I'm a Mormon. I'm a woman.

It has gone without mentioning that I've been living in Flagstaff for the past two months, enjoying my time as a graduate student, and absolutely loving teaching freshman English at the university. Being here so far has been hard. For the first time, I am on my own in a place where I know only a handful of people (and none of them very well) and am a minority as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The latter fact has been the most challenging aspect of being in a new place. My ideologies are challenged daily and often I am asked to study philosophies which are in direct opposition to my most heartfelt beliefs. But, however difficult it may be, I count it as a privilege to become more acquainted with my Heavenly Father and Savior because of it.

Most lately, I have had a lot of thinking to do regarding being a woman. In the literary tradition, women are greatly under-represented and socially, women have been oppressed and repressed until fairy recently (in the grand scheme of things). I have been studying these issues in my classes, as well as discussing them at length with fellow graduate students, and I have discovered how differently I view my womanhood than most others.

For the sake of time, I cannot write the extent to which I have deliberated and examined my feelings with others and myself, but I wish to express my gratitude for being a woman. There has never been a day when I have wished to be anything but a woman (except for exceptionally bad hair days). I feel lucky to have such feelings.

But I do realize that left to my own devices, perhaps I would not have such strong feelings. I owe most of my gratitude to my own father for instilling in me that I was of worth because I was a woman, not in spite of being a woman. My dad shows to me and tells me of his appreciation for women. He loves and honors my mother with his whole heart. He cherishes his five daughters. He dotes upon his granddaughters. He often tells me of his disgust for the degradation that women have faced throughout the years and still currently. He has raised his sons and grandsons to be as equally respectful and loving towards women. Because of my father, I have never felt that I was less of a human being because I was a woman.

Several women of my acquaintance have expressed to me how they feel that men look down upon them because of their gender. I count myself as lucky for having very rarely experienced such feelings of repression. I realize now that my father perhaps may be an anomaly among the men of the world, but he is a reflection of his religion. And through my association with the men of my religion, I have never felt underprivileged or unappreciated. If anything, I feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of their high esteem of women in general. I know that Mormon men appreciate women not out of duty, but rather because they understand their religion. They understand their Savior, Jesus Christ, and the love He has for all of us. They understand that men and women work in tandem; we need each other.

As a woman, as a Mormon woman, I know I do not need to strive to be equal with men. At least not in the sense that I need to be the same as a man. For I know that I am a woman for a purpose and with a purpose, for I am not less or more because of my gender. I do not strive to be as good as a man, for I am a different sort, and I strive to be a good woman.

--KB

P.S. For more inspiration, I found
great insight this weekend in the
General Conference talks of
Elders D. Todd Christofferson and
Neil L. Andersen.