Strong Women - Prologue: Encounters in foreign lands

As I sit on a bench in the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands, I will start to share with you a series I've been meaning to write about.

I will title this the Strong Women series.

I've been thinking about this topic over the last few months.

In history, gender equality has been a work in progress. It has always been an uphill battle that existed from the beginning of time.

If you were born a male, you were given certain expectations and privileges. If you were born female, you had a different set. However in the course of life, the privileges always seemed to favour the male gender.

Perhaps this is as a result of religion. I myself am Christian and I can see all the dangers and misunderstandings that have caused this divide through Christianity. The misunderstanding that God meant for men to be better than women when he placed men the head of the family, in fact it is a complementary relationship. (Do ask me more if you have questions)

In most religions we have the male being the head of the family, lead over the female counterpart. Men were the hunters, the powerful, whilst women were the child rearers, the gentle. Whilst biologically this made sense, over time as civilisation progressed and the way a family sustained itself changed with it; people's stereotypes, expectations and in some cases prejudices did not.

We have gone far from allowing women to vote, to allowing women into professions deemed unfit for women. (Of course there is the opposite too! Stereotypes of the masculine men creating problems - but here I will focus on the women)
However, it is still true today that generally women often have it harder than men. I say this whilst considering the work sphere, the family sphere and also general safety and well-being of women.

With this is mind, as I travelled over the world in the last few years, this year in particular, I've had the opportunity to meet and hear the stories of some remarkable women.

And it so happened that all the stories I've really been humbled by and inspired by...were from women who overcame their situation and arrived at where they were today. It has urged me to write with hope that men and women alike would be encouraged also by their lives.

I was thinking about what I could do with the experiences that I've gained whilst travelling, meeting new people and hearing their stories.
I concluded with something I love to do myself.

Inspire and encourage.

I hope over the next few posts I can inspire or encourage at least one person.

Then I will have succeeded.