A woman is never just any one thing. Many people would define a woman as feminine or motherly, thinking of old stereotypes of women who were bound to the house with the purpose of serving their husband and children.
Today, being a woman means so much more and has so many different meanings. Each woman has a different idea of what womanhood should be. A woman doesn’t need to spend her days in the house raising children, cooking and cleaning.
Women are smart and strong, able to break the barriers of the home and accomplish amazing things, like becoming vice president or venturing out to space. Today, more women are breaking boundaries and glass ceilings than ever.
As of March 2021, 65 women have made the rigorous preparations to fly into space and break the glass ceiling about women in science. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, astronaut Jessica Meir and Christina Koch completed the first all-female space walk in October 2019.
Professional tennis player Serena Williams has 23 Grand Slam singles titles under her belt. She won her last one while she was pregnant and holds more titles than any other player, winning four Olympic gold medals and becoming the highest paid female athlete in the world in 2016.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an icon for all women, particularly for women in law. From the beginning of her term on the Supreme Court in 1993, she was the first Jewish woman and the second woman to serve in America’s highest court. Up until her death in 2020, her career was spent fighting tooth and nail for women’s rights and gender equality.
Our very own Vice President Kamala Harris is a formidable force in the field of politics, being the first woman, Black American and South Asian American to serve in the office.
“While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last—because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities,” Harris said after she took office.
So many women have done so many amazing things and so many more will continue on the legacy of crushing the glass ceilings above them.
Women give birth to the next generation, raising the children who will one day take our places. For a child, a woman provides comfort and guidance, love and affection, skills and sense. But not all women are mothers, and they are no less valid.
Not all women were assigned that gender at birth and have gone through unimaginable pains to become what they believe they truly are. Even those who haven’t revealed themselves yet should celebrate their womanhood in whatever way they can.
Women of color, rich or poor, healthy or not, straight or queer, women from around the world should all be celebrated because womanhood is not just one thing. It is the combination of many things to make up a proud community who carry the world on their shoulders and will continue to do so with motivated grace, beauty and strength.
There are so many amazing women out there accomplishing great things on our little planet and beyond. They change the world in countless ways and bring a level of innovation nobody ever thought possible.
I am proud of the life I’ve built. Persistent with all of my goals. Driven enough to reach them. Humble in my achievements and graceful in my errors. I am a woman. I can’t wait for the day all women can feel this way, comfortable in their abilities, identity and skin.
What is a woman? That’s up to each person to decide. Find what womanhood means to you, go after it, embrace it and wear it proudly on your sleeve. Love others, who are women in their own rights. Love yourself. You are a woman.
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @antxiam5