the life of a women

“The Life of a Woman”

By: Madi Daubenspeck

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Looking back on my life I miss the things I used to be able to do. When I was a little girl I could go play in the yard or have a lemonade stand on the sidewalk. Every Sunday we would go out for ice cream after church. Now days I really miss that, I can`t go out of the house besides to school. My brother Charlie shared everything with me and always had my back. Now he works with my dad and ever since he was in high school I haven’t seen him much. There was an accident my freshman year in high school. The star football player was driving around with his teammates and being crazy because they just won the state championship. Some lady was going sixty miles an hour, the guys didn’t see her and they hit head on. The players died instantly but the lady lived, I don`t know how, but she did. Ever since then women are treated like they are nothing around here. The mayor made a new law that women can`t leave the house because they may cause destruction. The whole town went crazy and the law was passed. Only we teenagers are allowed to ride the bus to school.

Now in school it is like I’m in a jail. There are only guy teachers and there are only boy’s sports. I love to play soccer in the back yard with my brother, but I can’t be on a team. The only place in school that I can go without someone watching me is in the bathroom. If you ask me that’s pretty bad for just one stupid accident. Girls always get more homework than the guys because we supposedly have more time since we can`t go outside. Almost everyone in this crazy town knows about the story of the kids that started this all. How are we ever supposed to forget them when that’s all this town remembers?

“Hi I’m Abigail” I said to the new kid

He said “Hello Abigail my name is Johnny”

I replied, “If you don`t know where something is I can help you out”

“Thanks that would be great” he said blushing

“I will catch you later got to go to class” I said just because I wanted to talk to my friends

“Right I will see you later” he spit out fast.

The last time I was outside was when I went from my house to school. One day I was watching the news and they showed this lady getting arrested for refusing to go back inside and a bunch of men were just standing around watching the whole thing. That is when it hit me that I needed to do something about this mess. So I picked up a pencil and wrote a petition to get women their rights back. I went to every house in our little town in the middle of the night for signatures from women and men. Then I took it to my school and that’s where I got most of the signatures. I had no clue how to get this letter to the court. Then I thought of it so I ran outside and sat in my dad’s car. Then a cop pulled up and said if you don’t go back inside you are going to be arrested and I told him I want to go to court. I knew the police officer because my brother was good friends with him. I told him my story and he said he would arrange a court hearing for me. One thing lead to another and next thing you know I am sitting in a court room full of men and some women who were escorted to the town hall. I plead my case, fought for it for about 2 months.  After all of the fighting and aggravation, we lost our case.

I talked my parents into moving to another state.  We moved north to Maine.  Maine is a very pretty state.  The only thing wrong with Maine is that they are years behind the times.  The men go to work and the women stay home and raise the kids.  The women clean the house, cook the dinner, and do the laundry, go grocery shopping while their husbands go to work, then go golfing or out with the guys.  I am not sure what is worse.  The way it was in the old town or the way it is in Maine and the way I will have to live until I graduate and move out on my own.  It scares me: being a woman, what is in store for my future.  If the men of this country are going to hold me back from accomplishing my dreams, what will my life be like?  I hope that this is all a bad dream and when I wake up there will be equal rights for woman and men.  I would like to be the President of the United States when I grow up and in the world today, a woman will not be able to hold this type of position.  Maybe when my children or grandchildren are adults, there will be more equality between men and women.  You would think that after the women’s rights movement, the women of this country would be able to work, get paid the same wage, and be treated with respect.  Unfortunately that is not the case.  Women in this country are continuously being held back from what they can truly accomplish.  It may have been a bad accident that made one town decide to change all of the rules, but what is the excuse for an entire country?  Women are expected to be passive and just do what they are told.  Why can’t they be in charge?  When I was a child, my parents told me that I could grow up and be anything that I wanted to be.  They encouraged me to try new things and dream big dreams.  Now that I am getting older, I realize that while they really wanted these things for me, they knew that the dreams that I had and the new things I tried were just temporary because I was a girl and society would hold me back.  People do not realize the damage they do to young adults when they tell them that they can’t do something or that they can’t pursue a career that is meant for a man only.  I think that I would make a great President.  I know that I am smart.

After I graduated High School, I decided that I did not want to be a boring President.  I wanted something much more exciting!  I tried out for the United States Men’s Soccer team!  I disguised myself as a man so I could have a chance to try out.  Everyone teased me because I was so tiny.  What are the chances of making a team like that?  The tryouts were really tough.  We had to run ten miles within a certain time frame.  We had do sprints up a mountain side.  We had to dribble the soccer ball around the football field going at a fast paced jog.  If you lost the ball, you had to start back at the beginning.  We had to shoot penalty shots and make it in the goal passed the best goalie in the league or you would have to do sprints again.  After an 8 hour day of tryouts they made us wait one week to see if we made the team.  Talk about anxiety.  Every man that tried out was so crabby that week.  There was a couple that thought for sure that they made the team.  I was really hoping that they didn’t, just because they were so sure that they were good.  There were a total of fifty-four  men that tried out and they were only taking twenty-five.  That leaves twenty-nine men that would be getting bad news!  Out of those fifty-four that tried out, fifteen made the team last year.  Assuming that they would all make it again this year that only leaves fourteen new positions.  That is not a lot and it is hard to tell who did the best.  Everyone was trying their hardest.  Everyone on the team told me that there was no way some undersized man like me would make the team.  I was not the fastest, I did not shoot the best, and I was not that confident that I would make it through the first round of picks.  During the first round, they took pretty much all of the guys that played last year on the team.  That was the longest week of my life.  At the end of the week, I was shocked to find out that I MADE THE TEAM!!!!!  I was so excited!  I wanted to run up and hug the coach!  I had to stop myself because I knew that if they found out I was a woman, I would be thrown off the team.  All was good until the last playoff game of the season.  Two of the starters got hurt and they called my name to go in.  Now this was not just a game.  It was the last playoff game against our rivals that beat us every time we play them.  Winner takes all!  It was tied 1 to 1 with one minute on the clock.  I was playing mid field.  I got the ball, and I was stunned I just didn’t know what to do. Next thing I knew I was on the ground in a lot of pain from getting plowed over by one big defender. This was my time to shine I got to take the direct kick from just outside of the eighteen. My shot went up, but hit the crossbar I was so mad. I was on a rage and ran through everyone took the ball and shot it with all my might.  The crowd went wild!  That ball went right in the upper left corner; the goalie didn’t even see it coming. I won the game for the United States Men’s Soccer Team! I knew for sure this would change something. The news people came to me after the game and wanted to interview me. They asked me “what was your secret to winning the game”. Now was the perfect time, I ripped off my wig and let my long hair fall down. Everyone froze and they were all staring right at me. I told them “my secret was being a strong and proud woman”. That’s when I changed the country forever, I knew that sports were the only way to get through to a man and that was there weak spot. So that was right where I attacked this man versus women fight. There are so many women’s sports developing, women`s jobs, and just mainly women rights after that game. My name will go down in history forever just because I did what was right.