No this isn’t one of those posts extolling the virtues of women. How we are the better gender than the men. If truth be told, I find it funny when some “causes” that cry for gender equality glorify womanhood too much because it defeats the purpose of the word “equality”.

But then again, as I take a pause, probably there really won’t be any equality, not in the truest sense of the word. I mean, I am really glad that at work, most of the time, I don’t feel that I’m treated as one of the weaker gender. Thankfully, my colleagues treat me and discusses with me as an equal.

But again I say, there can never be equality. Because even as we work with equal effort and are able to produce equal or better output than our colleagues, us women have to take care of the monthly periods we’re having – which may come with differing levels of pain and accompanying hormones that plays with our emotions. We submit the same deliverables as our male colleagues, this despite our monthly little battles.

And then there’s pregnancy. Except for a lucky few, most of us suffer the terrible morning sickness. It’s a real dilemma – you’re either hungry or craving for something and yet when you’ve had it, you’ll just throw it up the next time you visit the restroom. And once you’re through the morning sickness phase, there’ll be other body aches you have to contend with. And (again) since you’re done with morning sickness, as you progress with your pregnancy, there’s the weight gain to manage. I’m gonna ‘fess up – call it hormones or mood swings or what – but I was pretty emotional during lunch because I saw myself in the mirror and I saw a really fat woman. With ankles and feet that are getting bigger and bloated as the day wears on. I absolutely love my baby, I smile every time I feel her kick and I wouldn’t for the life of me go on diet during this pregnancy. But I’m just human and I get emotional seeing how I get bloated by the day and yet the other Japanese pregnant women in the office have faces, ankles and feet half the size of mine, even at the end of the day. Yet despite all the woes, most of us career women still submit (and have to submit, if we want to keep our positions) the same deliverables with the same quality as the men.

Women really sacrifice a lot in pregnancy. If the majority of women would be selfish and decide not to have any kids, then the whole world would be in jeopardy. But then again women are not like that. Because for most of us, even when we absolutely love our careers, there’s still that innate desire to nurture a baby in our wombs, to care for a baby who looks like the man you vowed to be with for the rest of your life.

I won’t touch childbirth yet. It’s a topic that I am both very excited yet do cringe with the thought of the pain I might go through.

And even when you’ve raised a number of kids (and husband), there’s still that phase women have to face during the prime years of their life – the menopausal stage. I’ve heard stories. And we are experiencing it through our mothers and aunts and female relatives and through friends. Some women ace it. Some women are permanently emotionally changed because of it. And yet the men of their lives – and even the women in their lives, especially younger ones – may not be aware, much less fully understand what they’re going through.

So really, for most of today, my thoughts are on the hills and valleys of the womankind. How we go through a lot. And how thankfully most, if not all, of us ace it. Some men might complain we are emotional. But thanks to those “emotions”, women are emotionally stronger and are statistically less susceptible to commit suicide.

I’m almost blabbering here. But what I really just want to put across is that I am amazed with women. I say this, speaking almost like a third-no-gender party. Kudos, us women. Cheers. Mabuhay. Kampai.