Interpreting Question 4: Women's U. is for every
woman--as we have so much to gain from really talking
and listening with one another.
Very few of us can be narrowly boxed into
one definition of womanhood. We have many facets and they all
need to be honored. Society forces us to compartmentalize our
different elements--to separate the mother from the career woman;
the individual from the community. This often leads to tension
between women--working women vs. stay-at-home-mom; women-with-children
vs. women who elect to be childless--as we struggle to justify
our life choices by casting aspersions on the paths that we have
not selected.
Our brightest hope for the future is one in
which we celebrate what it is that we have in common. We can
learn to appreciate the diversity within us is by celebrating
the diversity all around us. The more respect and recognition
we can bring to every one of the many roles that a woman can
play, the more opportunities we will have, individually and collectively,
to grow and prosper. This is why Women's U. is designed
as a community--a place where women can listen to one another
and share their truths. When women talk with one another, as
Jean Shinoda Bolen explains, they "mirror aspects of
themselves to each other--we see ourselves reflected in another
woman's experience, and we become conscious of some aspect of
ourselves we were not aware of before, or of what we as women
have in common."