I am a girl

Once again, I got into a huge debate with my parents over the phone. I won't bore you with the details of the debate, because once again, it is regarding my decision to apply to Teach For America. I don't even know why they are getting all worked up on it, I have to wait til they accept me first. I really hope they do accept me. *crosses fingers*

Anyways, so the biggest thing that jumped out at me was something my mom said. She said, "Lisha, I don't know why you are making your life so hard. Why do you want to go on such a grueling path of becoming a doctor. It is really hard being a girl. You are trying to accomplish all these things, yet you still have to think about raising and taking care of a family." Then she went on saying that it would've been the best if I just find some easy and stable job and just settle down. I was very perplexed by her statement because all throughout my 20 years of life, my parents have done nothing but pushed me to succeed. They pushed me towards the sciences, pushed me to work hard so that I can go to a good college and therefore find a good job. They would never accept me getting anything less than a MD or PhD. They wanted me to become a lawyer, a doctor, or a professor. Yet going through all these years of schooling and pursuing one of those professions are not what I would call EASY.

So why did my parents do it? Why did they push me so hard when they believe that I should just settle for something easy and focus on doing "womanly" things. I decided to ask my mom, and guess what she said. She went, "well, you should get a good education so that you can get a good educated husband."
LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL. WOWWWWWWWWWWWWW.
I was speechless. I could not believe that just came out of my mom. What century is she stuck in? So I guess according to her logic, I worked really hard in high school to get to UC Berkeley just so I can find myself some intelligent Asian Berkeley guy, or better yet, I should go to med school just so I can find myself some hot shot doctor. MMM..HAWT. I guess that was basically suppose to be my goal in life..........

I am always surprised to hear such old fashioned idealologies coming from my parents because the truth is, they are REALLY young, and I mean REALLY young. Compared to all my peer's parents, my parents are like still in their golden years. They got married when they were like 20 and had me when they were like 22. I'm just so surprised that their mentality is still so old fashioned, conservative, and traditional beyond belief.

My mom even used herself as an example. She said that she wanted to be a nurse, and even started taking nursing classes. However she decided on pursuing accounting because it was an easy and stable job, and she gets to spend time with her family. Okay, fair enough, that is what she wanted, and thus it suits her. For me, it is just seriously not feasible. I cannot imagine myself just sitting at home and be a house wife. Like oh em gee, I'll be the worst house wife ever, like seriously, I can't cook shit....but anyways, thats beside the point. Just because I am a girl doesn't mean I should be stuck in this one mold that society has created. And as the society changes, this mold for girls is constantly being changed. We see women nowadays in places in society that was never seen a couple of centuries ago. We see women having the knowledge and power that they can never even dream about before. Time has changed. Too bad that my mom can't change with it. But I can't be stuck in time like her.

I respect women who do want to fulfuill the traditional role of a mother, nurturer, and caretaker. Nothing wrong with that. If that is something they want, then hey by all means. Whatever floats your boat right? And just because a woman has a hard core job doesn't mean she can't also fulfill her role in the family just as well. I guess what I am trying to say is, if there IS something else that I want to do in life, me being a girl should not stop me from pursuing it. And yeah, I agree with my mom, it probably will be very hard, especially for a girl who has to have double duty, but who said life is always easy right? It is a challenge millions of women have taken and are willing to take, and it is a challenge that I am willing to take.

Another thing that popped up in my head is that at my math tutor training, all the math and science tutors were women. It wasn't on purpose, it is not like the supervisor only hired women. I just found that to be inspirational. Us women taking on the math and sciences. Way to represent right? I think it is wonderful. Not only are we helping students in the math and sciences, but we are also breaking down the stereotype that females are only good in the humanities and that males dominate in the math and sciences. I really do hope that we are a source of inspiration to these students.

oh yah, my mom also worries that if I do Teach for America, I won't be able to find myself an intelligent man.....LULZZZZZZZZZZ because apparently people who do Teach for America are not intelligent??? O.o?