Since childhood, there have always been people around saying that girls should be quiet and meticulous, that they are not as good as boys at science, and that they should find a stable job when they grow up and then get married and have children. These words are like huge trees blocking girls’ vision, thoughts and even dreams.
I still remember in primary school when there was a selection for the math competition in our class. The teacher should have ranked us based on our grades, but she always asked the boys first, saying that boys have better memories and smarter brains and are more suitable for the math competition. Even if girls had better grades, they were more likely to be ignored.
I loved physics and my childhood dream was to become a great scientist, but everyone always said that girls didn’t need to work so hard on experiments. It seemed that because I was a girl, my future had already been decided.
When my neighbor’s elder sister was looking for a job, the first question she was asked was not about her work ability or career plan, but when she was going to get married and have children. Some even directly refused to hire her because she was a girl, believing that girls’ work efficiency was far lower than that of boys. She had been striving for years for an ideal job, but was rejected just because she was a girl. At that time, I didn’t understand much
about the prejudice against girls in society. I only knew that my sister had suffered a malicious discrimination that was only targeted at girls.
The aunt next door is always doing housework and cleaning the room. The uncle always thinks that this is something women should do. But the aunt also has her own job. She is clearly exhausted every day from work, but when she gets home, no one can help her with the housework. I think housework is never something that must be done by girls.
I hope that girls should not be confined by gender. We can be brave to be ourselves. We can study science, strive to fulfill our dreams, and even choose the life we want without being swayed by others’ opinions. This is the life that girls should have.
Wendy Hou
