Men Don't Want Daughters
“You have a lovely daughter sir.”
It is an unfortunate question because women die in child birth, but that is not a priority for most families. Boy is the expected answer because life revolves around him, the heir. He controls the land and how it is used. He officiates in religious and cultural ceremonies. He drives the canoe that ferries goods and people. He climbs tall figureless trees like the palm tree, to cut down palm fruit that produces palm oil. He taps palm wine that will be used for weddings or to thank ancestors for long life. He hunts or fish so that there would be fat around kids’ mouths when they are eating.
But the main reason why men don’t want daughters is because of what they do to other men’s daughters on dark streets in L.A. or Lagos, on the internet, in the office or in the ‘struggle for liberation.’ The internet is full of groups recruiting women for religious or revolutionary causes. If you leave your country and join them, what do you think your contribution will be, as a woman? Common sense is not trending.
Men don’t want daughters because of what they do to other men’s daughters. Men globally have an unwritten rule that there are certain things you do not do to your wife because she is a precious vessel, who has borne you four strong sons. Therefore, you use other men’s daughters for fantasy and inhumane acts. “I paid her,” justifies it, I guess.
Because men don’t want daughters, mothers let tears roll when the doctor or midwife tells them it’s a girl, another girl, to go through what billion girls before them, went through.
Nonqaba waka Msimang
Executive Blogger
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