This article reminded me of my problem with the pressure some women feel from their social clock. American women are lucky to have choices. It is difficult to ignore the social norms, the majority, the pressure to fit into the status quo, but we have to remember that the decisions we feel so rushed to make are the most important decisions of our lives. Do what feels right for you, and do it at your own pace, choose your partner wisely, and don't take your right to choose the life you live for granted. Not every women gets to choose.
Teenage girls in Afghanistan are lighting themselves on fire to escape their arranged marriages. They are married off as young as eleven years old and to men who are twenty-some years their senior. They enter those homes viewed as no different then a mop. They are meant to cook, clean, and make babies and are often abused for failing to meet expectations in their domestic duties. How horrible can these poor women feel that they are compelled to dump flamable liquid on themselves, light it, and suffer third degree burns, or death to get out of these situations. For the lucky few that survive, they may be allowed to go back to their families, and if they do (since they aren't able to be married off anymore) they may be lucky enough to learn to read and attend school, but not many of these girls are surviving.
For the sake of women who would rather burn to death then endure the pain of being forced to live a life of abuse and indifference, throw that clock out, do what is in your heart, and make your own rules to live by.
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/10/29/2112069.aspx
Indeed.
ReplyDeleteI got to meet and listen to Ayaan Hirsi Ali speak at the 2007 AAI Convention. She actually experienced a lot of injustice and abuse in that region, and it was really crazy to hear her talk about it in person. It's a really sad situation.