International Day Of The Girl Child 2024: Women Who Broke Societal Shackles As Children, Are Now Helping Others Do It

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Some young women in the city, as a child or teenager, rebelled against the norms imposed by families and society on the girl child. They fought hard to free themselves from their shackles. And now they are working to protect the rights of the girl child in their families, neighbourhood and society.  On the eve of the International Day of the Girl Child, Free Press spoke to three such women who shared their struggle, the challenges they faced and are still facing.  

Excerpts:  

‘You have to overcome fear’      

Twenty-four-year-old Nargis lost her father when she was a child. Her two brothers used to drive a rented auto-rickshaw and she and her three sisters stayed at home along with their mother. When she was 14, she happened to meet a group of social workers, who urged her to resist what she did not find right. The meeting changed her life. She not only refused to get married at a young age but even persuaded one of her relatives not to marry off his minor daughter. Having completed her masters in social work, she now works to stop child marriages. She also tells young girls about the POCSO Act and arranges meetings between teenage girls of her locality with policemen so that they are not afraid to approach the cops. “You have to overcome fear,” she says.      

‘Moved to Bhopal for better opportunities’

Muskan (18) lived in a joint family in Bhupura Kalan village. The education of her cousins, like other girls in her village, was stopped after Class 12. The same would have happened with Muskan, but she insisted to move to Bhopal where she would get more opportunities. Her farmer parents had to relent and she joined a school in Bhopal in Class 11. Now she is pursuing BA (Honours) in Political Science. She also persuaded the father of a friend to do the same. Her younger sisters are also now studying in Bhopal. “I want my brother to help me in cooking and I should be able to ride a bike like he does,” she says. She now guides young about career opportunities, good and bad touch and about websites that they can use to enhance their knowledge.

‘Joined Class 1 at age of 12’

As a child, Madhu (27), used to live in a slum cluster along the railway tracks near the Bhopal Railway Station. She and her sisters went rag-picking along with their mother. Their father had left them when she was 10. Her sisters were married off before they turned 16. Somehow, a social worker got her admitted to Class 1 at a school when she was 12. “All the other students were half my age. They used to tease me,” she says. But Madhu did not give up and passed Class 10. She now works with an NGO and has got 15 slum children admitted to schools after getting their birth certificates made. “This is my way of saying thanks to the person who got me admitted to a school,” she says.