Moral character issue’s aside (because that would be true to people of any gender and age), I’m a supporter of a traditional gender role: a woman to be a full time home maker, cooks meals, takes care of her children, and be a supporter of her husband. Jewish Talmud says, “God created Eve out of Adam's rib. Not from his feet to be walked on as an inferior. Not from his skull to control him as a head, but from his side to be equal, under his arm to be protected, and next to his heart to be loved. I believe men and women are not the same, and each gender tend to bring different set of strength, abilities and skill sets. I don’t agree with the unisexing trend today because I think it dilutes the family value. It promotes the “right” as an individual needs more, and pursuit of egoistic happiness more important than dedication for well-being of a marriage, children, and family as a whole. I think mothers have more power to influence family members psyche than fathers do. Women usually are the glue of society/family functions. I like “Mrs. Weasley from Harry Potter” a lot. I wish I had a mom like that.

My models for what a woman was vs what a man was were diluted and different from society's norms. That said, I am a woman, so what does being a woman mean for me? It means I am a mom, and more so, I am often many childrens mom, at different times! I am a wife/spouse, which means I am someones other half, and I support him as he supports me. For me as a woman, I tend to find that I am more empathetic then many men, but then again, that may be a product of my abuse. But it fits in most peoples ideal of being female, so it works.
For me being female does not pin me in a regular role of a housewife though, that actually makes me very very depressed. I work outdoors, at a physical labor job, I work harder then most men. I'm a certified welder, and drive commercial grade trucks and large equipment as well. I do work day in and day out surrounded by men in what is normally seen as a male feild of work. I do not dress like most women, I do wear mascara, but rarely. I do not concern myself with my apprearance very often! LOL!
Because I work long hours and work hard outside my home, as does my SO, we split the house work and chores at home. I do my own truck work, he does his. We take turns cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, ect. And we both take care of my son. I love things this way, because there are days I just do not want to stand in front of the stove and cook dinner, and he just does not feel like crawling under the truck to change oil. So then he can cook and I can change oil, and my son can decide which he'd rather help with! LOL!
I do not beleive that men and women are so different. I do have strength limitations compared to the average man. However, if you made the average man 100#s and on a 5'frame, bet they'd have a hard time topping my strength! LOL! I do beleive that working as a partnership is beneficial for all involved, that said, I do not think the roles in which one gender needs to fill are not set. I think that is best decided by each individual and partnership. I don't know if that answers the question or not! LOL!

Well being as I'm only a child, I can only go off of everything my mother has done. She took over everything that my father left behind when he just decided to not "be the man of the household" "a father to me and my sister", which was pretty much the enire of mine and my sister's childhood. She cooks, cleans, does plumbing, builds fires, brings home the bread, the whole works. My mother does more than I wish she would. My parents finally got a divorce this year and now she's dating someone who makes her happy. It's a bit odd, but after seeing all the suffering we've gone through, domestic abuse and her putting her own happiness aside so that she could support us. It's nice to see her finally laugh. So for me a woman is everything my mother embodies: strength, self sacrifice, happiness and so much more. What I hope I can give to my family and much more. I love who my mother is. I would never trade her for anyone in the world, even though she's so overprotective -.-, lol but she's amazing.

I'm glad to hear your mom and you are in a better place now, rainBows!

I just consider a woman to be a female (biologically born or not) who's reached a certain level of maturity without compromising a few basic, natural instincts.