Lately, I've been saying to myself that women had so much to lose; Time, dream, position, and even personality.
Growing up in a small family and raised by a single mother, I've been observing how constrained women are when it comes to living their dream. Especially when they are not as privileged.
My mom was a tough one, even though she had lost so much of herself. At the age of 20, she didn't get the chance to attend college since her family believed that education is useless for women. At the age of 25, my mom gave up her job to have me because my dad told her to. After all of that, she was left alone with nothing but love and patience to raise me and my sisters.
I wonder if my mom also lost the chance to have her own opinion on this or it is silenced since she's only a woman with no chance of having a bachelor degree back then and no privileged background whatsoever.
To think that at 25 I have a job in the industry that I wanted, graduated from a major that I’ve been dreaming of since I was a little kid, I can't stop thinking that, “Wow, I'm THAT privileged,” while other women out there might lose their dream, time, even their voice at such a young age. Data from the Global Dreams Index Survey shows that over half of the world's women population have given up on their dreams(1), and that is very alarming.
Someone had to lose their dream and chance in education to fulfill their economy or beliefs, devoting themselves to their family. Someone had to lose their chance at a professional environment because people still believe that women had to stay "realistic". Gosh, even it's awful that society thinks women are stripped off of their dignity and quality once they lose their virginity, be it because they're single or divorced. In the end, women will eventually forget that this is not normal and can't be normalized.
This situation enrages me for so long. Until someday, my mom told me that all her sacrifice is to make me a privileged woman, who can reach for her dreams and prove that women will never lose their rights and can't be silenced.
As the ones with privilege, we know that we can achieve so many things to break the social stigma of women and in the end, maybe, just maybe, we can give hope to others to believe that they have it in them, a chance to pursue their dreams.
But that is how big my little dream was, as I’m writing this alone right now. So, I have high hopes that someone will read this and think alike. Then they will join my cause so women won’t have to lose as much as it is right now in this era, even with the simplest, littlest effort that we have. -TH
(1) SK-II, ‘Half The World's Women Have Given Up On Their Dreams: Kids Challenge Them To Dream Again’, PR News Wire, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/half-the-worlds-women-have-given-up-on-their-dreams-kids-challenge-them-to-dream-again-300288272.html [accessed on April 22nd, 2021].
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