The Trauma of the Girl Child:Learning to Take Charge—How Books can Help

•Deepa Agarwal

•“We have to free half of the human race, the women, so that they can help to free the other half.”

Emmeline Pankhurst, the leader of the British suffragette movement

Why girls are unwanted in India

•A deeply entrenched patriarchal system ensures that freedom remains a dream for most women.

•Religious beliefs reinforce the desire for male progeny.

•Girls are looked upon as a burden because of the dowry system.

•Consequently, they grow up feeling unwanted and worthless.

How books can help

•Australian author Mem Fox says, “Everything we read...constructs us, makes us who we are, by presenting our image of ourselves as girls and women, as boys and men”.

•By depicting girl achievers in stories and presenting situations girls control successfully, books can help them to evolve strategies to prevail over adverse circumstances.

Addressing this need

•Studies prove that percentage wise, the world over, girl protagonists seldom play leading roles in books.

•Conscious of this need in India, over two decades ago Children’s Book Trust organised a competition on the topic “Portraying girls and boys as equals”.

•Several excellent titles for different age groups were the result.

An Exquisite Balance by Poile Sen Gupta

The Why-Why Girlby Mahashweta Devi

Attempts by individual authors to address this issue

•Legendary author Mahashweta Devi’s well-known title The Why-Why Girl is an important example.

•It provides an extraordinary role model in the character of Moyna.

• Ten-year-old Moyna belongs to an impoverished tribe, the Shabars but is not afraid to challenge her situation.

Moyna’s whys

•“Why shouldn’t I catch a cobra?”•“Why do I have to walk so far to the river

to get water?” •“Why can't we eat rice twice a day?” •“Why should I eat their [the landlords’]

leftovers?” •“Why do I have to graze the Babus’ goats?

Their sons can do it?”’

The defining moment

•Moyna decides to moves into the author’s house.

•One night she asks, “Why do you read books before you go to sleep?”

•The author replies: “Because books have the answers to your whys!”

Crucial questions•Moyna decides to go to school. But the

timings of the school run by the author’s Samiti overlap with the period when she tends goats,

•She tells the teacher: “Why can’t you change the hours?...

• If you don’t teach me, how will I learn? I will tell the old lady [Mahashweta Devi] that none of us, goatherds and cowherds can come if the hours are not changed”.’

The answers

•Moyna is the first girl admitted to the village primary school.

•At the age of eighteen, she becomes a teacher in the same primary school.

•Her students also learn to ask: “Why?”

What this book establishes

•The spirit of protest and inquiry can bring about immense change in even the most underprivileged girl’s life.

•Moyna’s determination, her dogged refusal to accept things as they are can act as an eye opener even to young girls from far more affluent backgrounds who silently submit to unfair treatment.

Shanti’s Friend

Exploitation by relatives

•When drought strikes the village an uncle from the city promises to educate Shanti in return for help with the housework.

•However, there’s no school for Shanti, only endless chores and constant fault finding.

•After a severe scolding, Shanti decides to run away but has no money for her bus ticket.

•She sits down under a tree to think and the tree speaks to her.

Recognizing a girl’s contribution

• “Don’t cry, Shanti! You’re a wonderful girl. You’re so quick and clever.”

• “Shanti, if you were not there what would Chachiji do? Who would help her?”

• In a crisis situation, the tree actually hides Shanti.

• Deprived of her help and frightened of having to explain to her parents, the relatives realize the value of her contribution.

• When Shanti returns, they welcome her back and promise to send her to school.

What this book demonstrates

•The essential value of domestic labour•Self-assertion can sometimes put

exploiters in their place •No matter how helpless, we all possess

untapped inner resources. •The fantasy element emphasizes the

healing power of nature. •The friendly tree is a symbol of Shanti’s

undiscovered strength that comes to her aid in a moment of crisis.

The Battle for No. 19by Ranjit Lal

Discovering hidden strength• Eight girls on a school trip are confronted with a violent

mob that kills their driver. • The house in which they shelter belongs to a rich Sikh

family and soon they are under siege.• They summon up enough courage and intelligence to

fend off their assailants till help arrives. • A life changing experience for Puja, unloved because her

twin brother died soon after birth, while she survived. • She shoots the man holding a child hostage, discovering

a hidden lode of strength. • Her incredulous father is compelled to say, ‘I have to

debrief you, my dear,’… ‘debrief you for the last sixteen years.’

Faces in the Water by Ranjit Lal

The issue of female infanticide in a humorous fantasy

• Fifteen-year-old Gurmi uncovers the revolting secret behind the male births in his family.

• The water in a well on the farm is said to possess magical properties that bless the Diwanchand family with sons.

• But the ‘faces in the water’ Gurmi glimpses turn out to be his aborted sisters.

• Through a series of hilarious encounters with these mischievous ghosts, Gurmi brings about change in his family’s mind-set.

• While Gurmi is the protagonist, it is the ghost-girls with their ‘never-say-die’ attitude who force a male-centred family to acknowledge they are essential for the family.

• This book received the Vodafone Crossword Award 2010.

How these books can help girls•Most Indian girls need to develop the

courage to speak up, the ability to evolve strategies to resist exploitation, and reject the persona constructed for them by others.

•The above mentioned books provide role models, demonstrate that there is no weaker or stronger sex and girls can successfully restore equity by identifying their strengths and thus taking charge of their own lives.

Thank you!