Do you feel religion influences gender roles? Or is it just tradition? If this is in the wrong section, please relocate it.
I keep running into conflicts around gender roles. My family owns a fair-sized farm and I would like nothing more than to one day buy into the farm (saving all my money to buy shares). I planned most of my life around that farm. But I keep getting told a woman can't run a farm herself, that I must marry to farm. I should make it clear, I do not have any brothers and both my sisters can't get away from the farm fast enough.
The main argument is that I am not physically strong or skilled enough for some of the harder work. The whole argument reappeared recently when I tore up my shoulder. It's now more than likely permanently damaged. It doesn't stop me. I can do the work especially now that technology has made certain chores easier.
Why do such views still prevail today? Are they influenced by religion (Christianity in my area)? I feel like a cow being sized up at market if I go to a local event and word gets out I'm single again. Don't care to recall the number of proposed arranged marriages I've heard. It's like those boys only see the land I might come with (there's no guarantee, not in life anyway). Add in perssure from the older women (Still single?! Honey, you can't farm without a man! Women belong in the kitchen not in the barn, etc) and half of the time I think we're living somewhere in the 1940s, not 2012!
- Message Board: Join in our discussion
