The LinkedIn Version of Feminism

 

For decades, women fought for the right to work, earn, own property, open bank accounts, lead companies, and define success on their own terms. It was a battle worth fighting, and one whose victories should be celebrated. Yet somewhere along the journey, a curious phenomenon emerged, the liberation movement occasionally morphed into a hierarchy movement.

Today, some women who work outside the home have begun to look down upon those who do not even when the latter are financially independent, educated, accomplished, and perfectly content with their choices. Apparently, freedom is only freedom when it resembles someone else's LinkedIn profile.

The irony is delicious.

A woman who spends twelve hours in boardrooms is applauded as empowered. A woman who manages investments, runs a household, raises children, volunteers, writes, studies, travels, or simply chooses not to participate in paid employment is often asked, "But what do you actually do all day?"

The assumption is that a salary slip is the sole certificate of worth. By that logic, trust-fund heirs should be the hardest-working people on earth. The modern obsession with productivity has created a strange social competition where exhaustion is worn like a medal. People humble-brag about being overworked, overbooked, and overwhelmed. Leisure has become suspicious. Contentment is mistaken for laziness. Choice is celebrated provided it is the correct choice.

What is particularly amusing is that many of the women being judged possess financial independence without the daily grind. They may have inherited wealth, built assets earlier in life, receive investment income, own businesses that run without their constant presence, or have families that are financially secure. Yet society often treats them as though they are somehow less accomplished because they are not visibly stressed between Zoom calls.

The true measure of empowerment was never employment alone. It was autonomy. The ability to choose a career is empowering. The ability to leave one is equally empowering. The freedom to pursue ambition is empowering. So is the freedom to pursue family, art, philanthropy, learning, entrepreneurship, or simply a slower life.

Real confidence does not require comparison. A woman secure in her choices does not need another woman to justify hers. Perhaps the most progressive society is not one where every woman works, nor one where every woman stays home. It is one where neither group feels compelled to explain itself to the other. After all, equality was supposed to expand choices not replace one social expectation with another.

The next time someone asks a financially independent non-working woman, "So, what do you do?" perhaps she should smile and reply:

"Whatever I want.  Wasn't that the whole point?"