It's common knowledge that (African) men tend to idolize their mothers. The mothers that they do not particularly like because of her sex, but whom they consider their greatest allies when it comes to keeping their future wife in check.
The one who will set up humiliating and dehumanizing tasks for prospective daughters in-law.
The one who will act as the reminder for pregnancies and male children.
The one who will help throw out the last bag belonging to the wife that is no longer wanted because she failed.
If his mother isn't particularly educated, then it's bad for a woman to be too educated.
If his mother is a petty trader, then it's bad for a woman to be too career focused.
If his mother never questioned or retaliated against her loatheful husband, then it's bad for a woman to even consider divorce just because...
A woman's relationship with her son will determine that son's relationship with every other woman he meets.
If the mother acts as his accomplice, he will grow up to model his ideal woman after her.
If the mother forsakes him, he will grow up to model his ideal woman after her antithesis.
I have seen instances where men date and marry women who are literally the younger versions of their mothers.
In the series How I Met Your Mother, the protagonist Ted, fell hopelessly in love with Robin. Robin is modelled after Ted's mother.
In Friends, Ross obsessed over Rachel. Ross's mother once described Rachel as "the daughter she never had".
So, when next you come across a comment like "No matter how educated and successful a woman is, without marriage she's nothing", read it as
"My mother was neither educated nor successful and thank God she wasn't. Otherwise I wouldn't be here today. No educated or successful woman would have married my father. And presumably no educated and successful woman would want to have anything to do with me. I need to praise my mother's mediocrity because I am a product of that mediocrity."
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