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The Irony of Women’s Role as Wonder Woman

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*Image Source: Wikimedia Commons (Florencia Muir) 

Society dictates the role of women in society. Imagine a young mother of a century ago. She works at home doing all domestic jobs of taking care of her family while showing love to her husband. She wakes up early, cooks breakfast, wakes up the kids, prepares them for school. She sends them to school. She goes home to continue her household chores. If she lives on the farm, she has to take care of the farm animals, as well.

After a century or so, women’s role seems to have changed. Women are now competing with men in the workplace. They tend to have similar job descriptions. They plan, they implement, they command. Women, as society has created to be the norm, are expected to juggle responsibilities at home and at work. She needs to be perfect. If she is not, she has failed society’s expectations. She must be WonderWoman as she has to have the perfect work-life balance everyone expects of her. Thus, there is an undeniably a “women’s problem.” Women are expected to be the epitome of a perfect woman.

Women have been liberated since the 1960s. Instead of jumping with joy and grinning with smiles reaching both ears, women have become slaves to society’s impossible expectations. The past has stereotyped women to be blushing brides, committed housekeepers, and be great mothers and wives. This transitioned to today’s perception of women to be independent, strong, sexually-driven, and to handle herculean tasks. Thus, it has created a new generation of women who are hungry to be labeled as perfect mothers, excellent wives, and outstanding professionals. Women now are struggling to balance all of these tasks to be what society wants them to be. The Impossible WonderWoman of today’s generation.

Women are scrambling to obtain the skills and credentials that they need to overcome the world. Women now have shifted their roles. Women are attending universities and colleges and they flock into graduate degrees. This makes them join the workforce with ease. It has been reported that women comprise almost 50% of the total workforce in the United States with 59 percent of them being college graduates. Moreover, it has been recorded that women have higher salaries compared to men in 38 percent of American households.

The sad reality is that despite these women’s successes, women still have to comply with society’s harsh expectations. Women have to be perfect at home and at work, which is virtually impossible. There is still no parity at home or even at the corporate world.

The question is: Is it fair for society to pressure women to be today’s WonderWoman?

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