After I became of age, all eyes were on me. What I was studying, who I was talking to, where I was going to school. I noticed boys my age didn't have these concerns, even when they should have.
However, this is not to say that I resent being female in this society. I was always comfortable being a young woman in my society and I lived up to the expectations people had because it was just the way things were, and I didn't know any other way to live my life.
I've often thought about how my life would be different if I were born male in my society today. I know people would not care as much about how I lived my life, or the choices I made because boys are inherently given these privileges. Maybe boys face their own struggles, and maybe I'm not sociologically mindful enough right now to see them, because I still think boys would have it a little easier.
I'm Pakistani too, however, I am not Muslim. My mom is Mexican/Native American so I have grown up with two cultures because my parents have been divorced as long as I can remember. But I totally understand what you mean what you become of age in the Muslim/Pakistani community. For example my dad never used to care about how I dressed or how I wore my hair but after I became 18 I noticed a change. He began to ask me and my sister who is 2 year younger than me to fix our hair (because we have very curly frizzy hair) and cover our legs (because we used to wear shorts that went to your knees). He was never mean about it though, I just thought it was interesting how his expectations of us changed as soon as we became young women. All of the sudden there was this gender role we had to fit according to the Muslim/Pakistani community. So I can definitely relate!
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