Marriage is not an achievement -Linda Ikeji

Linda Ikeji recently said marriage is not an achievement.

In our society, no matter what a woman achieves, she is judged by her marital status.

Many successful young women have been victims of constant hounding from family, friends and foes alike to go and get married.

But no one is asking the kind of men these women want to settle down with or whether they wish to get married in the first place. It’s like their choice doesn’t count.

In Nigeria, if you are a woman and successful and unmarried, you are in trouble.

The only thing that these people want is for them to just get married. It doesn’t even matter if the marriage is doomed from the start.

Our society put so much unhealthy pressure on single women to get married. No matter how much they have achieved or how much good they are doing in the world, they are still seen as nothing until they get married.

We really hope that this attitude to single women will change, but if it doesn’t change soon, we encourage single women to hold their heads high, enjoy their lives and rise above the societal judgements and pressure.

Recently, some young women bared their minds on the pressure to get married and Linda Ikeji was one of them. Here is what she said.

“Marriage is not an achievement. There is so much more to life than being someone’s wife. Get married please, but don’t be pressured into it. I don’t know how many of you single girls are under pressure to get married  but I am. Pressure from family, friends and people who just can’t mind their business. The pressure is so intense right now I feel like going to husband market – if there is any such thing- to buy myself some breathing space. Give me a break you people.”