"Redefining the essence of a woman." “ What is the essence of a woman?” I remember watching a Miss Universe pageant about a decade ago and one of the candidates was asked this question. She confidentl

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Florian K.

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"Redefining the essence of a woman."

“ What is the essence of a woman?” I remember watching a Miss Universe pageant about a decade ago and one of the candidates was asked this question. She confidently answered it this way, “ The essence of a woman is having a child.” She won the title and I think it was because of the Q and A portion. Even before a woman is born, the roles they play were already formed in society. A woman is expected to get married and have a child, take care of the family and for many centuries that is the role that women played. A childless woman no matter how accomplished she was would have a nightmare in family reunions.

But the trend is changing nowadays, more and more women choose not to have children. In Japan and Korea, women choose their careers over having a child. There is a constant debate about this topic where a growing list of reasons is blatantly stated even in public. In Asian culture, especially in China, if you are a childless woman, no matter how accomplished you are in your career, you are seen as a “ leftover woman”. That is pretty harsh to hear I suppose but it is the truth.

When we go deeper into this topic, we will find that there are various reasons why women choose not to have children. It goes beyond the usual reasons of economics and culture.

“Women want to be in full control of their bodies.” Christen Reighter gave a TED talk about this.

Here is the link..<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_xXC37CDSw" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_xXC37CDSw</a>;.

She was basically talking about her personal choices and why she refused to assume the role that the society gave her. I see her points as valid and rebellious but I guess she gave good reasons. “It is her body after all.”

There can be various reasons why women choose to marry but not have children. It is actually a global trend. That is why researchers predict that the global population will actually decrease in the coming decades. In Finland for example, there is a gradual decline in the number of women giving birth. This is a trend happening in more developed countries where women have more choices I guess.

I would love to know your thoughts about this matter? I think that it depends on many factors such as individuality, culture, tradition, environment and so on.

2019년 6월 20일 오전 8:03

댓글 · 5

In traditional society, feminity is defined as a synonym of motherhood, submission to husband, faithful wife, and so on. And now, feminism has accomplished some brilliant women's rights in many ways, just in the past 60~70 years. Even, some started to insist that motherhood is nothing but a choice for women, and assert their devine right not to have children, because their bodies aren't tools to give birth to offsprings .

However, I think that we all aren't very special existences beyond biological limitation, but just subordinated to biology. Homo sapiens has been struggling to survive on the earth, and successfully has increased the population. If women started to assert a right not to have kids, it might be because the population of the earth reached its maximum, not self-consciousness of women. Isms or paradigms follow the principle of survival of the species. Actually, it is supposed to reach around 10 billions of population in 2050. If the woman on TED cries out for a right not to have children as a problem of individual decision, she just thinks too highly of herself. If Human beings faced the crisis of extinction, women like her would not be tolerable in our society.They might become victims of witch hunt.

In conclusion, my point is based on a biological analysis. I don't trust any belief or ideology that humans invented, whatever they are, feminism or patriarchy. Sorry if its not the answer that you expect. :)

2019년 6월 20일

If I were the judge of that panel, then it would be difficult for her to be the Miss Universe. I don't think that just having a baby is what defines the essence of a woman, rather being a woman is itself the essence of being a woman. And having a baby is a choice and it takes lots of responsibility to grow a baby and make them a good human being. So, if someone is not ready or don't want to take this responsibility(which is not mandatory!) , then it's absolutely fine.

2019년 6월 20일