Natasha Fondren

Today is International Women’s Day. This year’s theme is “Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures.”

Growing up, I was tomboyish and determined to be as good as or better than any boy. In first grade, even, I remember racing some boy to the playground for some forgotten reason.

I was raised to put career first and that the worst thing in life was to end up “barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.”

While I hold a bit of resentment for that brand of feminism—I fantasize about being in the kitchen with a passel of children tearing through the house, and it’s better for a woman’s career to do children first and then have her career—I believe women should have equal choice, equal pay (why hasn’t that happened yet?), equal respect, equal rights, and control of her own body.