i hate to tell you this, but some cultures do not value female children.

my mother was born in 1915 to polish/russian catholics from the old country and they took her out of school when she was 13 and forced her to work as a dynamte test (very very dangerous) to support the family of 13 children. she worked at that job for 25 years, living at home and giving her weekly paycheck to her mother, until she got married at age 38, old maid status then.

my 16 year old is a princess compared to this.

times change. cultures change.