Maidens were Never meant to be Men

~We read in storybooks or we see them in fairy tales... the dear, soft maidens that are kind and good-hearted.  We read about them helping others, their modesty, their gentle and contrite spirit.  And yet...was it really all that long ago that these things were an every day reality? 
We want to nod our heads, and perhaps pull out a fairy tale book and point to the picture, saying, 'Maybe then, but not now.'  When did it all change?  When did maidens become.....masculine? 
I think we've all seen it.  Sometimes, at least to me, it seems like lots of things are backwards.  Young men being trained into a feminine mindset, young women, being trained into a masculine mindset.  No longer do the young men seem so important to the young women...the 1940's poster with the woman dressed in worker clothes, looking strong and independent.  Is that when it all started?
When the war ended, the men came home, and no longer was it necessary for the women to work.  But instead of going back to being a soft, gentle housewife, some liked the importance they felt when they worked...and some...slowly dropping the role that they carry as mother's being there at the home to make it home, they found something made seemed even more important.  It made them feel...recognized.
The Proverbs 31 woman is this: 
'The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain.  She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.  She seeks wool and flax, and willingly works with her hands.  She is like the merchant ships, she brings her food from afar.  She also rises while it is yet night, and provides food for her household...................strength and honor are her clothing.......but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.  Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates.' 
I'm not saying that all the women of honor and a gentle, good heart has disappeared.  That is not my point at all.  I know that there are many good, kind, soft, honorable maidens of virtue out there.  I know some.  But my point is that as soon as we begin to think that are job as a mother, or as a young lady, begins to move more toward independence and high-spirited-we-can-do-it-without-the-guys sort of attitude, we slowly begin to slip into the wrong pair of shoes.  Maidens were never meant to be men.
A few book that I very highly recommend on this subject, would be Millie's Faithful Heart (book 4 of the Life of Faith series) and Raising Maidens of Virtue.  Both are remarkably beautiful books, that encourage the young lady inside every girl or woman, and press her forward to pursue her godly duties as a wife, mother, friend, sister, etc.
You will find, that as soon as you let the men be men, that the other things seem to fall in place as well.
We can't try to boss the husbands and fathers into success, but we have to lift them up, and let them fulfill their calling!