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Women Born in the 1970s

# Women Born in the 1970s ### What Happened to My Share of Life? Written by: Kambiz Aflaki Women born in the 1970s came into the world on the brink of great upheavals. Before their childhood had even ended, the revolution arrived, followed by war, air-raid sirens, shelters, queues for heating oil, and news of people who would never return home. They were girls who dreamed of falling in love, studying, traveling, dancing, and discovering the world. Yet many of them, before anyone thought to ask, “What do you want?” were asked, “When are you getting married?” Some were taught that a good girl should be modest and obedient, a good wife should be accommodating, and a good mother should sacrifice herself. Few ever told them that a good woman also has the right to be herself. In old photo albums, we can still see young girls with carefree smiles, unaware that only a few years later, even the meaning of what they could wear, say, whom they could love, and how they could walk down the street would become a matter of struggle. Some learned to whisper their dreams, afraid someone might hear. Others raised their voices even louder. Some became mothers at a young age. Some fought for their education and careers. Some walked away from loveless marriages. Others stayed, not out of happiness, but out of fear of judgment or because they saw no other way. And some, with remarkable courage, built the lives they truly wanted. This generation has tasted the bitterness of the distance between what they desired and what they could achieve. Even so, it would be a mistake to remember these women only for their suffering. They have laughed, fallen in love, worked, started over, and opened doors that had long been closed to the daughters who came after them. Now that many have passed the age of fifty, perhaps for the first time, they are asking themselves: “So what happened to my share of life?” I want to speak to the young girl who still lives within each of them: It is not too late to begin again. You are not merely someone's mother, wife, or daughter. You carry an unfinished life within you, filled with dreams that still have the right to breathe. Women born in the 1970s, this time, it is your turn. Not to sacrifice more, but to live for yourselves. If you could go back to being eighteen, what would you change? And what dream have you still not dared to speak aloud?