Steemit Engagement Challenge, S9w3: What is a woman?”

I never thought that a woman's role was that of a housewife. The housewife has had and has a fundamental role in society. But a woman was not necessarily born to be a housewife or a mother.

Although the figure of a mother is of paramount importance for all societies in the world and survival itself, the woman cannot be identified exclusively with this role because one is a woman even without maternity and one is a woman even without being considered a wife.

I firmly believe that a woman can assert herself without necessarily having a husband or children unless she decides to have them for her own personal inclination and for her life plan. I think we must understand not all women have this blueprint or this attitude.

I refuse to perceive a woman as incomplete because she has no children or no family of her own. However, women have, by nature or education, an aptitude for taking care of the family, the elderly, and the children of siblings and friends, so that a family is to be understood as something larger than what we are used to now.

In the society of my country, Italy, women have had many important roles in the course of history, in fact, there are fundamental historical figures since the Middle Ages, they were sporadic figures who made some breakthroughs and were a great example, but in one way or another woman has always been “put back in her place” so that changes have been very slow for most women in society. So before the twentieth century, the role of women was always subordinated to men.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century and especially since the post-war period, things have changed very quickly and they still change.

Women have always worked in the fields, in the first factories, in teaching, and as nurses. But then they started to occupy fundamental roles in medicine, science, art, politics, the military, engineering, and technology, and even we have an astronaut we are very proud of :)

^{Samantha Cristoforetti first European woman commander of the International Space Station}
Source

However, commitment to study and work has a price. Because it exposes the woman to many difficulties and many criticisms and many senses of guilt, sometimes for not being able to be a “good” mother, sometimes for not being a mother at all.

Thus, together with the role of the woman, the role of the man changes as well. Men take care of the house, looks after the children, and cook, and they are very good at it! And we discover that also men have the love, caring and other qualities normally attributed to a woman. So we are going toward a much more flexible and fundamental division of the tasks for society.

Today in my country there is much discussion of gender equality and society will inevitably change again in search of a new balance. The development of women will help even more towards a more equal society.

My grandmother. Born in the 1930s, she always remembered hiding in shelters during the war as a young girl. She grew up and lived poor most of her life and started working at 8 years old. My grandmother went through an entire era and with her stories I was able to understand how much my country has evolved over the years.

I owe many, or rather all, of my freedoms, my education, and my abilities to my grandmother and to women like her who lived through difficult years and contributed to changing society.

In the 50's she was criticized and considered a bad woman because she decided to cut her long hair braid and keep her hair short. She recounted this by saying, “I survived the war, I cut my hair how I want!”.

She had 5 children and together with my grandfather worked hard to support a family. At the same time, she wanted her child and us grandchildren to be able to study and work and precisely because she was an uneducated person, she wanted us to be. My grandmother always defined herself as an ignorant person, but at the same time she understood and embraced the changes in the world and society, she was compassionate and welcoming, she was open-minded, she was very ironic, and very strong.

She always taught us to do our best, to have self-respect, and stand up for ourselves, and not worry too much about people's criticism and walk around with our heads held high.

She died 2 years ago and we miss her so much.

I wish women in the world who do not have basic rights to achieve their goals and the respect that every human being and individual as such deserves regardless of gender. At the same time, I believe that young women who grow up with freedom understand that this is not a given and that other women and men have fought to obtain it.