海角大神

The girls who took over a town in rural India

Development experts around the world are increasingly focused on girls as a linchpin of economic and social progress. In Thennamadevi, though, teen girls have taken action on their own, improving their village with a speed that would make any official envious.

Girl power is blooming across India. Clubs intended to boost adolescent girls鈥� sense of worth are sprouting in remote villages. Women feeling empowered in local politics are acting as mentors and making a priority of improving the future for one of India鈥檚 most long-neglected populations.聽

But there鈥檚 girl power, and then there鈥檚 Thennamadevi.

In Thennamadevi, a village sheltered by banana trees and nestled amid rice paddies and sugar cane fields in India鈥檚 southern Tamil Nadu state, girls have moved beyond discussions of the challenges they face in India. They鈥檙e taking action. Bold action.

Frustrated by the many do-nothing men who seemed more interested in turning sugar cane into moonshine than in improving village life, the teenage girls have organized around their professed goal of making Thennamadevi the best community in their district.

The result is that in less than two years the girls have done everything from creating a 150-book library to successfully lobbying local authorities for a bus stop. The objective there: to cut down on the time girls (and boys) have to spend walking through dark and sometimes dangerous fields to get to and from school.聽

鈥淎fter going to our club, I know my rights as a child and as a girl, but it seems what鈥檚 different about our village is that we didn鈥檛 stop there,鈥� says Kousalya Radakrishnan, the Thennamadevi girls club president. 鈥淲e now understand our role in our community, and we are acting on that.鈥�

Young Kousalya, even though still in high school, already sounds like a seasoned politician. She sums up her role in the local girls鈥� movement with clarity and simplicity: to figure out how to deliver on the hopes and dreams that bubble up from the two dozen 14- to 18-year-olds in the club.聽

All of which has also helped make her into a minor celebrity and role model here. As she steps out of a cramped community center and onto a dirt street to lead one of the club鈥檚 signature rallies, dramatically standing out in a sea-green dress, she is swarmed by young girls with pigtails and wide grins. 鈥淲e鈥檙e making things better not just for girls,鈥� she says, 鈥渂ut for everybody in our village.鈥�

And maybe, she might have said, for the world鈥檚 largest democracy.

Around the world, development experts are increasingly focusing on girls as the key to fostering progress in developing countries. For more than two decades, aid groups and international nongovernmental organizations have centered their efforts on trying to reduce poverty and improve global health for women. The rationale has been that by unlocking a rural woman鈥檚 entrepreneurial spirit 鈥� helping her, for example, to not just tend her field but to sell her own produce 鈥� the woman鈥檚 entire family will receive a boost. Similarly, improving maternal health and helping a woman space out her pregnancies will enhance prosperity.聽

Numerous African and South Asian countries have seen extreme poverty rates fall and national health standards improve as a result of a focus on women. But more recently development experts have honed their efforts even further, zeroing in on girls as the linchpin of sustained economic and social progress in developing countries.

鈥淲e know that if girls stay in school, if they don鈥檛 marry and have babies early, and if they are empowered to pursue dreams their mothers never could have imagined, they improve not just their own lives but are a force for growth and progress in their communities and more broadly in their countries,鈥� says Geeta Rao Gupta, a senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation and an international expert in women鈥檚 empowerment. 鈥淲hen girls learn to replace time-honored limitations with 鈥業 can be whatever I want to be,鈥� it opens new paths forward for the girls and for everyone around them.鈥�

In many developing countries, girls face two starkly divergent paths: one fettered by gender inequality and cut short by early childbearing and the other offering personal fulfillment and economic improvement that benefit families and nations. If the second path is closed off, experts say, that鈥檚 a large chunk of a country鈥檚 economic growth potential that will never be tapped.聽

鈥淐ountries cannot end poverty if girls are unable to make a safe and healthy transition from adolescence to adulthood and become productive members of their communities and nations,鈥� the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said in its 2016 鈥淪tate of World Population鈥� report.

The UNFPA report focused on the world鈥檚 60 million 10-year-old girls, noting that the educational and other opportunities available to pre-adolescent girls and the 鈥渇lurry of life-changing events鈥� on their horizon will go a long way in determining many developing countries鈥� prospects.聽

鈥淲e鈥檝e seen that intervening with girls around 10 years old makes a great deal of sense, because they still have many options before them and they aren鈥檛 yet facing the pressures that come in many cultures with adolescence,鈥� says Dr. Gupta. 鈥淩eversing a girl鈥檚 trajectory after 13 is often very difficult, especially if she鈥檚 had little education and she鈥檚 married early and will soon be expected to have babies.鈥澛�

Pointing out that worldwide 32 million girls of primary-school age are not in school, the report noted that 鈥渨ithout quality education the 10-year-old girl will not acquire skills to earn a better income and find decent work.鈥� The ability of countries to ensure access to a primary and secondary education and to tackle stubborn problems such as gender discrimination, it concluded, 鈥渨ill shape the degree to which this generation [of girls] is able to maximize its potential and become drivers of positive change at the local and global levels.鈥�

Some countries are embracing the girl-power movement 鈥� at least on paper.聽

Count India among them. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country has launched a visible public awareness campaign under the slogan 鈥淏eti Bachao, Beti Padhao鈥� 鈥� 鈥淪ave the Girl, Educate the Girl.鈥澛�

Around New Delhi and in cities across the country, billboards feature girls wearing school uniforms or playing carefree games outdoors, with slogans such as 鈥淓very girl is precious鈥� or to educate a girl is to 鈥渟trengthen the nation.鈥� The campaign is part of national efforts to end female infanticide and child marriage and to stress the importance of keeping girls in school. Yet slogans are one thing; changing a culture is another.聽

鈥淎ll of this activity and national communication around the girl child is pretty robust, and that鈥檚 certainly positive,鈥� says Gupta. 鈥淏ut implementation of the programs behind the slogan remains a challenge, and then there鈥檚 the underlying issue that is more important than any of the rest of it: that girls are just valued less, largely because they carry less economic value.鈥�

Not in Thennamadevi, though. Not for a handful of idealistic and indomitable teens.聽

Kousalya was like many of the young girls in the village. She was headed down a path with tightly prescribed expectations and boundaries.

Her father, a fruit seller who like many other fathers in the village was prone to drinking, didn鈥檛 want her to go to school after age 12. A daughter should be at home, he said, not going off to a new school that would be 鈥渕ixed,鈥� where she鈥檇 be around boys.

But her father died an alcoholic, and Kousalya insisted on going to school, enlisting the support of a women鈥檚 nongovernmental organization in nearby Viluppuram, the district capital. Now she鈥檚 studying physics, wants to go to college, and plans to eventually become a college professor.

鈥淲e鈥檝e come a long way from the first days of the club when we went door to door to convince parents that it was a good idea to let their daughters come out in the evenings to meet with other girls,鈥� says Kousalya, standing before rows of purple-draped tables in Thennamadevi鈥檚 activity center. 鈥淓xperiencing that progress has shown all the girls that they can do a lot with their lives.鈥�

Others confirm that the can-do spirit of the club has taught them that the future is boundless. Bharati Murugan grew up hearing 鈥淵ou are a female. You are not for studying and working,鈥� she says. But that made her all the more determined to avoid her mother鈥檚 fate as a child bride. When the club was formed, she was one of the first to join and is now the treasurer.聽

Standing alongside the bicycle she cherishes because it gives her an exhilarating sense of independence, Bharati says that working to improve life in the village has taught her that girls really can accomplish a lot, especially when they collaborate. Her involvement with the club has also strengthened her determination to one day join India鈥檚 civil service, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

鈥淚 made a sign for my house that says 鈥楤harati IAS!,鈥� and every morning I proclaim those words aloud. My family laughs at me, but I don鈥檛 care,鈥� she says, pulling on one of her two long braids. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to make it come true, just as the girls of Thennamadevi are making true our dream of building a model village!鈥�

Indeed, the girls have been bringing about civic improvements with a speed that would make any government bureaucrat envious. They badgered district leaders with letters and meetings until lighting was provided for the village鈥檚 two unpaved streets. Tired of confronting village men loitering and drinking around the community toilet when they needed to use it, the girls started a campaign to install commodes in individual homes. That effort aims to address two issues at once: the village鈥檚 chronic problem of drunken and sometimes harassing men and the broader national health challenge of ending 鈥渙pen defecation.鈥�

They鈥檝e also targeted issues specific to them as adolescent girls. They persuaded district health officials to stock modern sanitary napkins in the nearest clinic as a replacement for traditional cloth rags. In a country where child marriage remains a national scourge (despite a law prohibiting the marriage of girls under age 18), club members have publicly pledged not just to renounce the practice for themselves but to come to the rescue of anyone they know being pushed into an early union.聽

Through all the activism, the girls are developing vital leadership skills. Malarvizhi Pandurangan says the girls club鈥檚 successes have taught her that organizing and speaking up works, so she鈥檚 taken her advocacy to her technical secondary school, where she鈥檚 deepening her math skills and learning about electrical circuitry.

鈥淚 tell the girls in my class about all the services our club has brought to my village, and I say we can improve our school in the same way if we work together,鈥� says Malarvizhi, standing in one of the spare classrooms of the Thiruvalluvar Technical Institute.聽

Outside, separate classes of girls and boys assemble on the dusty ground under the shade of thin-leaved trees to study for upcoming exams. Inside, girls whisper and giggle as Malarvizhi shares with a visitor how she鈥檚 organizing her classmates to lobby local businesses to provide the school with better equipment.

Thiruvalluvar鈥檚 principal, Vazha Jayachandran, attests to Malarvizhi鈥檚 leadership, and adds that all 40 girls at the institute are helping to infuse the school with more energy and academic rigor.聽

鈥淔ive years ago we didn鈥檛 even have girls here,鈥� he notes, 鈥渁nd now they are almost always the strongest in our subjects and produce the best results.鈥�

What鈥檚 remarkable about the girls of Thennamadevi isn鈥檛 just what they鈥檝e accomplished. It鈥檚 what they鈥檝e accomplished given where they鈥檙e from.聽

The Viluppuram district, with its web of rail connections, is a hub of child trafficking and sex trafficking. The district records some of India鈥檚 highest levels of child abuse, according to local officials and NGOs.

鈥淧eople don鈥檛 easily talk about these problems, making addressing them all the more difficult,鈥� says Sathiya Babu, managing trustee of Viluppuram鈥檚 office of Scope India, which shelters runaway and trafficked kids and works with local communities to improve children鈥檚 living conditions.聽

鈥淏ut we鈥檙e finding that the kids, and the girls especially, are determined to build better lives and are no longer accepting the traditional limitations their communities, even their own parents, are putting on them,鈥� he says.

In many ways, Thennamadevi is a typical village for the area, Dr. Babu says, but in others 鈥� both good and bad 鈥� it stands out.

鈥淢ost of the men there are alcoholics 鈥� that鈥檚 not so unusual 鈥� but one result is that 90 families in the village are run by widows. That鈥檚 a situation that aggravates existing challenges in the area,鈥� he adds, 鈥渇rom child abuse and runaways to child marriage. A mother who can鈥檛 support all her children may see the girls as either a financial burden or even as a source of income鈥� 鈥� for example through a dowry, even though dowries are outlawed in India, he says.

Still, Babu notes, Thennamadevi鈥檚 girls are unusual because in less than two years they have taken their club from a venue for discussing problems to one for taking action.

鈥淟ast year the girls there requested that the club organize a meeting where they could learn how to petition the government,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hese are girls who want change.鈥澛�

Yet for all the national focus on girls and the district鈥檚 efforts to improve their lives, there鈥檚 evidence that the long-held prejudices against girls remain strong.

S.K. Lalitha, Viluppuram鈥檚 social welfare director, notes that the district鈥檚 female-to-male birth ratio actually declined over the past decade, despite sustained national and state campaigns against sex selection and female infanticide. The 2016 family health survey showed that in the previous year 819 girls were born for every 1,000 boys 鈥� 777 girls for every 1,000 boys in rural areas.聽

鈥淭hose numbers are alarming, but they back up what I hear so many mothers say, that there is no security today for girls and that life for girls is getting harder,鈥� Ms. Lalitha says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 one reason the positive example of girls like those in Thennamadevi is so important.鈥澛�

Other clubs are being set up, too. Across the country in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, UNFPA and UNICEF have teamed up with local NGOs to create a network of hundreds of 鈥渒ishoris,鈥� or adolescent girls clubs, in some of the conservative state鈥檚 most remote areas.

On a sunbaked day in the village of Lamba Kalan, girls from 10 to 19 years old hear from one of the older members of her marriage at age 5. Another tells of being married off when she was 9 because her father was ill and the family needed money. Both girls pledge to 鈥渘ever allow my daughter to marry as a child!鈥�

Then several girls put on a play whose聽 story line in their area remains more fact than fiction: It鈥檚 about an impending child marriage. After the teacher in the play tells a mother that marrying off her daughter before she鈥檚 18 is illegal, the mother confronts her husband: 鈥淚 want our daughter to be a teacher or a doctor, not to get married and have babies so young as I did!鈥�

The father鈥檚 retort is one many of Lamba Kalan鈥檚 girls say rings familiar: 鈥淚f our daughter gets too much education, we will have trouble later finding her a suitable husband,鈥� he says. 鈥淎 girl鈥檚 place is at home, and then marrying and going to live in her husband鈥檚 home.鈥�

Then comes the closing line from the mother, a line that draws enthusiastic applause from the girls club members: 鈥淣o, that鈥檚 no longer true. Life for our daughters is changing!鈥�

***

The enthusiasm of mothers for their daughters鈥� accomplishments is in fact no longer just theater, at least in places like Thennamadevi.聽

Standing on the stoop of her home on a village side street, Maragatham Radakrishnan hugs her daughter Kousalya and marvels at her confidence and determination.

鈥淚 never could have imagined a daughter of mine accomplishing even half of what Kousalya has done,鈥� she says, beaming. Having never been to school herself, Ms. Radakrishnan says her biggest dream had always been that her daughter would be able to get some education. And now here鈥檚 Kousalya getting that education 鈥� and leading a movement.聽

鈥淚 see her doing things for the village and helping the younger girls, and it makes me so proud,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat she can speak up like she does, it鈥檚 amazing to me. She鈥檚 becoming a leader.鈥�