When Women Were Protected and Stupid

6:00 the alarm goes off
15 minutes of yoga
Shower, Shave, and Shampoo
7:00 wake the angry, sleepy kids
Home-cooked breakfast
“where’s my shoes”
Hair, make-up, and fighting a stuck zipper
Carpool drop off
10 hour work days
Cook the dinner, clean up the dinner
Laundry, groceries
“I need a new Sharpie for school tomorrow”
Run to the store, home from the store
Kids in bed
Deep breath, feet up, finally take off the four-inch heels

And, then I ask: “Did telling women they should have an education, career, and a family really make women’s lives better, or did it just turn up the heat on the pressure cooker of life?”