This is a photo I took during a movie night campaign we did with Girl Rising to raise awareness of the importance of educating girls in male-dominated societies such as Congo. It amazes me that still to this day girls are not appreciated for the smart, caring, all-powerful beings that they are.
During my pregnancy, I cannot count how many times people have said to me, “Oh, I hope it’s a boy!” I can count the number of times people have said to me, “I hope it’s a girl.”
One.
It was my partner.
Does our society still think this way? Yes.
Reasons stated for wanting boys:
- It’s easier.
- The things that can happen to girls are so terrible.
- It’s easier.
I call BULLSHIT on all this. I am not a mother yet but I do know that most of the problems we face today both globally and locally are caused by little boys in big boy bodies dressed in finely tailored suits. You know the ones, the rich white ones that run our government and care only about how much more money and power they can get. Or the ones in Congo that think that girls are only good for carrying water, having babies and cooking their food. Across the globe, study after study has shown that women are more likely to spend money on the family and men are more likely to spend it on themselves. The Wall Street Journal wrote an article about one such study in the Philippines.
“A study in the Philippines reported that when women have control over a couple’s savings accounts,expenditures shift towards the purchase of family–targeted durable goods.”
I will love my baby no matter what, but if its a boy, it won’t be easier, because I’ve got thousands of years of patriarchal oppression to undo in one little mind so that I can raise a boy that truly cares for others and this world. Luckily, he will have his father as a shining example, except for when it comes to spending.
Magic 56/265, Another Girl Rising, Gbadolite, Nord Ubangi, DR Congo, 2015
