by Milton Johanides

Created on: April 25, 2010   Last Updated: April 26, 2010

The movement towards liberating women and men from traditional roles took most of the last century and is a good one. Anything with the word tradition in it tends to be something that looks back, and what worked a hundred years ago is not going to work now because, quite honestly, people change. The reason why we change is because we find better ways of doing things. The women's movement came about originally because there were an awful lot of very unhappy women who felt trapped inside unhealthy and loveless marriages where they were treated like servants. They had no voice and no career options and no opportunity to develop themselves as individuals. This is not something that modern society would wish to promote now and definitely not a situation we would wish to return to.

Having said that, the liberation of women and the availability of choice to them left some women in a quandary. Not everyone is the same or has the same aspirations, so while it was welcome to have the change, not all women necessarily wanted to go out and become breadwinners. Some do and some don't. It is important that those who still prefer to stay at home and make "family" their career should be allowed to do so without having to endure outside pressure. In a "modern relationship," the advantages are that men and women get to choose the lifestyle they want. If dad wants to stay at home and work on the computer while taking on some of the chores, he can. If mum wants to be a high powered executive changing the world, she can do that, too. The important thing about the women's movement is that it broke down stereotype views which had been created predominantly by church beliefs.

Church should have no say in women being tied to the kitchen sink. The Bible has some beautiful passages on the working woman, and makes it clear that everyone, not just men, should aim to provide the best possible environment for themselves and their communities. But it would be a welcome development to hear that the concept of family is once more valued and appreciated. Family has been seen in the past as the enemy of liberation, so that women somehow had to choose between it and a career. The future should be one in which both can be valued equally and society should do all it can to make it easier for young couples to accomplish both.

At the end of the day, it is about personal choice. The more we can break down stereotype thinking, the more we empower each other. But at the same time, we have to hang on to core values, like family, and make sure our kids do not grow up neglected. This is something mum and dad can do together.

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