I am Woman

I am woman,
I am Indigenous.
Why do such things matter in today’s society?
Can I be seen as more?
More than just mere physical attributes to attach to my worth.
People have made me question,
Am I worthy enough to be back at post-secondary?

Why?
Why should such things matter?
Who cares if a woman wants a master’s degree?
How dare someone try and convince me of my worth.
I am more than just a woman,
And more than just an Indigenous woman!
I am just a person with goals and ambitions,
That faces more barriers than many others.

I am a woman,
Yet, I am the first in my family to achieve a bachelor’s degree.
I am a woman,
Yet again, I am the first to go to graduate school.
So again, why do people care that I am a woman?

Why?
Why must I be told my older relatives
That my partner won’t “wait around” for me
That I should give up my fantasy at university
Get out of “Lala Land”
And get a job like everyone else?

And, it’s all because,
I am a woman?
That I get remarks about going to university for 6 years like my male counterparts?
What makes them so different?

Women face many barriers to acquire an education and graduate
And women such as I, who are not just a woman but also Indigenous,
Or from another minority group,
Face intersectional barriers that are thrown at them.
There are faceted layers
Like intergenerational trauma, poverty, racism,
Plus, so much more that is not seen at the surface.

I am proof that despite the barriers, the discouragement, and the struggle, I can achieve my goals.

I am woman.

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Dependency

If I were born in an earlier era,
Would I be forced into dependency?
To be dependent:
On a man to take care of my needs.
On the welfare state and family if a man leaves me.
On the government if I live on reserve.

While there are varying levels of dependency,
For women and minorities,
Why were men not seen as dependent on others?
Even though, they depended on their mothers and sisters to raise them,
And on their wives to undertake unpaid domestic work,
And to help raise their families.
Why did domestic work go unnoticed and unrecognized?
And still woman seen as dependent on their man?

While I have not lived these experiences to the fullest,
I would consider myself dependent on my partner,
But he is also dependent on me.
I go to university so I can help provide in the future,
And my partner has a trade ticket and provides for us in the present.
We are interdependent, inseparable, and lean on each other through thick and thin.

I thank previous feminists and women for paving the way,
For me and other women today.
So I can be equal,
Even though I am woman.

I have hopes that,
Today’s and future feminists will continue paving the way
Creating ripple effects.

Historically and still witnessed today,
It is mainly women and children who are stigmatized for accessing supports.
I can only imagine how it must have felt like for my dear mother,
A single mother in her 20’s with my biological father not paying child support.
I remember spending a lot of time at my grandma’s house while my mom worked to support us.
I remember us living in a travel trailer before we could have a home.
The systems around us were never built for a woman; they were built for a man.

I have many questions:
If supports were less stigmatized and tailored for the most vulnerable, would they be easier to access?
In the future, will dependency between both partners be the standard and not a rarity?

Only time will tell,
Whether dependency is trivialized,
Or normalized,
With current societal values.