I come from a family where girls are limited to what they can do and boys can do whatever they want. This mentality has had a great impact on my life. I was always told to go to school and come home right away. I couldn’t go to the park, hang out with my friends or even stay longer in school to study, but my male cousins could do all of that. I just saw this as a restriction maybe because my parents didn’t want me to mix too much with the western culture or they were just too overprotective,but being born in the United States and growing up here how could I possibly avoid it.

Due to these restrictions I couldn’t join many clubs after school and even when I joined clubs I would have to make so many excuses to come home just forty-five minutes late and be able to attend club meetings. Being in clubs made me stronger as a person and helped improve my leadership clubs. I was so involved in the club and the people around me that I  always went out of my way and did more then what was required of me to do. I panned events and made sure everything was so perfect even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to attend them. I didn’t do this for others only, but for my own satisfaction. I don’t do things for others expecting something in return. It was unfair for me because my parents wouldn’t let me attend these events even though I put so much effort into planning the events.

This impacted me socially as well. I couldn’t attend my friends birthday parties, graduation parties or even reunions.  I couldn’t even simply go to the movies with them either so I always felt left out.  Things have changed now because I go to college in the city and they know they can’t always be there for me, sometimes I am going to have to make the decisions for myself and I need my own space too. Now I can join clubs and attend the events and I am really excited because my first event is this Thursday, a party for Eid holiday.