When I was 16 I met a young man who told me he loved me… I thought “This was it! This must be true love!”. We shared a beautiful wedding ceremony when we were 21 and I eagerly discussed our future plans to have children as I knew I always wanted them. In fact, I believed I was pre-destined to be a mother. Continue reading “A Life of Marriage and Motherhood? – The Celebration of Myself” →

Releasing Ideals and Opening up to the Natural Beauty of the True Woman within Me

~ womeninlivingness

by Nicole Serafin, Tintenbar, Australia

Growing up in a house with my two male cousins – one a little older than me, and the other a little younger – created an interesting dynamic for me as a girl, let alone when I started going through my teenage years and into puberty…

My parents treated us all equally. We went to the same school, had the same friends, went on holidays together and were all very close, wanting to do things together all the time… which in most cases was fine, but in some I found it wasn’t. Not because we didn’t want to, but because we weren’t always allowed. I began to find that the boys were treated differently to myself, often being able to go places and do things that I also wanted to do, but because I was a girl I was told it was not safe or just not ‘the done thing’. It didn’t take me long to realise this notion was the case in most situations, and also held in the world.

I began to notice that the boys were always allowed to do more activities – such as play more sports and go out to places that I was not able to go – even when I had been the same age. Society ‘told me’ that I was a girl and “girls did not do those sorts of things”. However, when or if I ever got hurt, felt vulnerable or expressed any kind of fragility, I was expected to “get over it and toughen up” like the boys. There was never any room or time for tears or feelings. It seemed I was supposed to be able to ‘tough it out’ as they say, but also when it suited I was to be a girl. I remember feeling and finding this extremely confusing. Continue reading “Releasing Ideals and Opening up to the Natural Beauty of the True Woman within Me” →

Hong Kong Women and Women Everywhere – A Letter to You and Me

~ womeninlivingness

by Adele Leung, a woman and perpetual student, Discovery Bay, Hong Kong

Dear Women of Hong Kong,

(Hong Kong – a fast paced cosmopolitan, high spending financial centre of the East)

We have worked so hard, sped so fast, endlessly, tirelessly in action, in constant motion, in building up what we all wish for – recognition, is it not?

We have shown everyone that we can do everything a man can, or more, or better. We know how to dress up, run a meeting, hold a conference, host a large dinner party and discipline kids who misbehave. We are the spotlight of the party, the sexy wife, with flawless and age-proof skin. Continue reading “Hong Kong Women and Women Everywhere – A Letter to You and Me” →

Carbon Copy Mum

~ womeninlivingness

For most of my life, I believed being a woman was the same thing as being a mother – there was no distinction between them. The turning point of when a girl would become a woman appeared to be when she produced children and became a mother. From an early age I took notice of every detail of how to be a mother, and because almost all of the grown women around me fitted into this category – there were plenty of mothers to model myself on.

I have three sisters, all of whom are now mums too. It was never asked of us if we would ever like to have children or presented with the idea of there being a choice involved – it was expected of us from the start. If you weren’t born a boy then at least you could have babies one day. It was more a question of ‘when’ it would happen. When I was six years old I very clearly remember being told about a girl in our street who had fallen pregnant in her teenage years and how her life would now be over for her – that she had given up having a life when she chose to have children. So it was at age six that I registered that having children meant you couldn’t have a life anymore. Continue reading “Carbon Copy Mum” →