How My Parents Shaped Me Into A Feminist Without Even Trying

If you saw the title, you know I used the F word. This isn’t going to be a long article about Feminism or why you need to be one. Although, you should, if you believe women are human beings.

Anyways, recently I was thinking about the way my parents raised me, what things in my life made me a Feminist. Because there was no way I just woke up one day with these beliefs, they were taught or cultivated. So I sat down and wrote this list.

This is how my parents shaped me into a Feminist without even trying:

1. Both My Parents Worked.

Growing up as a kid, both my parents worked full time. I went to daycare as a baby and as soon as I was five years old I was off to school. My mom didn’t stay at home to take care of me, she worked to take care of me. I had several friends whose mom’s full time job was taking care of them. And there is absolutely no shame in that! Being a parents is hard and a full time job. But looking back, I’m glad that I was taught that just because I was a girl didn’t mean I couldn’t have goals and ambitions, a career, outside of raising a family at home.

   (2) The House Responsibilities Were Split.

My friends were always confused when they’d come over to my house to find my dad cooking dinner or doing the dishes. I even remember going to other friends houses and their moms being surprised my dad knew how to cook. This was purely because my dad was better at it, but once again this is another example that a women can do more than work in the kitchen.

   (3) When My Dad Lost His Job, It Was All Up To My Mom.

The summer before I started high school, my dad lost his job. That’s a whole other blog post in itself, but this changed everything for our family. It took several months before my dad found another stable job that made enough to provide basic healthcare and food for our family of four. I’m not sure what would have happened if my mom wasn’t working full time. I can’t imagine if my mom had stayed at home raising my sister and I and hadn’t had work experience since her high school days. To put it simply, we’d be screwed. My mom, the strong, dependable, hard-working women she is, provided for my family all on her own.

    (4) My Parents May Not Use The Title “Feminist”, But They Don’t Roll Their Eyes When I do.

I wear my t-shirts and stickers about feminism with pride. I share articles and tweets relating to this topic and I’m not at all apologetic or scared of starting a conflict. My freshman year of college I joined a sorority filled with other inspiring and strong women. My parents didn’t question it, or argue my beliefs. My parents raised two awesome (this is a bit biased) girls of their own. I didn’t have to be scared to share my feelings or ask my dad to buy me tampons.

I’m sure I could list several more reasons, but I’ll stop here. I hope that when my generation starts having kids, boys or girls, these scenarios are even more present. Because none of these things listed above are outrageous or super out of the ordinary. Both my parents are just human beings at the end of the day and what they taught me, whether intentionally or not,  is that I am a human being too.

So that’s why I’m a feminist, because women are human beings too.