09NOV2016

As an autonomous, feisty, intelligent, and successful woman of the 21 century I am not quite sure why exactly I am having an almost complete emotional meltdown over this Trump presidency. I mean he isn't even my "president."

And, I know that the USA is a country of laws regardless of who sits in the white house, at least one can hope. But just the simple fact that I feel strongly enough to make that statement. Well, it spurs me to write this blog. I don't even have to title the blog anything other than 09NOV2016 and almost every single person on this planet that reads it will know of what and about whom I refer. I don't even need to write it!

At 55 years old, and having lived through the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's, I can tell you that there was a time in our not too distant past when both the women and the men in my world would have discouraged anything remotely interesting or adventurous other than child rearing for women. I say other than child rearing, because it most certainly is one of the most adventurous things a woman can embark upon. AND having been raised in the days when women served men, women who had abortions were dirty and talked about in whispers. Women who talked back deserved it and men who were too quick to anger were frowned upon but never fully ostracized or punished or otherwise interfered with. 

As recently as the late 90s I had been told "that's what happens when you let women into the work place," and I don't know how many conversations about all that is negative about the finer, honour bound sex that I have endured for the sake of getting along in my work place, I was always the exception to rule of course.  

I can definitively say, sexism continues to be alive and well. A society, not even my beloved Canada's, can be authentic when it has 50% or more of Canadian women experiencing domestic violence, then expect life to be equal in the board room or in the general work place.

I think this is why this particular election hurts me as deeply as it does. Because I know that women all over the world suffer and endure and that I, for all that I have put up with it is as nothing, NOTHING compared to what some women in other parts of the world must endure. This man is truly a man who thinks that women should not have any say over their own bodies. AND that men have no accountability for the result of what it is they forced upon women, be it physical intrusion or political policy or the denial of basic services. 

During the great depression my grandmother was the only one in the family who was able to get a job. BUT, she had to hide the fact that she was married because married women were not allowed to work. Someone from the neighborhood recognized her and wanted their daughter to have the job. Everyone at the time was hungry and jobs were vary scarce. So, my grandmother was fired. She was the only income earner for a family of 7.

Even in my mother's time her husband's right to sex and his wife's property was still common in practice, if not in law.

But these are complex issues and women have become too central to the fabric of today's politics, economies, and pursuit of knowledge. I have to assure myself of those facts. AND I must assure myself that I am not unique, and that there are many many more women out in the world feeling just like me. I hope even Meliana Trump finds her way past the 24 karat gold gilding as she is said to live. And that she finds a way to desire something that is more authentic and meaningful for herself, her relationship with the men in her life, and her role as the fist lady of the most powerful country of the world.