Feminists for Life asks the all-important question: What do women really want? 30+ years ago, when my mother was beginning her chosen career as a mother, a large and healthy family was what she wanted. My mother is the rock and definitely the boss of the Roland household. She is strong and active, and not afraid to make her opinions known. The problem is many people probably would not deduce this after a quick glance at her. In many people's opinions, she would NOT be the poster-child for what a liberated feminist looks and acts like. With three kids hanging off each arm pushing an overflowing cart of groceries while cutting coupons, she may not come off as a striking symbol of the liberated feminist movement.That is where people are wrong. My mother is not broken and domesticated; on the contrary, she has the strength and courage to fill her chosen roles as mother, wife, grandmother, and dynamic citizen. I am telling you it takes a strong woman to maintain a 35-year marriage, give birth to fifteen children, juggle a career for twenty odd years, chair multiple church and community organizations, organize protests, etc., etc. My mother lives an active life, and she has the deteriorating hips to prove it. And every activity that she is a part of celebrates life being lived to its fullest whether at home, at work, at church or in our community. This, in my opinion, matches exactly what Feminists for Life's message is all about:
1) Believing in the strength of women and the potential of every human life
2) Refusing to choose between women and children
3) Believing no women should be forced to choose between pursuing her education and career plans and sacrificing her child.
The cause dearest to my mother's heart is the pro-life movement. She believes and in turn has taught me that life is the most precious gift and should be a cause of our greatest joy. Mother Teresa put it perfectly when she said "too many children was like saying there were too many flowers." My mother is affiliated with many pro-life organizations and works to protect the unborn while diligently assisting their mothers-to-be in any way possible. My mother also lives her pro-life message. I am the twelfth child in a family of fifteen. I have eight brothers and six sisters. My mother has raised us to respect life, others and ourselves.
In most Irish families, the male children are coddled and waited on by the female members of the family. Not in the Roland household. My brothers were brought up contrary to this heinous Irish Baby Boy style. My mother wanted no part of this. My brothers were raised to respect women and see their sisters as equals. They took their turns doing the dishes and all learned how to change a diaper and make a bottle. This upbringing has produced eight men who respect a woman's opinion and has guided them in their searches for a companion to share life with. I know it makes my mother proud to see my brothers becoming good husbands and loving fathers.
My sisters are my mother's greatest accomplishments, though I may be a bit biased. My mother raised seven extremely independent and unique women, each one embracing life in a different manner. Treated no different from my brothers, we were given every opportunity in life to do what we wanted to do. I was enrolled in piano lessons and t-ball. Jobs around the house and extra-curricular activities were never limited to "girls" or "boys". I was educated about current events and handed college brochures as soon as I could read. I was allowed and encouraged to be my own person with the lessons I had learned from my parents and siblings. But it was also the example my mother set that fosters my feminism. Constantly learning and bettering herself, she instilled in us confidence and an iron work-ethic that has allowed my sisters and I to become who we are today: an educated professional and mother of 2, an educated artist and conscientious spirit, an educated teacher and mother of 2, an educated professional living life to the fullest, a Northwestern student with more options than women have ever had before, a high-school senior evaluating the next steps in life and a high-school sophomore with an endless set of life choices ahead of her.
So I guess that is my mother's Pro-Life Liberated Feminist legacy: 7 daughters living their lives believing in their strengths and the potential of every human life, and 8 sons who have found or are searching for wives that have refused to choose between education or careers and family--the exact goals that Feminists for Life strive to instill in all women.
