What Happened to "Hear Me Roar"?

Written By: Dori Pulse  |  Posted: Saturday, April 30th, 2016

         As I prepared to write this article, I had a general purpose in mind, and then, as I researched and read various articles, I began to genuinely wrestle with my thoughts more deeply. As a young girl going through high school in the sixties, I remember extreme violence such as John F. Kennedy being shot, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy shot and killed. From a naïve girl's mind, I recall thinking all that happened "on another planet." It was too much, too shocking.

   In the midst of all that, the sixties raised up women who became fed up with being "pregnant and in the kitchen," being denied equal rights with jobs, wages, and opportunities, to name a few. Stories on the evening news and pictures in magazines and newspapers displayed the unrest and angst. Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, and Helen Redding who sang, "I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar" were women I specifically remember and even admired. I was young and impressionable.

   From a website dealing with "Women's Rights 1960," I discovered a truth. There was not a national "burn your bra" movement, which I believed until now. It basically occurred during one event: The Miss America Pageant in 1968. "In the 1960's the phrase "Bra Burning" was well known. People say that very few women actually burned their bras, but many supported those actions…they felt it proved a statement…for Women's Rights. Another reason…was because it was a symbol that showed independence of men at the time….At the Miss America Protest there were trashcans that women called freedom trashcans. Women threw things such as bras, girdles, curlers, tweezers, high heels, etc., into them to be burned."

   I recently went to a movie starring Meryl Streep in "Suffragette," and I was reminded that the way my life is now is not anything like it was just a few decades ago. Women were denied the right to vote until August 26, 1920, when the 19th Amendment was adopted, which provided full voting rights for women nationally. I left the theatre feeling very melancholy. I was the recipient of some very, very brave women.

   But my point to all this is that I am seeing more and more "Life Coaches" appear in my networking groups and online.  I hear women telling each other not to fall victim to defeating self-talk, to get coaches and mentors to give them support and encouragement as they venture into their careers or self-owned businesses. The new buzzword lately is "empowerment." So, I'm wondering just how far we've really come. It's a curiosity to me because I thought the "big battle" was done and we were on our way to enjoying more freedom, more recognition, more opportunities. Could it be we're never satisfied? Are we women striving for the sake of striving? Do I feel this way because I am not a young single mom anymore?

  Has the pendulum swung so far to the left from the 60's and 70's that women have lost the preciousness of femininity, the desire to be treated like a lady? Does the ongoing belief of "roaring and conquering" still exist in us? As a divorced woman and single mom, I recall the days of "the glass ceiling" where I did the work and time as my peer in a suit did, but my paycheck was much less.

   What I see as my big breaking point was my surrender to God. After that, I didn't have to prove anything to anybody. I was His; I lived to serve Him. As I speak, write, and face new opportunities, I give all praise to God. Every new day is to live for Jesus. In the New Testament, Jesus valued women. He included them as travel companions along with His disciples. Mary sat at His feet to listen as He spoke truth and wisdom. Mary Magdalene and other women were the first to discover that Jesus had risen from the dead. I try to imagine the speed with which they ran to tell the disciples, the look on their faces, and the tone of their voices when they announced the news. Reading these details in Scripture tell me the Savior thought very highly of women, and I take great comfort in that.

   As a woman, God has given me abilities that are unique. I know who I am. I am God's girl. Jesus is the Man who loved me so much He died for me. When I stay in the Word, when I surrender all that I am back to God who created me, I am empowered. I am strong as I read His promises to me in Scripture. I am wise as I seek the Holy Spirit. Here is my roar today: Philippians 4:13, living to hear Matthew 25:23.

   Dori M. Pulse is the author of "Everything Changed when I said 'I Do' - Preparing For and Living as a God-First Stepfamily."  Her website is StepFamilyRX.com.  She and her husband Bob live in Eau Claire, WI.