Creative Writing

They say women are tasked with a special responsibility. A special burden to carry that men have not
been built for.
She rears children.
She maintains homes.
She builds homes.
She is the ultimate caregiver.
Exhausting though, but her burden to carry.

The 21st-century woman is yet tasked again with a peculiar responsibility.
She is independent. She works.
She has a career. She hustles.
She leads. She makes decisions. She creates paths for others to follow.
At the same time, she rears children,
she builds homes,
she maintains a home.

But God forbid she struggles between balancing her dreams or her aspirations with her special duty.
For when she struggles and perhaps ‘lacks’ in the aspects of her special responsibility, society takes
no time to shame her.
She is a ‘career woman’.
She is ‘irresponsible’.
She has lost touch of her ‘identity’.
She is a ‘feminist’.

The struggles of the 21st-century woman aren’t only physical burdens; it is in her identity.
That she does not know who she is.
Or she is conflicted about who she is meant to be.
Is she a career woman or is she a homemaker?
Is she plain irresponsible for desiring a dream of her own? For wanting to live for herself?
For not wanting her choices to cause much discord to society?

Does society not recognize that there are no true special duties? 
That there are no true special responsibilities?
That we ought to work together to be successful?
That we ought to help each other out more?
Or is the 21st-century woman seeking something not true to the times that she lives in?

Whatever the case may be, the struggle of the 21st-century woman is not one that is fully 
understood.
Yet, it is one she has to carry,
it is one she carries.

                                    - Sharifat Makinde