Not Every Woman Wants or Needs A Career

Some hearts just want to be home

Photo by Magnet.me on Unsplash

Stay at home, my heart, and rest;
Home-keeping hearts are happiest. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s when women were fighting hard for greater personal freedom and demanding the same rights and opportunities as men were afforded. The women’s liberation movement brought millions of women together to stand up to the oppressive laws that were keeping women trapped. Women insisted on, and gained, the right to have their own bank account without a husband’s or father’s permission. They demanded equal pay for equal work. In 1973, Roe v. Wade passed, giving women the right to make the decision, without excessive government interference, to have an abortion. I bow to these women who fought for all of us, and feel that we need to continue to fight for our rights as equal and valuable contributors to society. But those hard-won rights are only valuable if they apply to all of us, even those who make choices that don’t look like liberation to others.

When I was a little girl, I decided that I wanted to be a mommy and a homemaker when I grew up. You might think that I was socialized that way, because even in the 60’s and 70’s the American South was pretty conservative. But that is not really the case. My mother worked when I was growing up, and we had a…