having a daughter has made me more of a feminist - or has society become more regresive?

[oranges]

did anyone ele find this? I've always thought of myself as a feminist, but when I had ds four years ago, I thought more in terms of beinga mother - what was best for him - did he need me at home. I did eventually go back to work, but only after convincing myself he would be okay. Now I have a daughter, and am LOVING my maternity leave but feel I HAVE to go back to work, and fight to be successful, as there is no way I want society to slide backwards and deny her chances to fulfill herself.
I also feel that the debate in the last few years has changed and there is a real danger our daughters will have fewer choices than we had.
Has anyone else felt that, feeling differently about feminism according to which child you have?

Well I have 2 DDs, and am definitely becoming more feminist! But whether that's because of the DDs, or just because I'm getting older and less tolerant of crap, who knows!

Like you I had a son first and a DD a few years later (who is still a baby). I've been very feminist throughout, and have been working 3 days a week and using nursery from 6 months-ish.

I was worried about having a DD in this increasingly sexist and gender-polarised climate and tbh I find some of the little girls I know so prescriptively girlified and cliched and I didn't know how I would cope with that, with the gap between my ideas and the pink/fluffy/girly "norm" that DD would be surrounded by. Now I have her though, I find it easier to just be feminist in relation to both DC and feel confident I can help her not to feel held back by all the sexism. I haven't been held back myself, and I'm proud that she'll see that. Time will tell though.

I just feel I want to guarantee that she can choose any career she wants. I got a bit obsessed when she was born about not dressing her in pink, but its really hard to avoid, especially as most of her clothes are gifts. so she now wears beautiful pinkish dresses and her brother's hand me downs.

I think we have to keep telling our girls that, and also our boys (as they also suffer from gender prescription) and I try to remember to show DD everything and anything, and not limit her to anything supposedly "for girls". I don't mind pink in itself, objectively speaking, it's a nice colour, and she has pink clothes among other colours, but I want to make sure she knows she can wear what she likes and well as be anything she likes.

There is a girl in DS's class who wears only "boys' " stuff and has a boyish haircut. I love her for having the guts to be what she wants and she's inspiration to me as a mum of a DD. Not that I'll push my DD towards that, not at all, but just to see that no one has to bow to those pressures if they don't want to.

I think the 2 person wage society means most wont ever get to stay at home or even have their maternity leaves. It is already like that here now unless you are in benefits.

Personally I think it is a government campaign to make everyone in to taxpayers and force them in to workplaces.

I remember being at school and a few teachers used to say if you stay at home and dont provide for yourself then you dont believe in womens rights and it means you are holding back your gender. I thought that idea was a bit stupid but it was a prevelant one when I started secondary school.