Modern Day Woman and Mom

In the 1800s and even early 1900s women were the housekeepers, the children bearers, the right side of a man. And in the late 1900s and early 2000s women had to either CHOOSE to be mothers/housekeepers or career driven, business focused powerhouses.

Today however, women are standing front and center! Women are proving that WE CAN BE IT ALL!

Women are becoming career driven, fashionitas, mothers, and more! And to make things even spicier, women are deciding whether they want to be seen as simply the right hand side of a man or as an individual powerhouse within a partnership.

Women are redefining womanhood, motherhood, and marriage.

Traditionally motherhood was centered around a family dynamic: the mommy, the baby or babies (or kids), and the daddy. Motherhood was simply a woman who bore the children and upheld the family. This was socially seen as the acceptable view of what it means to be a mom. But women today are PROVING there's more to a mom than just bearing children and keeping home up to par.

Women are showcasing "Hey! I bear children, am career focused, am a fashionista who loves to doll up, AND can hold my house down! But most importantly, I am MORE than just the rib of a man, I am my own force and not subservient to a man but a stand alone individual within a partnership". Women are redefining womanhood, motherhood, and marriage to represent them as a jack of all trades or a lady with many hats!

But it is deeper than just women wearing multiple hats. It has become a central focus of identity preservation. Traditionally when women got married they would naturally take on the man’s last name. Today, in America, a woman can so rightfully choose to either keep her last name, take on both her and his last name, or take on just his last name. The marriage courts have granted women with the right to maintain their self identity within a marriage AND to further define what a marriage is. This has enhanced the understanding of marriage: in the past it was the idea that “this woman belongs to this man” but today it is “WE two individuals have come together to join in a union to be seen and made known together BUT are distinctly our own persons within this union”. This makes modern day marriage arguably a joining of two in a partnership.

One of today’s most popular and powerful couples, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian-West, is an example of these modern day times of marriage and identity preservation. Kim, prior to her marriage to Kanye, was the world’s most popular, iconic Reality TV star. She was known as one of the daughters of the late and great American Attorney Robert Kardashian who won the OJ Simpson trial; and later known for the infamous leaked sex tape that led to her striking a huge monetary deal with Vivid Entertainment and catapulted her to fame. Soon after would follow the major success and popularity of her reality TV show “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” that made her a household name and celebrity worldwide. She later became more successful and well known through her clothing lines and make-up collections before soon joining a holy matrimony with now husband Kanye West.

When Kim married Kanye her maiden name, Kardashian, was already so famously known and used in her products that it literally WAS (still is) her brand. To drop her last name and solely take on Kanye’s last name, West, would have made her brand and even her identity that has been sculpted through her career cascade away. To run an empire of clothing lines, beauty lines, and her huge reality TV show with the last name Kardashian but appear to the world as Kim West would have down the line blurred her connection to her brand and eventually fade out her identity as the powerhouse celebrity icon she has become. She would have been seen as Kanye’s wife with the accrued accolades as opposed to Kim Kardashian the icon, the famous popular celebrity, the image of major success! Therefore Kim kept her last name and took on her husband’s last name as well, which in turn showed the world that “I am preserving my identity because I am STILL Kim Kardashian BUT now I am Kim Kardashian AND the wife of Kanye West”. This constructed the image that I am still my own individual although I am joined in union, and I am a lady of many hats!

So major shout out and love to my ladies that are DOING the damn thang!