My last blog mentioned my growing up years and how they were not stereotypical.

I got as far as my 30 married years and sharing roles on who did what.

Now I wasn’t as keen on chopping wood, and I’m still not, but with the wood furnace in the basement, I must cut kindling.

I do fear I shall lose a digit one of these days! It’s not my strength but shoving wood in the furnace builds muscle!

The man I was married to was afraid of heights, and I recall going upon the roof to clean the dirty cresol filled chimney.

Another time when we lived near the ocean and the wind continually blew the antenna [am I dating myself], I climbed the 40’ steel tower to move that foolish antenna back into position.

Was it fun, not really. But I wasn’t afraid and knew I was capable.

Now, I’ve done many other ‘typical’ jobs for women in the day including a waitress, secretary, hairdresser, teacher, caregiver, ambulance attendant, and florist.

But now men do these jobs all the time.

Yes, I did all these and there were very few men in these positions, except for working on an ambulance, maybe.

But now, they do those jobs, and we do theirs!

Is it even, not so much but there are cracks in this wall of the differential and we women are stepping into them with our heads held high.

As in my last ministry of being the Executive Director of a Christian Camp & Retreat Center, there were roles where both genders could fit. I had girls do the maintenance and guys were in the dish pit!

I have personally crawled over and on every building on site to fix a sewer pipe that broke or figure out why there was no power to one of the dorms.

I have helped put on roofs, I worked on building our climbing wall and yes, rappelled down it many times [again not my favorite activity].

I did break a nail now and then!

This ministry was not ‘average’ for a woman, at least not in the Exec. Director position.

I only knew of three other women in the director role in Christian Camping in the day, and I was one of the three!

So, you see, I look at life as we all work together to make this amazing thing called life happen!

Passionate? Press on and make a difference.

Do we women have to struggle and climb and think harder for some positions?

We certainly do!

But I know some men feel the same.

I have a son who is an amazing ER Nurse.

When he lived here, there were only two men in the ER Department and everyone else was women.

My daughter is the Church Facilitator for her large church.

This means that as well as organizing groups, she helps build new stages and paints the floors!

I shall conclude by simply saying if you want to, or feel God is calling you in a direction, don’t look at the gender roles, just do it!

I did and I do believe I am a better woman for it.

You can too, and I can help if you are “stuck”. I listen well and can help you start your journey to success!

Talk to me @ cjlcoaching.com.