A Girl’s Graduation

Today is the day my daughter graduates from high school. I’m proud of my girl and can’t wait to see what she tackles next. I’m also a bit jealous. In four years, my girl will be finishing college in a world so dramatically different from mine at her age. When I finished college, I took an administration job at a bank. My male peers were put into a management track while I typed documents for senior management. There were no women in any position higher than middle management and most of those women were treated like second-class citizens.

We didn’t know it could be better.

Sexual harassment ran rapid in those pre-Anita Hill days. Every women I’ve ever asked about work in that time period has reported that she was sexually harassed. We didn’t know it could be better. We just kept working with the belief that this is how it was for us. Every professional I knew was a man. Every doctor, lawyer, dentist, businessperson, engineer, and politician was a man. Women were nurses, teachers, and secretaries. These are all worthy positions, yet certainly not a good fit for all of us. I didn’t even consider reaching for much more until I started to educate myself about women’s issues and the opportunities that had thus far been mostly denied to us.

I see endless opportunities for my girl that I couldn’t even fathom at her age.

My daughter’s life has been so wonderfully different. At least half of the physicians in her life have been female. Many of my female friends are lawyers, successful businesswomen, and engineers. Though the numbers are still low, there are female politicians and a few female CEO’s.  There is work to be done, lots of it, in my girl’s life to bring women’s pay up to men’s and to have parity in all leadership positions across industries.  Yet I see endless opportunities for my girl that I couldn’t even fathom at her age.

Interestingly enough, as I’ve seen women’s roles expanded I have also seen the same for men.  There are many male flight attendants, nurses, and administrative assistants.  I see young fathers joyfully parenting young children, not as an assistant to mom but rather as a fully invested parenting and life partner. How wonderful for my sons to grow up in an age where men are as valued in the home as they are at work.

We must never take these changes for granted and we must continue to push for equality.

I watch my wonderful young woman/child look at the world as a place where she can be valued, productive, and financially independent and I’m filled with joy. Oh how I wish my mother and grandmother, and even my younger self, could have had the same opportunities. As women, we must never take these changes for granted and we must continue to push for equality for all women worldwide. Helping other women to grow and succeed has been my passion for years. With it has come profound gratitude and joy for the life that I have lead.

So in honor of my daughter’s graduation, I am celebrating her success and the success of so many of us.  Soldier on, dear women, to lives of fulfillment and strength. Speak up, grow, learn, change, and bring other girls and women with you.  The future is ours!

Love,

Lisa Kaplin Psy. D. PCC