When I was a little girl I wished I was a boy
I tagged along behind the gang and wore my corduroys
Everybody said I only did it to annoy
But I was gonna be an engineer.
The song that jumped into rotation this morning on the way to daycare was Peggy Seeger’s “I’m Gonna Be An Engineer”, oft described as a feminist anthem. It’s a perky, rollicking song that invites singing along, and it damned near made me weep. I don’t want my daughter to be a dishrag - I want her to be a strong woman, confident in her ability, a force to be reckoned with. I want her to be smart and resourceful, creative and caring.
And I think, at core, that my daughter is why I voted for Hillary Clinton the other day.
I've been a sucker ever since I was a baby
As a daughter, as a wife, as a mother and a dear
But I'll fight them as a woman, not a lady
I'll fight them as an engineer.
If you don’t know the song, you can get the mp3 here. If you don’t know anything about Peggy Seeger, try here or here. And if you need all of the lyrics, they're here.
9 comments:
Thanks for sharing this great song. And your thoughts. I also want those things for my daughter.
Even though I've decided to support Obama because of his stance on the war, I'd be thrilled to see Hillary Clinton as President.
What a great song! I haven't fully made up my mind yet, but it seems like, with the sampling of blogs that I read, that lots of folks are skewing to Obama. It's nice to hear of a different choice.
From the way you describe her and given who her mother is, it's pretty much impossible to imagine Miss M as a dishrag.
I respect your choice immensely, even if I didn't make the same one.
My girls know that they can be anything they desire. I think that the tables have turned and boys are thinking that they can't be certain things, like nurses and kinder teachers.
Hopefully one day the no-one will blink an eye if the wife is a boilermaker and the husband a child care worker.
Love the song... no daughters to pass this one on to... but my sons might have wives and daughters someday... so I'm seeing this a long-term education for them.
Is that thing a TICK?!
Great song.
I'd love a Clinton/Obama ticket or vice versa. Like them both and I think they'd make a powerful team.
I heard that song in a one-woman play about women in science and engineering that our local chapter of GWIS (I think it was them) brought to town this past fall. Love the song, even if it still makes me shake my head in amazement-- one problem we didn't have in the Old Country was this of keeping women in their place.
I also voted for Clinton, holding my nose. Only because I am concerned with the lack of spine in Obama-- coalition building and compromise are tools, not goals for their own sake. I am concerned he will give away the store (and to people whose idea of compromise is shut up and we won't kick you today, maybe. Ugh.) But I am not happy with either of them, and am mad that John Edwards was driven out of the race by the intense focus on the celebrity candidates, and now they are both running on his platform and his ideas.
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