What are Daughters Good For?

This post is a few days late, but it has been a complicated few days so I am alright with that.

Saturday was "Daughters Day", with a celebration in Churchill Square. I haven't decided how I feel about this, I think I need to do more reading on why it exists. My gut instinct is feeling that we need to celebrate ALL people, not segregate into celebrating by gender, though I do agree we need to acknowledge the vulnerabilities of the female end of the gender spectrum and work to remedy them.

However, that's not what I am writing about. On Friday I was in my car listening to the radio when an interview about Daughters Day came on. The woman being interviewed stated that it was important to celebrate Daughters, giving only one reason: they are the ones who raise children.

Excuse me? That is the only thing you could come up with for why Daughters are important? If we are going to segregate celebrating people into gender specific days, can we at least think of other ways females can add value to society?

I refuse to accept that my only value to society as a person on the more female end of the gender spectrum is my uterus. Further, as someone who has no intention of having children (and is most likely not physically capable anyways) I am offended...does this mean I then have no value in your mind?

There are lots of ways that people on the female end of the spectrum contribute to society. And since part of the day was focused on issues like abuse and poverty, here are a few that could have been very relevant:
-in developing countries research has shown that providing assistance to "females" (I will use that word instead of mentioning the spectrum every time) is one of the most efficient ways to help lift a community out of poverty
-"females" now make up pretty much half of the working world, and generate about half (I seem to remember hearing 55% somewhere but am not sure where) of revenue in North America. Considering that in general "females" are being paid 70 cents to the dollar for the same work for men, that is pretty impressive!
-"females" are more vulnerable to violence and marginalization but still manage to do pretty much every thing "males" do, often in environments where "male" is still considered the norm and the more acceptable and expected way to be.


I provide a lot of value to my community. I work full-time, often having a second (or even third) job going as well. The work I have chosen helps people with multiple disadvantages overcome them and gain independence, dignity, and ways to become more productive members of society themselves. I contribute financially: not only do I pay my taxes, I also donate to charities when I can. I volunteer for groups so I can help further their causes. I do everything I am capable of to help take care of those I love, both family and friends. I enter each day of my life with the goal to do more positive than negative that day, and generally I succeed.

So if you want to talk about the value of Daughters, let's think a little harder than just what their uterus allows them to do.