|
INTENTION : |
That the whole world may recognize the contribution of women to the development of society.
|
A personal testimonyˇK
Born in 1953 and brought up with three brothers, nothing in my childhood memories led me to occupations traditional for little girls. Is that what made me choose to go to a College of Agricultural Engineering at the end of secondary school? These colleges were just starting to be open to women. Once again I found myself in an essentially masculine world.
I married, and in due course became the mother of three daughters. This time the tables had turned, and we girls were very much the majority in the house. In their turn they became women, wives or partners, and mothers. And their way of living this three-fold vocation is quite different from mine. In thirty years mental pictures of the role of women and the practical ways of living that go with them have really changed. For example, how to combine family life and a professional career? For my part, coming back from a long period as a volunteer in Africa, with three young children, I chose not to take up professional work again, so as to be more available and to run the household in peace.
My daughters, thirty years later, have all chosen professions that they want to go on with. Like the majority of young French women, they will certainly be able to combine their professional activity with having two or three children! Thanks to maternity leave, the thirty-five hour working week, child benefits and suitable places for little ones in nurseries and schools, they have been able to organise a way of life that would have been unthinkable a few years ago, especially when the two parents were working in different places. The conditions for this success: their respective partners have agreed not always to make their own professional projects the priority, and they take their share of housework and child-care
But there is a delicate balance. The responsibilities of businesses and lawmakers are involved, namely regarding employment-law (obligatory moves or working on Sundays, for example). This is necessary, to enable educated and competent women to make their own contribution to society.
Looking back thirty years, I do not regret my choices. They allowed me to give time to the activities of a certain number of associations, to look after my elderly parents when the time came. This service given by women ought to be recognised by society (taken into account in calculating pensions, for example). But I am glad that each one of my daughters can live her commitment as a mother and serve society through her professional activity.
Let us pray this month, then, with the Holy Father, that women everywhere in the world may be able to bring their contribution to society as a whole. Let us pray especially for women who live in countries or cultures where their capacities are under-valued and their fundamental rights ill-respected.
Claire Ranquet, Apostleship of Prayer Team, France.
|
|
