How Girls Are Raised


Girls aren’t raised to break.
Girls aren’t raised to shake or show signs of fear or weakness.
Girls aren’t raised to buckle under pressure.
Girls aren’t raised to object.
They aren’t raised to raise their voices or their concerns.

Girls are raised to listen.
Girls are raised to continue loving even when being thrown with rocks.
Girls are raised to value the opinion of others and make them their truth.
Girls are raised to remain strong no matter what.
They are raised to forget their opinion when men enter the room.

We are taught to be soft and dependant when needed, but told that we have the strength of a rock when life takes a swing at us.

Girls are raised to stay indoors and keep the house clean.
Girls are raised to be afraid of going out when it is dark.
Girls are raised to not learn important life skills like driving, until it is absolutely necessary.
Girls are raised to wait until everyone is served, and then they can help themselves.
They are raised to lift everyone else up first, and then themselves.

We learn through observation more than anything that mothers and grandmothers stay, but fathers and grandfathers disappoint and neglect.

Girls are raised by mothers, sometimes fathers and grandparents.
Boys are raised by their friends.
Girls are raised being sheltered from important life lessons.
Boys are raised to experiment and break things in order to figure out how they work.
Girls are raised to take care.
Boys are raised to be taken care of.

But Girls Grow Up.

Girls grow up and realise that they’ve only been silenced because society fears the power behind their words.
Girls grow up and realise that they can have a family, a career and then some more, all at once.
Girls grow up and realise that being independent only threatens weak men.
Girls grow up and realise that their bodies are magic and that there is no shame in what is between their legs or on their chest.
They grow up and realise that they have always had to compensate for society’s lack of respect for their humanity.
Girls grow up and realise that it doesn’t matter how they dress, sick people will always find a way to violate them.

Girls grow up with the inability to trust good intentions because even their fathers laid hands on their mothers and called it love.
Girls grow up and realise that they were never at war with each other, or in competition. But that society divided them and caused chaos because when they are united the world will have no choice but to listen.

Girls grow up and learn to raise their voices.
Girls grow up, and learn to speak without their voices cracking or shaking.
Girls grow up and learn to love the sound of their voices.
Girls grow up and become Phenomenal, Strong, Independent, Powerful, Resourceful, Intelligent, Opinionated and Gorgeous Women.

Women who have had to piece their shattered identities together with so much intention and courage.
Women who refuse to leave others behind because there is strength in numbers and because they want to change how girls are raised.

I am an Occupational Therapist by profession, but I have many roles that bring meaning to my life. In short, I love people, books and love.

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