Independent or Responsible – What Should We Become?

“Be financially independent”: nowadays we hear this line too often, being told to women specifically as high percentage of them are living as housewives and not working, have to be dependent either on their father’s or husband’s income for everything. Because of this, many women are looked down on, don’t get access to things they wish to, and don’t have control over their lives.

So this is a kind of revolution we are seeing in the country, and we would love to witness a day when all the women are financially independent. When both men and women are financially independent in a family, they have more freedom in their lives, more growth, and less financial pressure.

But there is one issue associated with the term being financially independent, and that’s how we perceive it, and it’s not being talked about. This refers to how men perceive women’s growing stature in society and being financially independent and how women think of the same.

Men should not perceive it as a threat to them, while they need to respect and feel happy about them. On the other hand, women should not have a feeling of arrogance while need to be supportive towards their partners.

If put in another word, both men and women should be responsible towards each other and their families. The term independent is not a bad term, but we fear that sometimes it may be perceived in a negative way, creating a sense of arrogance (feeling superior to partners) and selfishness (only thinking about oneself). This we are saying irrespective of genders; both men and women can feel this way which is not a good thing for their relationships and can cause more divide in the society.

On the other hand, when we are responsible, we perceive things in a different way, we become more loving, caring, and supportive towards others. So our message is simple: be financially independent but at the same time, you have to be responsible, this way we can make a better society.

Just imagine, if everyone (both men and women) in a family are financially independent yet responsible, that family will be more happier and prosperous.