Someone was joking around and said that I was diminishing the daily struggles of women in our sexist society (it was a tongue in cheek comment - don't downvote them!). And the thought occurred to me - "Good!"

Really, our society seems to have women on a pedestal in nearly every way. When they compete for men in traditionally male dominated jobs - that is a strong, brave women. When they have a job in a female dominated field - that is a caring, nurturing woman. Mothers, wives, girlfriends, daughters... these are all highly valued statuses in our society.

What we need is a little bit of depedestalization, as I coined the term.

This is not meant to be a sexist or misogynist statement, quite frankly I am not suggesting that anyone devalue individual women. Instead, I am saying we need to devalue/depedestal the roles of women. And this isn't to say that we need to devalue them below the point of the roles of men, but devalue them to the point of the roles of men - until they become the norm or expected. Women have equal rights now, so having a role that was a big deal 30-40 years ago should no longer be a big deal.

A woman in science? I care about that as much as I care about any person in science. A mother? I care about that as much as I care about any parent. A daughter? A child. Etc...

Thoughts?