MyStories

It has been 5 beautiful months with my baby girl. To tell you the truth, I had this feeling in my second pregnancy (as well as in the first one) that I was going to have a boy. You can always hear around that mum’s feelings are never wrong and that is why it was a real surprise when a baby girl was born.

We couldn’t be happier for this blessing of having a boy and a girl, but with this joy comes the big responsibility of raising our daughter as an equal to my son. It could sound logical but the challenges of this are enormous and even if we succeed, our daughter will surely encounter additional social and cultural barriers that my son won’t have to deal with.

In spite of this perspective my daughter was born on exiting times. The feminist movements of the 70s made a great job fighting for a better place for women in society. She, as well as her brother, will choose her own profession, her partner, when does she want to have kids and where is she going to live. She, as well as her brother, will be raised with no gender, national, racial or social barriers. She, as well as her brother, will be a citizen of the world. The sky is the limit. She is a lucky girl.

But being a mum of a girl makes you think about those people who are still reluctant to see a woman as an equal. Let’s not forget that our freedom and equal rights were only recognised in the last 60 years and lots of countries are still adapting its legal systems to a better inclusion of women, or even worse, they are not doing anything but deny those rights.

But cultural perceptions are the hardest to break and they are everywhere. It will be on her and I will help her to question beliefs, what is right and wrong and when is it ok to walk away from a situation in which she is not feeling comfortable and loved. She will create her own expectations, her own dreams. She will be a free soul, she will wander, she will choose, she will be accountable for her decisions, but most importantly, she will search and she will find her happiness, hopefully, away from those who still think that is ok to discriminate women or minorities.

Because the strength she needs is inside her heart and the bravery to walk her own path is in her soul. It is inside where all the answers are and the voice that will lead her to happiness and love is waiting for.

Luz