Staying on the gender identity channel from the last post–I ran across an article in the San Francisco Chronicle from 2006–“Off the Mommy Track” by Elisa Gonzalez Clark. In talking about her decision not to have kids, she writes,
“If I had children it would be to satisfy other people, not me.” She goes on to describe herself that whether she meant to or not, she is describing her self-identity, some woman related, some not: “I am a lover, daughter, sister, writer and friend. I don’t need the label of mother to make me more. I am enough. ” Love it.
The friend she speaks to in the article does not feel the same way–she thought that if she didn’t become a mother she wouldn’t have felt complete as a woman.
I got to thinking…Like ioana commented re the last post maybe describing our identity should be individualistic –and be a combination of the roles you play in life that mean the most to you? And for childfree, the only difference is that “mother” is not one of the roles?
If you were to describe your female identity in terms of the roles that are most important to you, what would it be?