Ghanaian parents are the worst enemies of Feminism

Ndoo, in about seven years of teaching kids, I have come to learn one thing and this is highly touted on feminism. Some people are so obsessed with and has still got a long way to go as far as Ghana is concerned. Mostly, if not all parents in their upbringing of the girl-child make the following mistakes subconsciously.

1. The girl-child is supposed to be beautiful. Our parents let beauty in things such as toys, dolls, nice hairstyle and even make ups become the girl-child's obsession. The girl-student comes to school looking all shiny and would not want to engage in innovative play that can enlighten her because her mum or daddy would complain of her dirty school uniform. Contrarily, the boy-child jumps about on campus, uses the clay so well to build arts and crafts, tries to fix the PC and in the process learns to muster his environment. In all these, the girl-child grows to learn that innovativeness is the reserve of males and beauty is the reserve of females.

2. In buying gifts for their wards, the girl-child gets a doll, a new dress, new shoes and things that would enhance her outlook. What about the brains? The boy-child is given a kids' laptop to play computer games, games that would enhance his thinking capacity. He would later be dashed an HP laptop when he gets to high school. Meanwhile, the girl-child would be bought an iPhone or something that can take nice pictures for daddy to put out on Facebook or probably show-off to his friends, how beautiful his daughter is.

3. Also, it is noted that, Cooking good meals is the responsibility of the girl. Yes, we all agree that the African tradition places this important role on the woman. Yet, it is sad that this is the only important thing our parents give the girl-child. She doesn't grow up to learn from male adults how to handle conflict situations. She is not taken on visits to extended family members to create a platform for her to express herself. In all these, the boy-child is taught to be a good consumer of good meals prepared by a supposedly good woman. Then after, he goes out with daddy to birthday parties where he may learn a thing or two about controlling emotions.

4. Maths and Science are for boys, Language are for girls. It is sad to always hear a parent express less dissatisfaction when you, a teacher, complain of her girl-child's fear for maths and science. However, they naturally expect her to be good in writing and speaking of good English. The last time I checked, science and technology still ruled the world. If you naturally push the boy to science, no that you are equally saying that the male must always rule while female may just be good in talking.

5. A girl-child is always supposed to impress the opposite. We stress that she must have a good voice, must wait for Prince Charming at the right time and must not dream of owning businesses because She would become someone’s. Someone who would take care of her. All she has to do is to position herself for that someone in the future.

All the above points would intrinsically make the girl-child a dependent variable in the equation of life. If this is how you treat your child as a mother, father or just a guardian, try to look at it again. A seed sown today is what a tree becomes tomorrow.