By Ellie Greenberger
I’m sure at one point or another, if you are female, you have heard the stereotype “women always change their mind.” If we look at this sentence with in academic light, like we are back in your English literature classes, and you will notice a couple of key details.
- The tone is exasperation.
- The connotation is negative.
- This sentence is possibly even more annoying than being transported back to that one professor who always could see a deeper meaning when you were convinced the light was just light.
Of course, Consistency is good. If your flight is supposed to leave at 1pm, you want it to leave at 1 pm. You don’t want it to leave before 1pm because you may not be there. You don’t want it to leave after 1pm, because then it throws off the rest of your day.
But let’s really think about this. Change isn’t a bad thing. It allows us to progress. The supreme court changes its mind, our political leaders change their minds, and yes, we, not as women, but as people change our minds.
The Supreme Court
For example, the Supreme Court ruled in 1896 on a case called Plessy v. Ferguson. This case determined that there could be segregated spaces as long as they were separate, but equal. The court found this law to be constitutional and allowed for increased segregation.
This statute was held until it CHANGED in 1954 with the decision of Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka which stated that separation was inherently unequal, and therefore unconstitutional.
In this case, change is a good thing.
Political Leaders
Political leaders also change their minds. L.Q.C. Lamar, a Mississippi statesman, was one of the men who helped draft Mississippi’s Ordinance of Secession and a defense of slavery preceding the civil war. Yet, he is remembered for being more than a confederate.
After the Civil War, Lamar returned to politics eventually serving in all three branches of government. While he was a confederate, he is remembered because of his eulogy for abolitionist Charles Sumner. In his eulogy, he praises Sumner and advocates for reconciliation. He states, “My Countrymen, know one another, and you will love one another.”
Lamar’s grace and ability to accept change shows that change is not a bad thing.
Change is not bad.
Change is important. Women should embrace their ability to change and to adapt. It is what makes women powerful. A woman’s body has the ability to change so much that it can carry another human inside of it. A woman mind has the ability to change so much more than that.
Women change their mind, but women also change the world. As a human, a woman can change the world not only in the home by influencing the lives of her children, but also can change the world in the work place, and in every facet of her life!
There are many women in all areas that have personally changed my world. My mother who is an incredible business women, and taught me that woman can be the boss and do anything. My bonus-mom who is my best friend who taught me how to love family passionately. All the incredible women in my family who have shaped me into the woman I am today.
J.K. Rowling for being the reason I started loving to read when I really struggled as a child. Mrs. Falls, my third-grade teacher, who was the first person outside of my family to tell me I wasn’t stupid.
There are so many more women that I could name that have changed the world, and are currently in the process of changing the world. Women which allowed me to have the freedoms and rights that I enjoy today. Embrace change, no matter where it comes from. Embrace it, and then be it.
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