Baskadia

Life as a girl is not easy, especially being an African girl. There is a lot of things there is a lot of things that is expected from you from both family and the society in general.

Being an African girl for me has not been easy especially with the fact of being a first daughter. As an African girl it was difficult for me because I had strict parents, although my strict parents were strict only to me and not to my younger ones. As an African girl in all I do I was not allowed to make decisions for myself. There was a particular time when I wanted to enter senior secondary school and there was this particular school I would have loved to go but being a normal African girl , my Parents, my Father especially said I have no right to decide which school to go even when I tried explaining to him, he said no and even accused me if having something silly I had intentions of doing which he claims might bring disgrace to our family,saying that as a girl there was nothing I know that had it been a guy he would have listened.

As an African girl, I am being woken up every morning to numerous chores without any help especially being an only girl and when I beckon on my brothers to come assist me, they will be stopped by my Father who will tell them that those duties are for girls, as if to say that if they should do it their gender will be changed.

Sometimes, I feel that as an African girl I am being born into this world to serve people. There was a day in my family when my mother said she wanted to eat beans, and my brothers said they would live to eat starch and my Father said he wanted to eat pounded yam. I was then forced to cook the three different foods without any help from my siblings. I feel like I am in this world to serve my family because I am sometimes treated like a servant.

As an African girl, if you have not been woken up by your parents to be told that you are not doing things right because you cannot take those characteristics of yours then you are not an African girl. As for me , I am being woken up every morning to be told that"one day you will go to your husband's house; is this what you will be doing in your husband's house?, Is this when you will wake up in your husband's house?,is it this kind of food that you will cook at your husband's house?" and so on, somehow, sometimes it is annoying though but I guess it is what to expect as an African girl.

Moreso, I think or I feel it is difficult, very difficult to make my parents believe me. There are times when I would be saying the truth and my parents would not believe me, for instance, when I was accused by my Father to be sleeping with my teacher, I tried explaining and convincing that I cannot do such a thing, but he said that it was what most girls do by sleeping with their teachers and that he doesn't think i am exempted. Meaning to an extent , we as African girls are referred to as whore.

As an African girl, I am being underestimated both in the family and society. As an African girl there are limits to things that I am allowed to do, there are gatherings we're allowed to talk about and there are places I am allowed to go. There was an instance, when I and my younger brothers went to our family house in our hometown and we were given food to eat, my younger brothers were given the larger portion of the food because they said as far as they are concerned my brothers are older than me because in our tradition, a girl child I cannot be older than my younger brothers. There was also another instance when I wanted to study engineering but my Father made me change my decision because he said as a girl, I would be unable to cope if I insisted on studying it ,he would not involve himself in any issue concerning my Education.

Living as an African girl, I am being monitored, being given time to do things, before visiting anyone and that I must be given permission and mostly given a certain time to return home. I was always told that if I stayed past the time given, I would be questioned.

Being an African girl is a different kind of pressure, responsibility and work. There is an inequality in patience, love and punishment. Then after the task of being an African girl then comes the greater task of being an African woman.

In conclusion, as an African girl, all I need is equality in love, trust and the issue of underestimation should be resolved and removed in our families and societies. The societies and families in Africa should allow the African girls express our desires to life situations and have the freedom to choice and participate in the affairs of life and to be equal with the opposite gender