The world is a different place than it was a hundred, fifty or even thirty years ago. Gone are the days of preconceived roles for the genders. And equality, while there is always room for improvement, has come a long way.
When You're Gone
World War I saw women shedding their aprons in favour taking up jobs the men on the front lines left vacant. So was it any great surprise that when the men returned, the women wouldn't be herded back into the kitchen so easily?
The Suffragettes fought for our right to vote, and in 1918 it was granted to all eligible women over thirty, changing in 1928 to all women over twenty one. These women fought, starved, protested and some even died, all so we could have our right to vote. To not do so is a mark on their legacy. But sadly there will come a day when later generations don't understand the price their equality came at, or who paid it so they didn't have to.
Gone are the days of keeping a little wife at home with the children. Women today are educated, empowered and most importantly-free to make their own choices and forge their own paths through life.
In my latest release, When You're Gone, my main character Barb Howell is a modern girl the 1940s. She comes from a generation who has it instilled in them from birth what their true task is in life. Only, Barb refuses to conform and instead of marrying young, she goes to university to claim her independence, aiming to get a degree and have a career. Barb shuns the idea of marriage all together and can think of nothing worse than settling down where her only concern is what to prepare for dinner that evening.
Inevitably, love sneaks up on Barb when she isn't looking, and she is shocked to discover that with the right person, independence and romance doesn't have to be a one or the other situation.
Jump forward seventy-five years and Barb's problems seem alien to most women. Who says a woman can't have a job, a successful marriage and a family? The idea is almost ludicrous.
So now we have our equality, our liberation. But what of the women who don't want it? Who want nothing more than to do the school run, prepare dinner and manage the hectic schedule of after school activities? Are these women to be ridiculed for their wants and desires? Is it a waste on their brains and talents? Should they have fought for their right to be a working mother, or to forgo parenthood altogether?
Absolutely not.
In my humble opinion, I think the best thing about this generation right now is that we have the chance to choose. No one is forcing us to stay home with the babies. No one is forcing us to have babies at all. Unless you have one of those mother's who constantly pesters you for grandchildren, but that's a whole other issue. No one is chaining us to our desks to work fifty or sixty hour weeks. The choice on how we live our lives is absolutely our own.
Maybe the women who fought for equality would see it is as a waste, and maybe on some level it is. But happiness is a basic human right, and you should apologise to no one for what does. If you're lucky enough to do what it is that you love, then seize it with both hands and never let go.
Me personally? I try to have a little bit of everything, like a buffet. I work. I parent. I adore my husband. I enjoy outings separate from my family. I enjoy outings with my family. I read and I learn. This is my life. And I love it.
About Pamela L. Todd :
Armed with scraps of paper and a lot of tape, I sat down to create my first work of fiction aged six. Since then I have been honing my skill and have moved on to computers and have found them to be a lot less sticky.
A voracious reader, I devour as many books a year as I can get my hands on and when I'm not falling head first into other worlds, I am creating my own.
As well as erotic fiction, I also write Young Adult and historical romances.
I live in Scotland with my husband and two children. We also share our home with a bonkers cat who makes life interesting at the very least.
You can keep up to date with me and my bookish news at my website here. You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter.
Blurb for When You're Gone :
The world is at war, but can their love survive?
Barbara Howell isn't your typical girl. Since she was little, Barb was told she had one job-find a husband and give him children. Instead of conforming to her mother and society, Barb chooses Wellesley College in favor of finding a husband. And in meeting Lois Dubbs, her whirlwind of a roommate, Barb finally finds where she fits in the world-at Wellesley.
In her determination to embrace nonconformity, and displease her mother, Barb closes herself off to even the possibility of finding love. She has no interest in being arm candy, or taking the back seat to a man-especially one who intentionally antagonizes and teases her… Even if he does have the most dazzling blue eyes she's ever seen.
From the moment he laid eyes on her, Van Judson knew Barb was the girl for him. Luckily for him, Van is patient-which he needs to be when dealing with a feisty dame like Barb.
Around Van, Barb slowly lowers her guard and comes to realize she has lessons to learn that cannot be taught in a classroom. Soon she is swept away on a current of first love and infatuation. But Barb is about to discover that falling in love is the easy part…
When Pearl Harbor is attacked, recruitment offices are flooded with determined young men… And Van is no exception. The world is at war. How can Barb and Van survive the distance…and the danger?
Buy Link: http://www.totallybound.com/book/when-youre-gone