i remember how once a teacher said to our entire class while trying to motivate them to study better for competitive exams that "boys need to be even more serious than girls about their exams, because at least they have getting married off as an option", ending his words with a casual "no offense" (isn't it funny how the most offensive things are preceded or proceeded by that phrase?).
that was quite disturbing for me to hear because i would argue that it is MORE important for young girls than boys to succeed academically because the second option you're talking about? it's not a plan b, it's a death sentence: financial dependency, getting belittled, and decades of unpaid and unappreciated labour. if a boy doesn't get into a good college or doesn't land an elite high paying job, he's still not going to be robbed of his freedom. maybe he'll have to do something that is undesirable to him like run a grocery store, work in his father's line of work, or a dreary, soul-sucking, underpaid job. of course, those may be bad ways to go, but that still doesn't change the fact that their freedom, rights, and sense of dignity would not get robbed.
i am not trying to direspect housewives in any way; if that's the path someone actually wants for life and is choosing it willingly then that's completely their choice and i am no one to judge them. but demeaning female students by saying their education is not as important as that of their male classmates? that is totally out of line, and once again points to my firm belief that misogyny resides in every corner of the world, be it in the form of open aggression or hidden, passive beliefs.
