Dear Society, It Is Useless To Raise Independent Daughters If You Don’t Teach Men To Respect Them

Though many parents strive really hard to raise their daughters as strong and independent women, it is heartbreaking to see how these women struggle post-marriage for respect and dignity.

It is not only a matter of shame but also an irony. We raise our daughters to be independent but forget to teach our sons to respect them.

While raising children, many 21st century parents think of upbringing them equally, be it a girl or a boy. But do they?

• We may raise our daughters to be career-oriented, but we forget to raise our sons to learn how to cook!
• Our daughters may know how to file taxes but our sons may not have any idea about doing laundry!
• We may raise our daughters to drive but forget to teach our sons how to sweep the floors!
• Our daughters may know how to invest in share markets but our sons don’t have any idea how to make food!

One may say that raising independent women is way more important than raising men to learn household chores. But is it? 

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What we have done so far for in uplifting our daughters i.e. focus on their education to make them career-oriented and financially independent is absolutely right and needed to be done.

But, what we forgot in our quest to uplift our daughters is to change the mindset of our sons. Without that change, our sons would still perceive our independent daughters as educated cooks or maids.

It is heartbreaking to see how for every woman who is taught that she can be more than just a housekeeper and cook, there is a man who believes that household chores are only woman’s jobs.

By raising your daughters to believe in themselves and in their dreams and giving them the freedom to make their own choices, you are doing only half the work.

If you don’t teach your son how to do laundry, cook basic meals or do domestic chores, you are raising an entitled son. He would always expect his wife to cater to his needs. And your daughter could end up marrying one of these entitled men.

But what’s worse is when some of our independent daughters become a victim of domestic abuse. All because they do not live up to the expectations of the entitled man she married.

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So, a humble request to all those who are raising their daughters to do whatever their sons could, please raise your sons to do whatever your daughters could.

Raise your sons to respect these independent women and treat them as equals. Because it is useless to raise independent women if you’re still raising entitled men.