Every girl dreams of being loved,shown affection, respected and accepted. She dreams that she will one day not cry or be punished for being a girl.She dreams to be loved for who she is, feel safe, protected and secured where ever she is and with who ever she finds herself with. She also dreams for a day to come where she will be applauded rather than condemned for dreaming bigger or having higher aspirations or ambitions which are far above that of the kitchen.
However, the bitter pill is that, in many parts of our world especially in Ghana, the birth of the girl child is not a news welcomed. From the inner world of her mother (womb) to the outside world of her birth(environment) she is not forgiven for being a female or coming out as a girl. Many a times,this makes me wonder if girls have control over nature to change or decide their sex. Most often some people think that these actions and inactions towards them are just but for the moment. Oh how I wish that was the situation! The reverse is the case.In every stage of a girl’s life, she will be treated badly either in both direct and indirect ways simply to punish her for coming into their lives as a female and not as a male.
The woes of the girl child are like the sands of the earth,the stars of the sky and like the children of Abraham. They are numerous and they exist or come in diverse dimensions, sexual and verbal harassment,discrimination, neglection,oppression and humiliation.
Admittedly, there have been some progress over the years. We have seen a reduction in the occurances of some of these areas. However these changes are somewhat considered insignificant as many girls continue to suffer. There is still an unfair treatment towards girls which seems to confirm the opinion by some schools of thoughts who believe that society is still fixated about who girls are, who they should be and what role they are to play in the society. Hence, they do not hesitate at any point in time to make the lives of girls terrible,sorrowful,unbearable and shameful.
It is not surprising that such things are happening to girls. Many of us live in patriarchal societies where men are often regarded as supreme and superior,are respected,acknowledged and more desired as compared to their male counterparts. Again both the rich, poor or not economically sound,educated and uneducation people particularly boys and men in society happened to maltreat women in their lives in one way or another.To a very large extent,this makes the domestic and international efforts to empower girls difficult.
Nevertheless, with the existance of these odds,girls still survive and continue to pursue bigger dreams. New dreams of what they really want.These are so new or different from the dreams they were schooled to have(marriage).They dream of a world where men in particular will learn to accept them for who they are, appreciate, help and encourage them not to be afraid to dream far beyond the kitchen and marriage. They dream of a world that offers them equal opportunities, equal access to quality education, equal access to healthcare, equal spaces to partake in the decision making process.A world that offers girls the right to decide who to be with,when they want to get married and where they want to go and a new world where they feel protected to walk around freely without looking over their shoulder with every tick of the clock.
In short, the new dream that every girl wants is a world where they do not have to surrender hopelessly to the woeful or sad fate offered by society but that she will receive equal treatment of love,equal access to education,freedom to dream bigger,partake in decison making processes especially that which affects her life and have her dignity respected and honored.
The new dream of every girl is achievable. We can do it together.By supporting girls to achieve their dreams,we will have a better world because we will be having the contributions of the females who happen to be more than one half of the population.
We need a positive change in society’s attitude towards girls.
I share in “The New Dream-What Every Girl Wants”.I hope that the world will indeed change their behavior and attitude towards girls. I am prepared to contribute all my efforts to the empowerment of the girl child so that they can have the power to own their future.What about you?Would you watch while she gets harassed and humiliated? Would you watch on while she gets denied to make her own choices or decide for herself? What will you do to help the girl child get what she really wants? You have a role to play.
Remember that we are in this together and together we will have a better world.
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