Punt Kick โ€” Shaping DEI Competency โ€” Dora Kรผntzel

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motherhood continuum

Yesterday was Mother's Day in Poland, and I'd like to share a few thoughts with you.

๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ'๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜จ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ง ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ'๐˜ต ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ด?

๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ'๐˜ต ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด?

๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ป๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ง๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต?

Women, no matter if they choose to become mothers or not, face societal pressures and expectations.

Not being a mother or not wanting to be a mom doesnโ€™t mean there is anything wrong with us.

Being a mom and wanting to focus on our career or having doubts about our parental capabilities, doesnโ€™t mean there is anything wrong with us.

โ€œRather, it suggests that there is everything wrong with a society that treats women as a monolith as if being born a woman equips us for parenthood.โ€*

Ruby Warrington in her book โ€œWomen Without Kidsโ€ introduces a concept of motherhood spectrum.

โฌ… Affirmative "no" to motherhood means saying yes to our authentic selves, not as an act of rebellion, but as an act of willed self-assertion

โžก Affirmative "yes" to motherhood is the full-body, soul-powered, solid-gold knowing that you do want to be a mom

Some women fall on the extremes of that spectrum.

But many women experience a degree of ambivalence about what society sees at โ€œnatural, celebratory YESโ€ and โ€œselfish, dysfunctional NOโ€.

Ambivalence in which, a woman can feel very lonely.

We donโ€™t need to undersign and accept that binary concept of womanhood.
We can change this narrative.

We can foster an understanding and empower each other no matter where we fall on that spectrum.

We can be there for each other, to be true to ourselves ๐Ÿ’™

What are your thoughts on the societal pressures women face regarding motherhood, and how can we better support each other in making authentic choices?

*Ruby Warrington โ€œWomen Without Kidsโ€