Ray of Hope

#Worldmenstrualhygeineday

 

Strange coincidence that today my househelp shared that her eldest daughter has “come of age” just yesterday. This young girl stays in the village with her grandparents and studies there. A gifted artist, she has participated in many drawing and painting competitions and won prizes. Her name had been published in the local daily and her mother and aunt (my other house help) proudly shared the pictures with me.

So, when they got a call from the girl’s grandfather that she had now entered puberty, there were mixed feelings for both women. Why mixed feelings?

Allow me to introduce these two women. Both these women are hardworking women, probably the primary earners as is mostly the case. One, the aunt, is a mother to two grown up boys. Completely uneducated but has brought up the boys well. The mother is a mother to 4 kids, typically 3 girls and a boy. Educated. Always strives to teach her kids equality and self-sustenance.

The call from the village was followed by a diktat that now that the girl has come of age, it’s time to stop her schooling. And I’m proud to say that it was the elder boy cousins who stood up for her and told their grandfather that she will not stop going to school. Obviously brought up with the right principles and respect for women.

The mother on the other hand only worried that her little girl doesn’t eat too well, how will she stay healthy?

Two women, strong in their own silent way. Of course, their small concessions to the patriarchal mindset will be to let the girl go through the “coming of age” rituals that are followed in villages. Announcing to the world that she’s now “ready for marriage” as was the custom in days bygone.

But I see a ray of hope. Hope that these two women and those two young men, the elder cousin brothers, will ensure that this little girl doesn’t lose her childhood.

#rayofhope #empoweredwomen #gendersensitivity