Sir,
On my sixteenth birthday my mother presented me with a booklet: “Daughter, you’re a very special person.”
Five years later God gifted me with a beautiful baby girl I don’t know why I always had the intuition that my first born would be a girl possibly because I wanted one.
Bringing up a daughter is a lovely experience. Dressing her up in laces and frills, tying up her hair in different styles. All this gives the young mother unlimited joy. More so as she watches her grow into a budding beauty with each passing year.
I feel girls mature faster than boys mentally, are less aggressive and above all are emotionally more stable than their brothers, understanding human relationships and values better.
And yet having all the makings of a good human being, daughters continue to be looked down upon, by not only ordinary people but also the so-called educated Jot. In the present times when we are stepping into the 21st century our society still considers the birth of a baby girl almost a curse.
Why do Indians have an obsession for a male child? After all we bring children into this world for our happiness for experiencing the role of parenthood and most of all for the fulfillment of our beings.
Daughters who are considered a liability, are in fact more of an asset. They should not be made to fill less important roles than boys. In fact a daughter should have the first place in her parent’s affections because she will ultimately marry and leave her parent’s home. Therefore, it is every parent’s duty to look after her to the best of his or her ability.
1 am not trying to say that one sex is generally superior or inferior to the other but only trying to say something about true social equity.
To allow our daughters to grow up as intelligent and capable individuals we must learn to respect their decisions and help them find their own strength. Instead of making them feel unwanted and inferior we should encourage them to meet each challenge with fortitude and let them not feel that marriage is their only goal. Allow them to shape their lives better. Once they do so, we will never regret having daughters.
Then there is the saying, “A son is a son till he gets a wife but a daughter is a daughter for life.”.
Jasbeen Bahniwal
Article extracted from this publication >> April 14, 1989
