You cannot choose the family you are born into, but you can choose your friends. Friendship is a voluntary, personal and long-lasting relationship based on trust, mutual affection and support between individuals. Among all the types of friendship present in this world, female friendships are the best type of friendship a woman will ever have in her life. Female friendships are not just some casual friendships; they are more than that. They are the cultural, emotional, and social support systems, and they quietly sustain the communities.
Women go through a lot; at every age they experience different kinds of pressure from society, such as family roles, career expectations, marriage, beauty standards and society judgements. In this, all female friendships provide emotional support to them. Whether it be your best friend from school or work, your mother, your sister, your aunt, your grandmother, your teacher, etc. Female friendships create safe spaces for women to express their thoughts and feelings without being judged or feeling weak. They give each other honest advice, as they can see themselves in each other’s shoes; they can empathise without any competition. This bond helps women deal with stress and isolation.
In my opinion, women help with cultural continuation. In many cultures around the world, there are some specific remedies and recipes that are passed down from generation to generation, and that’s done by grandmothers and mothers passing them to younger girls. For example, I have a hobby of saving recipes on Instagram, and many women who share them say that this is their family recipe and their grandmother or mother taught them. Like this, from family to family, there are many variations of one dish, all passed down to younger generations from their grandmothers. Not only remedies and recipes but also parenting tips and advice are passed down. This bond helps preserve languages, customs, and values. Also, now, due to migration, women from different cultures are friends, and they happily share each other’s culture through food and conversation.
Female friendships are the backbone of each other’s lives. Together, women help each other navigate through life; whether it be helping in careers, marriage, childbirth, or upbringing, female friends are always there for you. As shown in young adult movies, books, and series, 2 or 3 friends live together and help each other navigate new cities, jobs, and relationships. By nature, women are great problem solvers; they help in solving problems and making life decisions. This becomes a hidden support system network that strengthens the entire community.
Society often overlooks or neglects their friendship, as this doesn’t give any political or economic gain to society, ignoring the emotional labour. Female friendships do the invisible emotional work that keeps the communities and families intact and stable. When someone is depressed, they pay lots and lots of money to psychologists and therapists to just let go of their emotional baggage, but this is something female friendships do. They listen to their friends for hours to lighten their mood and give them advice on what to do in a specific situation. This is also labour, just because it’s not resulting in a paycheck doesn’t mean they are to be taken for granted.
Women’s friendships are the foundation of a healthy family and society; they are the base of emotional resilience and cultural survival. They truly wish the best for you without feeling jealous and wanting all good for you, so that they end up disliking those people whom you dislike. When you need them, distance and time don’t matter to them; they will always be there for you.