Marriage And The African Girl Child ( Love Or Age ) - True Fact

At 17 years or age I fell in love for the second time, and to the best of my knowledge, she was in love with me too, but there was a problem we were both born in the same year. Somehow, this was a big problem for her. I could not get her to ignore the age bracket thing, eventually, she broke up with me. Her breakup speech went thus... " Jude, this relationship is pointless. There can be no future for us together because we are age mates. We cannot get married, I need an older man in my life; someone who can make me a wife ".

That was by far the most ridiculous break up I have had my entire life. It still amuses me sometimes especially when I think about it. Why was marriage so important to this teenage girl barely out of secondary school? And why must it be an older man? These were questions popping out my brain. Welcome to the life of the African girl child.

The African girl child is brought up her whole life for one purpose only, to be a " Wife ". From the moment she draws her first breath, she is taught the etiquettes of a proper ' Wife Material ' ( whatever the hell that means ). Everything she does, all the choices she makes, is all directed to this singular purpose. To be a good housewife.

Her greatest achievement in life is " Marriage ". Her sole purpose of existence is to compliment a man. Her life is not fulfilled if someone does not make her an agent of procreation. She is so preoccupied with thoughts of matrimony that she barely has any space left in her head for anything else. No matter how many doctorate degrees she bags, it is all vanity if there isn't a ' Mrs ' on the prefix of her name.

I have heard African parents time and again, say to their little daughters when they misbehave, " Is this how you will behave when you get to your husband's house? ", little girls not older than 7 or 8 years of age. Is that really all the African girl child is good for? Was she born only to clean, cook and bear children for the man? Why is so much of our culture dedicated to objectifying women?

We can talk about the ills of misogyny, bride price, child brides, domestic violence and paedophilia against the girl child all we like but if the basic mentality of the African girl child is not improved upon, we are barely wasting our time.