After years of being told that women need a man to be worth anything in this world, women are now expected to take on the world while juggling the societal expectation of motherhood.

Women have always been strong, beautiful creatures that dazzle and amaze everyone around them. Somehow, having been tasked with nurturing, loving, and raising children, all while keeping a perfectly run house, women have still found ways to change the world they inhabit. And they have done so with flying colors.

While husbands, fathers, brothers, and uncles were off fighting in World War II, 20 million women filled the shoes of the men in their lives in 1944.

But the problem feminists are facing 76 years later has brought a new understanding of feminism.

Even though including women in the workforce is no longer an impossibility, there are still major misconceptions about the “type” of woman that would join the workforce, and these are all based upon societal pressures and norms placed on women.

Women are not only seen as valued in the number of offspring they are able to successfully raise, but if a woman chooses to postpone or decides against motherhood for herself, she will inevitably be deemed a power-hungry workaholic with something to prove or an old maid too busy with her world to find a man.

Either way, women are labeled as enemies of men as soon as they start pushing for gender equality within systems of power.

If a woman questions the gender wage gap, she must be greedy and just looking for an upper hand over the men she works with.

And if a woman makes into the workforce and still hopes to help raise a family, she has to trade in her career, goals, and ambitions for breastfeeding, Mommy and Me classes, and dirty diapers, while her significant other is free to chase their dreams as the breadwinner.

This extreme view of feminism alienates women from the rest of the world.

Women are asked to choose between their work and having a family, while men have the luxury of having both without committing career suicide.

After being told that girls are made of sugar and spice and all things nice, the world is terrified by the thought of women pursuing careers as police officers, firefighters, manual laborers, and military service members.

This double standard that women are held to hurts everyone.

As a society, we are telling our daughters that their dreams don’t matter because in the end what’s important is that they are healthy child bearers.

We are telling young girls that they can pursue scientific fields, law enforcement, military service, and healthcare careers as long as it’s just a glorified hobby.

As long as a woman’s career can be put on hold or halted at the sight of two little lines on a pregnancy test, women can be anything they want to be.

We are limiting the views, perspectives, and voices at conference tables and in real-life situations. We are muting half of the population just because of the amazing things their bodies can do and we are exiling anyone who is brave enough to defy those expectations.

So, before you pity a woman for the career she has poured her heart and soul into, ask yourself, “would you praise a man for these same accomplishments?” Next time you feel intimidated and uncomfortable when a woman becomes president, remember all 45 men who have held office without you questioning how their gender affects the role.

Women are absolutely amazing wonderful human beings that are worth more than becoming a glorified incubator and maid.