Is gender reveal necessary - in my opinion

In the recent years the moment you share the good news that you are pregnant, the first question that everyone asks is what is the gender of the baby - boy or girl. Although in some countries it is still an offence to reveal gender before delivery, in most developed countries, gender reveal is legal and is becoming very very common. But is this necessary? Here is my opinion on this question, and want to emphasize that I am not criticizing those who reveal gender and celebrate it. Back in the olden days, when technology was not so very advanced, getting an ultrasound done to know the baby's condition, was itself a big deal and not all clinics/labs/hospitals had sophisticated equipments to do that. However in the last few generations due to the advancements in science and technology, we are blessed to have techniques to even study at chromosome level to understand if there is any abnormality and perform detailed high resolution scans to study/analyze baby's development. We should be very grateful to all the scientists and doctors who were behind this marvelous achievement as millions of people are getting benefitted day to day. However, in addition to numerous significant parameters that play a crucial role in child birth, there are few trivial parameters like gender that can also be identified with the latest technology. In my opinion, there is nothing so significant about knowing the gender in advance. Not sure from where the concept of celebrating or hosting a party to reveal the gender originated, but gradually it is becoming a mandate to conduct such an event and let your near and dear know the baby's gender. During our parents' generation or grand parents' generation, this whole gender reveal taboo never existed and the entire family would be eagerly waiting until delivery to know whether the baby was a boy or girl. But before that, the first and most important thing everyone worried about was whether the baby was healthy. The couple would keep a list of both boy names and girl names ready so that based on the gender can decide from one. The curiosity till the time the baby is born is really a memorable experience in a couple's life which is something the present day couples are slowly losing on. What are the things that the present day couples, Kith and kin do upon knowing the gender? 1. Couples celebrate/host a grand party to reveal the baby's gender to the friends Nd relatives. Every couple gets creative in their own way about how they actually do the gender reveal. 2. Couples need not waste time preparing a list of names for the other gender. If the baby is a boy just preparing a list of boy names is sufficient. This could be one productive reason. 3. The hospital knows what colour towel the baby has to be wrapped in once he/she is out. Pink towel for girls and blue towel for boys. Some hospitals also decorate the maternity ward and baby cradle in the appropriate colour. 4. The parents-to-be, kith and kin know what colour onesies, mittens, booties, type of accessories are to be gifted for the baby so that one doesn't gift bowbies for a boy. Nobody understands gone are the days when girls used to be shy, blushing in pink; this is the age where girls punch your face pink if you mess with them. Gone are the days when we say boys like blue, cars, bikes and girls like pink, floral prints etc. Girls are now equally racing in bikes and cars and boys are ready to keep their attire subtle by going pink. During our pregnancy, we were very particular that we didn't want to know the gender in advance because no matter what the gender is we would welcome the baby into our family with full joy and happiness. Also, the question within each of us in the family whether it is a boy or girl was there till the baby entered the world and it was very enjoyable. But I had some intuition that it was a boy and I prepared long list of boy names and a short list of girl names, most of the onesies, mittens and booties we bought were in blue, like 3 onesies in blue 1 in pink rest neutral colours. Whenever we go for purchase we used to also comfort ourselves by asking won't girls wear blue dress or won't boys wear pink dress and reassure ourselves that there is nothing to worry much. But when the final moment came and the doctor pulled out the baby my husband saw it first and told it is a girl. It took me few seconds to take the fact in because very first moment itself she proved my intuitions wrong but after few second the responsible mother feeling of raising a bold and brave daughter started filling in, because even in today's world it is the women in the house who contribute a lot to the moral and educational development of the family. I have shared my opinion and experience of the entire gender reveal thing. Hope the other parents and parents-to-be don't take it so personally as criticism and just enjoy reading my experience and thoughts. My best wishes for all parents-to-be to be blessed with a healthy and happy baby.