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Tracee Ellis Ross makes a powerful case for women who happen to be single with no kids

By Nina Steele 

Tracee Ellis RossTracee Ellis Ross gave a powerful speech at the 2017 Glamour Women of the Year Awards, on her life as a woman of 45, who happens to be single with no kids. One of the most memorable lines in the speech for me was when she said this: “I have built an incredible life. I have become a woman that I am proud to be. And then someone tells me about their friend who adopted a child at 52 and how “it’s never too late for your life to have meaning,” and my worth gets diminished as I am reminded that I have “failed” on the marriage and carriage counts”. That pretty much sums up the crazy and utterly ignorant view some people still have on life and our place in it as women.

Tracee Ellis Ross describes herself on her website as an “actress, performance artist and motivational speaker”. Her role in the ABC sitcom “Balck-ish” won her a Golden Globe for best actress in a comedy series. That is quite an achievement in itself, and you would have thought most people would see it that way too and congratulate her for the talented woman that she is. I watched one of her motivational videos on social media and just like in the aforementioned speech, she is quite an orator! She comes across as a very confident woman, who is comfortable with who she is. Considering the fate that often befalls children of famous people, that too is an achievement in itself.

In her speech, she calls out the misogyny of those who want to confine women to an ideal that’s long gone. Today, women such as her and many others, are showing other women still undecided which path to travel, that there are other ways and that they don’t have to follow in their mother’s footsteps, unless of course that’s what they wish to do.

Technically, we still shouldn’t be having those discussions. With women leaders of countries, businesses and communities, we have shown that unlike what the traditionalists would like us to believe, women are far from one dimensional. Yet here we are, and I suspect we will still be having those discussions for years to come.

Thankfully, many women understand that there has been a massive shift in their favour and that they no longer have to put up with outdated views about their role in society. I mean, even Saudi Arabia is making changes to allow women to have more freedom and more say over their lives, a development no one thought possible just a few years ago. The only way for women is up and the sooner those traditionalists understand that, the better.

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