Adjust Your Crowns Queens...

It's International Women's Day and I feel blessed as a beautiful African American woman. I grew up in a society where there existed an indoctrination where the male-gender preference prevailed. A woman does not feel fulfilled until she bears a male child who will carry on the family name or lineage. A female child usually will get married and will no longer use the family name which means loosing the family legacy. Female children are therefore the less welcomed option versus their male counterparts.

With the desire to have a male child, some men have turned theirs wives into baby making machines with more than enough children that they can cater for, pressuring them to keep having babies until they have a male child. Some pressure their wives to have more children at the expense of their health while others result to polygamy all in search of that male child.

Don't get me wrong. I know a lot of us would want both male and female children. Problem however arise when not having a male child results in the unfair treatment of the woman by the husband and/or his family or the unfair treatment of the couple by extended family members. The woman could have five female children but is still considered a failure in the area of childbirth because she does not have a male child. Women most of the time are blamed for the gender of the child which is by all means unjust and violates the principle of gender equity.

I grew up within a culture where a woman with all female children was termed incomplete. This ideology has left many women with the feeling of inferiority and a sense of less importance. I grew up in a home with all girls. I remember having overhead conversations that suggested how a male child in the house would have filled a void that obviously never existed. Discrimination of the female gender existed, still exists to an extent and the unappreciated treatment has been known to come in a variety of ways like Gender Profiling. Example of gender profiling would be a mentality that women cannot hold a particular position as well as men.

In our contemporary civilized society, these discrimination as I mentioned still exists in different forms but today I stand with women all over the world to celebrate all the beautiful, strong, independent women who have fought their way up and overcome all the obstacles associated within a male dominated society.

Every child is special and is a blessing regardless of the sex and should be treated with the same courtesy and respect. There should be equal expectations and opportunities and every person whether male or female should be valued equally.

Happy International Women's day! Women Your are beautiful and you are Queens and deserve all the special treatment so please Adjust Your Crowns Queens and wear it proudly, It's Your Day!