Being a Girl-Liability or Ass

Being a Girl- Liability or Asset?

Most of the girls born in an orthodox Indian family living in India faces prejudice of her own parents and relatives. So did Priya. Her parents too believed that a girl child is a liability and a boy is always as an asset. It was not their fault because they grew in a patriarchal society in which men were providers and women were receivers. Not just food and accommodation but women were also at the receiving end of domestic violence despite sacrificing their life for nurturing their families. Household work never mattered for men.

The cherry on the top was a middle-class family that would be always wary about their standing in the social circles. They had to treat their daughters according to societal norms, overprotection and no free will for girls.

Her parents wanted to have a boy because only boys in Indian society could take their father’s surnames, bring dowry in marriage and only boys had funeral rights to ensure that the parents achieve moksha.

Priya was the fourth girl in the family and for the love of a boy, she had a younger sister and younger brother too.

Her parents were obviously biased towards her bother. Even her mother believed that her five daughters were a liability and only her son was an asset who was expected to take care of his parents in their old age.

Her mother taught girls all household work because it was an essential qualification required for their marriage. Priya was different and she was born to change and break the societal myths about girls. She was very good in studies and was topper of her school. She would do household work with equal ease and she loved her brother in spite of her parent's biases. Her brother was her best friend. She was a good human being and had the maturity to handle difficult social situations. When the time came, she could persuade her parents to let her continue studies than marrying her off. Her determination got rewarded and she got placement in good MNC company. She married a person she loved with blessings of her parents and met the entire expense of her marriage which her parents dreaded, on her own. Her husband never demanded dowry. She finally overcame the societal pressures and freed her parents of those clutches too. But her true achievement was when her mother told her that she was wrong and girls are also assets, not a liability.