In agreement with Kayla Charleston’s column “Weddings, relationships take back seat to getting an education in college” in the Sept. 21 Kernel, it is not only frustrating but demoralizing to see so many females come to college with the expectation of earning an “MRS” degree.

It is tragic that despite the long, hard fight of women throughout the centuries to be finally recognized in their well-deserved equality with men, women continue to encounter various social pressures that steer them into settling instead of succeeding.

As American feminist icon Gloria Steinem stated, “I’ve yet to be on a campus where most women weren’t worrying about some aspect of combining marriage, children and a career. I’ve yet to find one where many men were worrying about the same thing.”

While the women of today’s society are rightfully encouraged to pursue higher forms of education and a professional career, the binding chains of traditional gender roles can take their toll on women.

Two millennia into the Common Era, many women still feel it is not their calling to utilize all of their attributes for the better. But logically, a woman should seek to be educated and avoid needing to rely on a man for her livelihood and sense of self worth.

The objectives of a marriage for both men and women should be to gain a partner with whom to benefit society mutually, to set an example faithfully and, if desirable, to create a healthy environment for raising children. These goals are best achieved when both members have the capacities to stand on their own as distinct individuals bonded in harmony.

So in short, ladies, do all that you can to find yourself and become an established person before you decide to settle down. It is better to wait and know for sure at 30 than to end up unhappily tied down and cut short in your early 20s.

Rachel McCoy

Communication freshman