Career fair
I remember at bible school being surprised that so few of the girls had any career aspirations. It's something that is almost bred into you that you should have career aspirations. I would never have had the confidence in high school to have said "actually i want to be a wife and mother and be involved in ministry." It was just expected that you would have "big" dreams, or at least dreams that are considered 'big' by the world. I remember saying I wanted to be a teacher and having my teachers tell me to dream bigger, outside the typical female vocations.
When I first started working summers at Capernwray I remember being really surprised that girls "just" wanted to get married and have babies, yeah I wanted to do that but first i needed to prove myself by getting a degree, 'exhibiting my potential' I felt the need to 'BE SOMETHING' like a doctor or teacher, even if only for a year or two before I had the right to 'settle down' and do the family thing, which was really what I had always wanted to do.
Like I said, I was surprised when other girls didn't have this, it seemed at first like they were selling themselves short by not getting a degree first, even if they weren't going to use it. It was only then I started to challenge the pre conceptions I'd held for so long.
So my views changed and I started realizing there were many different tracks and ways of doing things. I think the thing that has really surprised me is being at university is that when I talk to all my Christian friends who are girls, or to girls in the Christian Union, they are training for so many different degrees, sciences, law, history, psychology, languages etc. The thing is, when you ask them what they want to do with it, most of them don't have a clue and practically all of them will tell you "actually, I really want to get married and have kids and be in ministry, I don't really have plans of having a career." Obviously there are exceptions to this but I would say it is true of at least 90% of the Christian girls I have met since being in Durham.
It's interesting, the battle between the inner desires and the outside expectations. Not that everyone I know is here because of external expectations by any means, but still, it's an interesting thing I have been observing. I don't really have any conclusions drawn yet.
3 comments:
my little bit to add to that...
yes i am one of the 90% who want to get married, have kids and be in ministry of some sort.
and the reason i'm here isn't from any outer expectations, i'm here because i want to be here and learn what i'm learning, but as for it leading to something else, well God knows that!
Just thought i'd add a thought!
you're right, I guess there is always education for educations sake, learning because you want to learn it, engaging in learning and not just seeing it as a means to an end.
I thought it was interesting in my history of education class when we learnt that when the very first girls schools opened there 'mission statement' was to teach girls so that they could be wise guides to their children, councelors for their brothers and intelligent companions for their husbands.
I think I was more commenting on the difference I have observed between the 'dreams' and/or expectations of non-Christian girls compared with many of the Christian girls I have met and I didn't expect to see that same divde at uni. It's a huge generalisation to say that i know and I fully believe women can work and be wives and mothers succesfully it's just suprised me that, even at university, most Christian girls i have met don't want to. I was more just wondering why that is.
Your site is on top of my favourites - Great work I like it.
»
Post a Comment