When I was a child, I used to watch The Cosby Show and wonder what it would be like to be a black middle class family with a father present. I come from your average, traditional family. I have a mother and a younger brother, but my father is absent. Like a lot of black families, I didn't  have the luxury of having a father figure.

There are plenty of outreach programs for black boys who don't have a father, but what about black girls? 

Black girls without a father are subjected to learning how to build and maintain their own self-esteem. Sometimes, they seek love and attention from others instead of loving themselves first, accepting any kind of attention, even if it is negative. These broken girls grow up to be bitter, angry and possessing high levels of trust issues. Most men call these type of women "crazy," "doing too much" and "psycho," when in actuality, they are hurt, asking for help and wanting to be loved by a man that should have been in their own homes growing up.

I am not excluding what mothers contribute to grooming their daughters, however, how can a black mother, who has also never had a father, teach their daughter to love themselves before allowing another to do it first? Black women are forced to be strong, independent and self-sufficient without receiving love and sympathy from others. A lot of black women are the bread and butter of their households, but they should not bear the burden of taking up the task of acting as a full-time mother and father. It just isn't fair.

This may not be true for all black women, because it's not. But a father figure is a grown, wise, loving, caring and nurturing man that I believe many black girls growing up need. I believe that mentoring programs should be offered to girls so that they can have a male figure to look up to. Not every black woman has dealt with insecurities, low self-esteem and trust issues due to the absence of a father, but I believe that if more fathers or positive male figures are present, there would be a huge difference in how black women view men.