Under what circumstances would you consider raising a daughter as a son? In what situation could you imagine disguising yourself in exchange for greater freedom?

Under what circumstances would you consider raising a daughter as a son? And in what situation or circumstance could you imagine disguising yourself in exchange for greater freedom?

I would find it easier to disguise myself than to raise my daughter as a son. I would dress as a man if it got me out of the house or allowed me to attend school. I would find it extremely difficult to raise my daughter as a son, I can't even imagine it. However, I have never been forced to live the life they are living. The degradation, threats, the fear. It seems there was no one they could completely trust. Who knows what I would do if I walked in their shoes.

I would raise my daughter as a son only if her safety depended on it. In such a repressive society, I'm not sure I would even to give her an education. What hope would she have for a profession? I would disguise myself as a male if it meant I could work to support my children, or if my safety depended on it. And I would to go out in public to shop for food, etc.

I hope I would do as the Afghanis are doing. By allowing the daughters to dress as boys they have some degree of freedom. Experiencing that little bit of freedom and attaining an education would hopefully push them to try to get out of there and find a better life elsewhere. As for myself, I would dress as a man in order to provide for my family.

Personally, I suspect that I would have done exactly as the women in Afghanistan are doing in regard to allowing daughters to behave and dress as boys for the same reasons. I would not expect to have ever thought of this living in the US but after seeing the situation described in this book I would definitely do it to provide income for the family and especially to allow girls to be educated which would be a prime concern to me. Education is the only way out for many of these girls.

The only circumstances under which I would consider raising a daughter as a son would be if it was solely and 100% my daughter's choice. I think it is possible that most parents of the bacha posh who start disguising their daughters as sons from birth but then expect the daughter to resume her duties as a woman once she hits puberty, are putting the family's honor and its reputation in the community before what is best psychologically and emotionally for the daughter. The decision in all cases should be voluntary given the risks that each of these girls takes and the possible backlash upon discovery.

I would not find it difficult to raise a daughter as a son if it was for her safety or so she could be freer. I am however used to freedoms. I found it much more difficult to think of raising a daughter as a son in such a restricted society as the one in Afghanistan. There is a nice children's book titled The Breadwinner about this topic. Since I read that book it didn't seem that odd to me that girls would dress as boys in Afghanistan in order to leave their homes. But after reading this I now see the much more complex situation that these children find t themselves in. Since the gender roles are so different there, the ability to move back and forth between genders seems so much more difficult than it would be in our culture.