What I Want My Little Girl to Know About Femininity and Womanhood

     A few days ago I was folding laundry while the kids took a nap. When I was almost finished I heard Jonah start to fuss in his bed. Since I was almost done, I decided that I would finish folding the last few things I had left before I went in to get him. After a minute I heard Ellie head into his room. To comfort him, she started singing her favorite song from church, "The Family Is of God."

1. Our Father has a family. It’s me!

It’s you, all others too: we are His children.

He sent each one of us to earth, through birth,

To live and learn here in fam’lies.

2. A father’s place is to preside, provide,

To love and teach the gospel to his children.

A father leads in fam’ly prayer to share

Their love for Father in Heaven.

3. A mother’s purpose is to care, prepare,

To nurture and to strengthen all her children.

She teaches children to obey, to pray,

To love and serve in the fam’ly.

4. I’ll love and serve my family and be

A good example to each fam’ly member.

And when I am a mom or dad, so glad,

I’ll help my fam’ly remember:

[Chorus]

God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—

This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God.

     As paraphrased in this song, "ALL HUMAN BEINGS—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose ... Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children." (excerpt from The Family: A Proclamation to the World)

     Throughout the world womanhood and femininity are undermined and mocked. Many of the women that society follows and those portrayed in popular media are selfish and unkind, and they teach women that our worth is in our sexuality. This could not be further from the truth. "Femininity 'is the divine adornment of humanity. It finds expression in your … capacity to love, your spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength. It is manifest differently in each girl or woman, but each … possesses it. Femininity is part of your inner beauty.'" (from The Joy of Womanhood) 

     No matter what the world tells us, women are natural nurturers. We are innately sensitive and tender. This does not mean that all women are the same - not at all. Some are outspoken, some are quiet. Some love music. Some love sports. Some love animals. Some love dresses, and others don't. Femininity isn't about what we like. It's about who we are. 

     Many women have been taught to suppress their caring, tender natures because it isn't popular to be sensitive or delicate. It is popular to be crude, cruel, and careless. But that isn't us. "Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity." (from The Joy of Womanhood)

     Ellie comforting her brother the other day was not some life-altering event, but it was a small part of her divine nature as a woman shining through – even thought she is only three. Despite what my daughter will learn from the women of the world, I hope she will remember that in a world where women are generally rough and rude, being a gentle, kind, dignified woman is not something to be ashamed of. It is something of which she should be quite proud.

 

The Joy of Womanhood is very powerful. Read it here >>> The Joy of Womanhood

To read more of The Family: A Proclamation to the World, go here >>> The Family: A Proclamation to the World