Back To School

From personal freedom to professional opportunities girls are constantly at the receiving end of gender disparity and prejudices, resulting from centuries of regressive socio-cultural practices, despite the nation’s rapid progress, otherwise. 

Anecdotal evidence shows us that, every single day a majority of girl children are constantly handed the short end of the stick. Here are some stories that might sound familiar. 

• When a girl gets harassed on the street, she gets reprimanded for wearing the wrong clothes, giving the wrong message, or simply being out at the wrong time of the day - while “boys will be boys”.
• Several women are still expected to move to live with their husbands and are expected to leave their jobs if it doesn’t suit their new family’s preferences. 
• When an impoverished family needs to choose between providing education for their girl child or a boy - they end up picking the boy regardless of their performance or aptitudes for completing that education. 
• Female infanticide is still a real thing. 
• Women still don’t get equal pay for equal work, across types of work, levels of work and locations. 

Social barriers such as constant moral policing (including victim-blaming, women taking the brunt of the blame when a couple is caught together, the wife becoming the butt of jokes/ridicule in cases of their husband’s adultery, restrictions attributed to cultural norms etc.), occupational segregation, gender-based violence; and restricted access to basic rights like education, hygiene and medical care already pose a challenge for girls with ambition. 

Add to that, the economic barriers of under-resourced families, and they're stuck in a catch-22 that leaves them without hope. 

In the long run, we aim to bridge the gender disparity throughout a girl’s life and help them realise their dreams, no matter how distant they might seem today. 

We begin by bringing them positive experiences through mentorship, scholarships, guidance and sheer love. We support them to complete their education and encourage them to open up their minds to a world of professional opportunities that would be most suited to their interests, aptitudes and ambitions. 

We work closely with their schools and communities to facilitate all-around education, explore gainful employment opportunities and build entrepreneurship amongst adolescent girls between the ages of 12 and 22 years. Alongside this, we also run school-level, life-skill workshops for building confidence, communication abilities and emotional healing. 

Gender Disparity is a complex socio-cultural-economic problem that needs to be addressed from tens of viewpoints. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step - we intend to take several small steps, advocating for incremental changes that snowball into community-wide, and eventually, worldwide impact. 

We work with girl children in the ages 6-21+ and are committed to the UN’s SDG charter on the four goals of -

• SDG4 Quality Education
• SDG5 Gender Equality
• SDG8 Decent Work and Economic Growth and
• SDG10 Reduced Inequalities.

We believe in bringing about change one step at a time, one girl child at a time. 

Aimed at young girls between the ages of 13 and 18, this program works with the singular objective of steering them to complete their formal education, and not drop out in search of a livelihood or marriage. As they cross the bridge into early adulthood, we safeguard them against a mindset that limits their imagination and helps them move over stereotypes defined by their environment. 

We encourage them to dream and give them the tools they need - to realise those dreams. 

Alongside their education, we introduce them to the Hope Curriculum covering topics of relevance for young girls including body positivity, confidence, financial literacy, communication skills and social skills that are required for their all-around development.