Middle Class Indian Parents, Save For Your Daughter’s Higher Education, Not For Her Wedding!

Posted: July 9, 2020

A grand wedding to please society, and tons of jewellery to please the in-laws should not be the parameters to decide a daughter’s happiness. Their education should be.

Since the time a daughter is born, most Indian middle-class parents plan to save a chunk of their income every month or every year for their daughter’s wedding and marriage. They buy jewellery whenever they have some extra money. When they have limited money, why don’t they save it up for their daughter’s higher education?

Still, if not all, most Indian parents believe that marriage is the ultimate goal of happiness for any girl.

Does marriage always mean a ‘secure future’?

Girls often are studious, talented, hard working, have the skills and dedication to excel, yet the limited money that the middle-class parents have is saved for their wedding and not given for their higher education.

Why not rather invest in her education? Who knows if the marriage is going to be successful in the future or not? What if the daughter is widowed, tortured, or doesn’t want to stay in a bad or indifferent marriage? What if the daughter decides to stay unmarried?

Why is it taken for granted that marriage of a girl means a secure future? So many women out there are stuck in bad marriages due to lack of financial independence. Money of her own and an education doesn’t just give financial security, it also gives a woman the power to decide her own future, to be her own person.

Let us re-think how we look at a daughter’s future

Jewellery might get sold or taken away by the in-laws. A lavish wedding is remembered by no one in the future and doesn’t necessarily mean a happy marriage. Giving dowry is a crime and doesn’t ensure happiness at all, as the ever-greedy in-laws and husband will ask for more!

When the Indian middle class spends their limited income so judiciously and carefully throughout their life, what happens to this thinking when it is about their daughters? More than their marriage, priority should be given to education and financial independence. A grand wedding to please the society and tons of jewellery to please the in-laws should not be the parameters to decide a daughter’s happiness. Rather, a strong and financially independent daughter should be the parameter to raise a forever happy daughter.

Think about it…

Image source: shutterstock

Liked this post?

Register at Women's Web to get our weekly mailer and never miss out on our events, contests & best reads! Or - get a couple of really cool reads on your phone every day - click here to join our Telegram channel.

Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views. Individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times. If you have a complementary or differing point of view, sign up and start sharing your views too!