By: Chassidy Goggins
After four years of studying, taking tests, and enhancing my knowledge, there is one thought that is continuously lingering between my ears, I still don’t know what I want to do. I hate to admit it, but with a bachelor’s degree under my belt, my plans for life after college are still somewhat vague. I know that I want to take a brief hiatus before starting graduate school but after that, there’s not much else to be said and I think I’ve figured out why- there are too many options!
As a young women of the 21st century, we seem to have the world at our feet. The problem with that cliché is that the world may be at our feet but our feet don’t know which way to go. So we just stand there and watch “as the world turns”. I’m about 85 percent sure I want to continue my education in the field of Mass Communications but I have other interest as well. For instance, ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved film. I liked watching how the plots unraveled and the types of characters used. After being exposed to film classes as part of my major, it’s increased my interest even more, to the point where I wouldn’t mind writing for the film or television industry. I’ve played around with writing scripts before and wouldn’t mind giving it a professional shot. However, right now my desire is to write for a publication and maybe dabble into radio, but like I said, maybe.
And the whole personal life scenario, forget about it! Most women want to get married, start a family, and move into the big house on the hill with the white picket fence, you know, the whole “American Dream” myth. But then I have to pose the question of why do most women want or feel they need this “American Dream”? Is it because society tells us it’s what we should strive for or is it just the supposed order of things? The reality of that dream is that no one really follows the format and certainly not in that order.
Many of you know young women that have had a child or two before the age of 21 and are now struggling to make ends meet. Some of us live where we can and not where we want due to financial struggles, and marriage isn’t even on the table in some cases anymore.
According to the book Kids Having Kids by Rebecca Maynard, “one million teen-agers ages 15-19 become pregnant…, most teen parents are unmarried five years after giving birth…, fewer than half of the teens who give birth out of wedlock marry within the next 10 years… and more than two-thirds of all out-of-wedlock child-bearers end up on welfare”.
On the other hand, the phrase having the world at your feet could be an empowering one. We may be in the 21st century but some men and even women, still have the mindset of the 19th. Some men and women believe that a woman’s place is in the home and her only mission in life is to have and raise children, cook, clean, and “satisfy” their husbands. This statement is proven by a survey from Reuters which concluded that out of 24,000 adults in 23 countries, one in four people have this type of mindset. To those of us that know better, we shout loud and proud that “I am woman, hear me roar!”
Whether you’re a lost 30 year-old unsure of your next move or a fresh out of high school 18 year-old with a blueprint of your life for the next 20 years, I hope this will help to inspire, weed out, and most importantly, encourage you to make the right decision for you as a woman.
