Is There Really Such a Thing as True Women's Liberation?

Women have been fighting for their rights for many decades. While women as a whole still have a long ways to go, they are certainly more liberated than they were a century ago. Women today can work outside the home as to gain economic independence. They can vote as to affect policy and law in America. They have more time and more options in their lives today than they did when Chopin wrote "The Story of an Hour." They may be, in some cases, still defined by their gender and social role but are clearly more liberated than a century ago or any other time in American history. Men are more liberated today as well as they do not have to fit into socially constructed roles as much as they have in the past.

Women major cause of liberation today is that women can work outside the home for money. They are not restricted from any particular field of work although there are fields more open to women than others. Gender discrimination and concepts like the glass ceiling (women only rising to a certain level are still at play, but conditions are improving. Women still make only about 70 cents to every dollar a man makes for comparable work, which is 30 cents less. The fact that remains that women can work outside the home, which means that they can gain economic freedom, independent of men. A century ago for a woman to choose not to marry, she would have had to have been left money by her family. Today, a woman works her way to the top and may choose to marry based not at all on economics. Women can also gain more than money from their jobs; they can gain the kind of personal fulfillment, previously unknown to them. Society has finally conceded that maybe all women are not cut out to be homemakers, to stay at home and raise children. While society at large still expects this, not too many eyebrows raise at stay-at-home dads or women who return to work after six weeks of maternity leave.

Even in the work women do today at home, they are provided so many time-saving devices-microwaves, dishwashers, washing machines, etc. Tasks can be accomplished in much shorter spans of time. However, this is not completely liberating since women can choose to do more and more instead of taking the time to relax and fulfill themselves. Men also help more than they ever have in housework and childrearing. Granted, some men still don't help much. But there are many others who see marriage as a 50/50 split or partnership.

The biggest change that results in liberation for women is birth control. A century ago women had little or no control over their own reproductive life. Now, they can engage in sexual relations inside or outside of marriage and prevent pregnancy. Women can be in control of when they have children and even if they have children at all. No loner must mothers be confined to the home saddled with child after child whether those children were wanted and planned or not. In fact, women are out and about more than ever when they are pregnant or nursing or whatever. Children do not mean that a woman is confined to the home.

Men are more liberated today as well. In the past, men were expected to be the strong, silent type. Today, this is still expected to some extent. However, there is a broader range of options available to men. Today, the world is roomier for all types of expression. Men can be sports fanatics or crazy about antiquing. Men can have little to do with their children or be principal childrearers or anything in between. There is more space for men to be sensitive and less "manly." Many men are not even principal breadwinners in their families.

Still, there are times when women must be aware that they tend to compromise or are asked to compromise more than men. Nobody ever asks a man if he will quit work after a child is born. Nobody discriminates against a man in his twenties or thirties because he might, at some point in the future, decide to have children and need to take time off. The double standard regarding sex is still around to some extent. However, eyebrows are not raised when, after divorce, men become single dads who gain sole custody of their children. Women are not naturally assumed to be the best at childrearing. There are many women CEO's and women hold other power positions. Women are not the only spouse to take care of the home and raise children. Men, though still confined to many stereotypes about toughness and strength, are helping out with household chores and childrearing much more. In fact, many wealthier families hire people to clean and raise children, so these things are not part of the woman's role at all. Women continue to be liberated more and more. The world is roomier today for men as well. They are able to express themselves in ways that they were not able to in the past. There is no question that women and men enjoy more freedoms than they did a century ago.