Antonia Hayes
I didn’t want to say that biggest defining aspect of being a woman, to me, was being a mother, because I don’t think you need to necessarily be a mother to be a woman, but I found the lines were blurry personally. Motherhood has been the most empowering thing I have done as a woman, which seems such an unlikely thing to say because people don’t often associate children with empowerment. But I won’t apologise for that, because motherhood has taught me that I can achieve anything, from huge goals to small victories.
Lyrian Fleming
This week I’m worrying about money. I don’t have much, and compared to everyone around me who is either mid-mortgage or courting financial-advisers the way I court free champagne. The other things on my mind this week are the, er, ‘c’ words. Do I want them? What if I leave it too late? Can I really have both?
Being part of the generation that came just after the generation of women who were told they could have it all, I’m at that point where I know I probably can’t, but I have no idea what it is that I do want. Do I want kids? How does a career in international development work with little Jack or Jill in tow? What are the things worth compromising? All I know is that for me, being a woman is about having to choose. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s a pretty spectacular position to be in. Not all women around the world can say that, yet.
Romy Grbic
To me, the meaning of being a woman revolves around floral print, perfume, makeup, delicate jewellery, and being quintessentially feminine. On a deeper level, it is the ability to understand a fellow woman, befriend her upon first meeting, and carve a friendship that nobody else can understand. The bond I have with my sisters and girlfriends is truly and forever unbreakable, based on quirks, understanding, and inside jokes that no-one else can understand, as well as a deep respect and love for each other.
Lin Tan
I believe I’ve been lucky to have always been surrounded by very strong (and fiery) women. As such, I think women possess a particular brand of tenderness, which in many ways is the heart and silent power of their strength; strength that cannot be measured in physical terms but whose vigour carries with it a force immeasurable.
Liv Hambrett
I’m not entirely sure what it does mean (ask me in fifty years) but one thing I do know it should mean, is choice. And that women should never be denied this freedom, nor have it placed in the hands of others.
Melissa White
As a female, we have carried many a shackle over the ages thanks to social expectations. Even in the 21st century it seems that we can’t be too provocative or radical in what we think without being frowned upon, we can’t be too feminine or we are too “girly”, or we can’t be too masculine otherwise we may seem too much of a “tomboy”. We are subject to criticism as the so-called “gentler” sex.
I love being a woman.
To me being a woman means to defy expectations. The freedom and beauty of being myself by embracing my own individuality for its flaws and for its adornment be it internal or external. It means to be stronger by will in a world where we are still judged and where many a female still feels obliged to please the whims of everyone else around her, but her own. To be a woman, in essence is to be the nurturing, luscious oyster of her very own pearls.
Grace Edwards
Switch on the television, read a magazine or simply look around; contradictory messages about women are everywhere. The commercial media would have us believe ‘women’ are all blonde, busty, bronzed, ‘girly’ dependents, whilst history would teach us that women fall into two categories: the eternal virgin or the mother/wife/homemaker.
Frankly, I don’t buy that. Neither does any other woman I know.
I believe that to be a woman therefore is, first and foremost, to be an interpreter.
I am constantly amazed at the creative ways in which the women around me express their own brand of femininity. And of course, it’s more than just symbolic; navigating the waters of social acceptability is a particularly perilous task for women, whether out at a function or going for that job promotion.
