WE NEED WOMEN

"The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity." - Margaret Nadault

"We need women with the gift of discernment who can view the trends in the world and detect those that, however popular, are shallow or dangerous.”8

We need women who are organized and women who can organize. We need women with executive ability who can plan and direct and administer; women who can teach, women who can speak out. Today, let me add that we need women who know how to make important things happen by their faith and who are courageous defenders of morality and families in a sin-sick world. We need women who are devoted to shepherding God’s children along the covenant path toward exaltation; women who know how to receive personal revelation, who understand the power and peace of the temple endowment; women who know how to call upon the powers of heaven to protect and strengthen children and families; women who teach fearlessly." - Boyd K Packer

THIS is what I want to teach my girls. I also want them to internalize and appreciate the beauty of being a woman; and to recognize that we were created DIFFERENT (not worse, not better, different!) from men and that we have some unique and beautiful things to bring to the table. I will teach them to be strong and to chase their dreams with fierceness; but my deepest desire is that virtue, purity, and kindness will be the foundational characteristics that drive everything they do in life. I'm a feminist in the sense that if I can raise my girls to value themselves and never let a man treat them horribly, then I will count that as an enormous victory. I'm a feminist in the sense that I believe God created us equal, but different. He didn't intend for us to all do the same thing; He meant for us to fulfill different, yet equally important roles. And I'm proud of my womanly roles and attributes. I hope my daughters will be too. 

Now let's address the elephant in the room. Women's March, a frenzy of feminists declaring the injustices that supposedly befall them. I admire women who peaceably stand for what they believe in; but I think it must be said that we live in a country where women have SO many rights and are certainly not living in an oppressed nation. I think we need to take a step back and realize, in AWE, at how far we have come; and let our hearts swell with gratitude. Or we could get out of our own bubbles and visit other countries where women truly ARE oppressed in every sense of the word. I think our lack of gratitude, or even acknowledgment, for the rights we do have is shameful. We can vote, we can run for president, we can go to work or stay at home. We can be equal partners with our husbands, we can support our husbands in their dreams, and we can chase our own. We can do anything. We are the most privileged country in the world, and NO our current president will not be able to single handedly take that away, even if he wanted to, which I don't believe he does. (i.e.) I'm not a huge fan of the guy, but I also don't think he is out to take away women' rights, but that's what the media would have us believe. If you can answer this, please do: Where is the oppression? I feel like there are still female stereotypes (but for every female stereotype, there is a male stereotype) and I don't know how those will ever vanish unless everyone on this earth magically become charitable and christ-like. 

Living a life of gratitude will bring happiness. An entitled attitude does not.