Marriage – Is that the only thing a woman can do?

I often wonder if society believes that all a woman is good for is marriage. From the time a girl is old enough to heed instruction, most of it is about preparing her to be the perfect wife. I wonder if the boys get hammered about being the perfect husband like we do about being the perfect wife.

Every little thing you do has to be on point! Be it doing the dishes, sweeping the house, washing your clothes – everything MUST be perfect. If not, every older female will definitely have something to say. Might be your sister, aunt, mom, grandmom – they’ll all have an opinion or two about the kind of wife you will make based on the quality of your household skills.

Remember hearing, “you keep that up and you shall suffer where you will go”, “such laziness, we don’t want you disgracing our family at your in-laws”... and the reproaches continue. You would think the girl being told this is engaged. Yet not at all! She is probably in her early teens! And then they wonder when she elopes at a very tender age.

No wonder most girls think marriage is the ultimate goal. But there is life after the lobola has been paid, the white wedding has happened and you are now called Mrs so and so. Besides home making and making your husband happy, it’s also important to have personal goals and make YOURSELF happy!

If people are talking about a girl’s education or profession, everything has to be conducive for her marriage. Like seriously, is that all we are good for? Getting married? I think not! So much more to life than just being a Mrs so and so.

PS Something to think about this International Women’s Day.