A LIFE insurance company has a series of interesting ads to market its policies. The father of a girl is asked how he would feel if he had no money saved for his daughter’s wedding. In another ad in the same series, the same man is asked how he will finance his son’s higher education.

Have we come to a sorry state where Pakistan’s daughters are supposed only to get married and not pursue higher education or any education? Do we have to make a girl’s whole life revolve around matrimony? This patriarchal society of ours makes sure a girl knows her future even before she even understands what marriage means. With 2016 a few weeks away, you would expect society would have progressed.

With role models like Arfa Karim, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy and Samina Khayal Baig, our society needs more strong women.

I write these words not because I’m a victim, but because I have seen many friends suffer because their families panic at the thought that their daughters will be graduating soon and there is no good proposal on the horizon. The point is, we need to educate women and not confine their lives to marriage, home and children.

Abeer Asif

Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2015