In 2001, Brenda Gael McSweeney, the UN Resident Coordinator in India and UNDP Resident Representative, wrote a great report called “Women in India: How free? How equal?” After ten years, with a decade to measure progress and remaining obstacles, The Modern Story is working with young women to identify how the idea of women’s empowerment is shaping women’s lives in India everyday.

In Ms. McSweeny’s report, she begins with the quote,

“At some time or other, we have all heard the comment, Gender is a Western concept. We don’t need it in India.”

To a certain extent, this quote sheds light on the positive aspects of gender and development in India reinforced by Humera of 9th standard at the Railway Girls High School in Hyderabad:

“Till now I have just heard about all these problems faced by women but personally I have never ever experienced any inequality and any discrimination or partiality. All the people my parents, neighbors, our teachers all treated boys and girls equally”

Problems related to gender and development are most apparent when race, skin color, money and rural vs. urban traditions force families to make tough choices. For example, Humera wrote in a homework assignment “In villages people want a boy not a girl because they say boys have to take care of their property. And they love the boy. If a girl is born they will kill the girl because they cannot bare the expenditure of the dowry of a girl.”

I was very impressed by the students’ ability to handle complex topics. Note Ruhi’s report on how skin whitening creams influenced women in her family as they tried to get jobs and find husbands and define their image.

Before the political strikes and holidays, our girls had completed part 1 of their video on women’s empowerment. See the vimeo link below and also don’t forget to check out their other video, “I am a young woman.”