We have to change our perspective that girls have an ‘expiry date’ – that once she gets old, she will not be able to bear children or find someone to marry her. Our society needs to change this perspective and let girls live on their own terms.
Today, even when a girl is successful in her life and career, we judge her by her marital status. One can also hear gossip like, “What is the use of success when she doesn’t have a family of her own?” A girl’s success is reduced to how good a homemaker she can be. Girls who do not get married at so called ‘right time’ are prone to receiving criticism from society.
Here are a few points that I would like to summarise:
1. A girl’s success does not depend on her marital status or whether she is good at cooking or doing household chores. She can be good at cooking and household chores and manage her job at the same time. Even if she’s not good at cooking or performing household chores, it doesn’t matter. This question is never raised when it comes to boys.
2. If a girl wants to study, never tell her that studying will not bring her success but marriage will. She can handle both marriage and studying or choose to only study. It’s her life
3. Don’t pressurise her to have a baby if she is not ready. Let her decide for herself whether she wants to have a baby or not. Society doesn’t have the right to decide.
4. Don’t pressurise her to have a boy child. Even though the rate of female infanticide may have gone down, society still fails to come to terms with having a girl child. Sometimes, the family won’t kill the girl child but keep pressurising the mother to have a son. It’s high time that this stopped.
5. No, she doesn’t have an expiry date – one for marriage or having children. Science and technology have improved and women are not baby producing machine. She is an individual human being with a brain of her own.
Remember, she is not your slave.