Even in our equal and democratic society, there are still many stereotypes about women and their roles in society. Many people still believe that a women’s place is in the kitchen, preparing meals for her husband and children. I am proud to be a women, but I do not want to be a women who lives up to that stereotype.
I am a terrible cook. I know lots of people claim that, but I can barely toast a bagel without burning it. And baking is out of the question.
Freshman year of high school, I took journalism. In an effort to practice writing review articles, every student was to bake cookies and bring them into class for everyone to taste and review. Being the terrible baker that I am, I knew my cookies were bad. The rest of the class agreed with me, but I was okay with that. I have no plans to be a professional chef, so making a batch of bad tasting cookies was not the end of the world for me, but one of my classmates thought otherwise. “Did you mom not teach you how to make cookies?” he said.
Both my mom and I have busy lives, and baking is not on the top of our priority list. Our lack of baking skills do not make us any less of a woman. To us, being a woman is about being smart, compassionate, driven, and proud, despite occasionally baking bad tasting cookies.
Fantastic blog post, Libby! Your first and last paragraphs do a good job of framing your anecdote, and I enjoyed your last sentence.
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