I am a woman. The word sounds strange when you pronounce it out loud, almost as if you are not certain to which part of your identity you are referring to. Am I a woman just because of my gender? Or because I can bear children? More often than not, we integrate other people's beliefs about womanhood and what it means.
As a child, the word "woman" seemed so mature to me. I looked at the women around me, and most of them were mothers. In my home country, Romania, we even celebrated "Mother's Day" on the 8th of March - what was I to believe other than the main role of a woman was to be a mother? A woman was judged for not having children, or marrying - had she managed to meet the prerequisites of her gender, or...?
Years later, well into womanhood, I realized being a woman is less about roles and more about attributes. Call it as a journey of self-discovery, or anything you want, but it brought me closer to a realization. Being a woman is about choosing yourself any moment of the day, choosing yourself over anything else. Our gender is deemed as frail and naïve, but reality differs.
Women are strong and determined. They never give up, fighting for their dreams. We show resilience and assertiveness, whether it relates to our personal or professional lives. If we want a family, we create it. We bring life into the world, and become even more powerful as a result. We never let anyone define us, and we know that "woman" is just the tip of the iceberg - our identity holds much more than a five-letter word.
Today, as we celebrate Women's Day, let's remember that we can be who we want to be. We hold the power, and we should use it to see our dreams turned into reality. I am raising a daughter, and I hope she will grow up to embrace womanhood, as fully deserved. Never the weaker gender, but rather an equally-strong half of the story. Happy Women's Day!
What does being a woman mean to you?