Today, I must pause from regaling you all with nightmarish tales of the worst of parenting to let off some steam on an issue that has been bothering me.
It has become apparent to me in the past year or so that because of my status as a single-mom, the world views me differently than I view myself. While I see myself as an intelligent, skilled and resourceful person who is well-educated and possessing some solid and impressive accomplishments in the workplace, someone who does important work in the world and is head to doing even greater things - other people do not see this.
Instead, assumptions are made, based solely on my gender, that I am not on a career-track. That I would rather be in my home than in the workplace. That I would rather be spending every moment of every day with my children rather than out in the world, following my passions to make a difference. And I understand that for many women, this might be true and there is truly nothing to be faulted if someone sees their place in the world in those terms. But this is not me and I am starting to feel angry at the need for other people to place me in this category, based on many gendered assumptions about my career-potential, my desire to do important work and my dedication to my career. Because I know that if I was a man and a single-dad, these assumptions would never be made and I would never find myself fin the awkward position of convincing other people that I do, in fact, have a career.
Believe it or not, this woman wants to rule the world (or some small part of it). And maybe she will not always be doing it in stain-free professional attire and maybe she will occasionally be doing it with a pancake batter set hair-style or with heavy bags under her eyes due to the impact of the latest-flu bug sweeping through the school system, but make no mistake that this woman is going places. So do not limit her with your assumptions or you will be left behind.
That is all.
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