For a woman, life is anything but easy. We’ll begin to face pressure about getting married and settling down with a ‘suitable’ man (whose ‘suitability’ has very little to do with the woman’s happiness) as soon as we cross the threshold of 25, is a truth most of us seem to have made our peace with. Some of us continue to battle the pressure, others cave at some point in their fight.

A man on Twitter told the world the heartbreaking story of one of his friends who was faced with this very pressure. And if you continue reading, you’ll notice how every last one of us knows someone or the other who’s been through this very fight.

Usman Ghani’s former classmate, a highly intelligent and talented individual since back in school, was the kind of girl everyone votes as ‘Most Likely To Be Successful’. And yet, her journey, thanks to the pressures of matrimony, turned out to be one of dismay.

Ghani, disheartened from what his friend and all her wasted potential went through, takes this chance to address people everywhere. To spread the message of independence and equality.

He doesn’t hold back when he urges every woman out there to follow her ambitions, regardless of societal pressure to retire to the duties of family life with a partner they didn’t choose.

And most importantly, he finished with a message for those bringing up the men of the world.

Usman hopes that him sharing his friend’s story will help more women speak out, and empower them and those that care about them to fight such matrimonial bullying that girls everywhere endure on a regular basis. And we sure hope he is right.