'Patience Is A (Feminist) Virtue'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Why are women encouraged to wait around for major life events to just happen to us? Patience, my dear. These relationship milestones have been engineered and reinforced along traditional gender lines in order to test a woman’s ability to shut up and sit pretty, while encouraging men of action to make all the decisions around here. But unfortunately for the patience lobby, us women have figured a few things out over the history of time. One: Our vaginas won’t implode upon completion of premarital sex. Two: Our significant others can still love us without investing two paychecks worth of bling into one of our virtuous little fingers. And three: Waiting does not work. Ever.
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Coincidentally, all of these people appear to be concentrated in our nation’s record labels, movie studios, publishing houses, and newspapers. Behold, pop culture’s vision of a feminism of patience: No need to abandon traditional marriage—just celebrate women who are strong enough to get what they want (that ring). Don’t propose to your significant other—just subversively coerce him into doing it for you. Don’t bother waiting around in your ivory tower for your prince to come—just make damned sure you’re on the receiving end of that fairy-tale ending. Girl power!
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“Wishin’ and Hopin,’” a ditty made popular by Dusty Springfield, instructed women to stop their traditional wishin’, hopin’, thinkin’, prayin’, plannin’, and dreamin’, and instead, get off their asses and do stuff: like “the things he likes to do” and wearing “your hair just for him.” As the song demonstrates, aggressively pursuing what you want isn’t always an act of female empowerment.'