They begin by saying a wive without a male Child has not secured her home. Some men will look at a woman's hip and say: this one looks like the one that can bear a male child (as educated as he is o).
Is that not how one of the suitors I had kept saying: ukwu gia yiri ukwu umunwanyi ndi Hebrew, Nke ga amu nwa siririwerere (translation: this your hips looks that of the Hebrew women that can easily bear a child), I would just smile at him, wondering why he's so into hips. He should have saved all that calculations and think of how to make money.
Back to the subject of discussion, why do many marriages without a male child suffer so much? And it makes the wife insecure as she keeps trying to conceive a male child. Do you know that many of these male children most families hustle for, end up not taking care of their parents? Once they are adults, say 25-35 years, they spend much more on their girlfriend/wive instead of their parents and siblings if any? Yet...
Or is it because of securing the family name? Even at that, the emphasis on male child is so much exaggerated. One thing people don't understand is that you might have children both male and female and eventually be taken care of by a relative when old. It's a good thing to have a male child, but what if he never cares for you the parent when you have retired? Or what if he soils the family name? I know about a family with two sons, one travelled out for over 20 years, and nobody knows his whereabout till date. While the other one hurried to marry at 27years, now with 3 kids and don't even take care of his parents not to talk of siblings?
I think why the male child are so important is that when they eventually marry, they will bring in a woman that will not want her mother-in-law or any of her husband's relative to live with them or even visit...nonsense!
Male child or no male, just make as much impact as possible in the lives of people especially your relatives, you will be surprised that it is the least person you never imagine that will care for you when you grow old...TIQS
The clamour around the male child is one of those culturally misplaced priorities. There is no single economic, religious or political justification for "the male child suprrmacy".
ReplyDeleteThe near reasonable concern is the "family name longevity and preservation". That too, is a complete nonsense, unreservedly unacceptable. If a man wants his name to be remembered, he should do something heroic. He should touch lives, make remarkable positive impacts, invent things to make living better. Then he wouldn't have to be worried if he would be remembered after death.
I had never met anyone surnamed Azikiwe, who is a direct descendent of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe. But the name Azikiwe would remain forever relevant in Nigeria's annals of great men. Make we give ourselves brain abeg. Nwa bu Nwa!
Is the emphasis on irresponsible male child? I want to believe that no gender has monopoly over irresponsibility. Nevertheless, male child are important because the structure of our country and culture acknowledges male child the more.A child is a child but there is an edge no matter the potency of a feminist point, that edge underlines the male child importancy.
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