By Reena Kumar
LADOOS SHOULD MARK THE BIRTH OF BOTH GIRLS AND BOYS, SAYS CHARITY
THE BIRTH of a girl in south Asian families isn't always celebrated with quite the same fervour as the arrival of a boy, even in Britain today.
As tradition goes, ladoos - Indian sweets - are distributed among relatives and friends when the newborn is a boy, but among conservative families the same practice is not carried out for baby girls.
The Pink Ladoo Project was set up to challenge these views and to encourage communities to celebrate the birth of all babies equally, regardless of gender.
It was launched on the International Day of the Girl Child in October 2015, by lawyer Raj Khaira, who decided to take a stand against long held patriarchal views which see females as a financial burden to parents because of the dowry system.
Sharon Johal, the UK director of Pink Ladoo, revealed to Eastern Eye why Khaira was inspired to set up the charity.
“When Raj's sister was born, she recalls really clearly that people were crying and saying 'if only you had a son,' 'we're so sorry, next time you'll have a son, if only you had a miscarriage.'
“A few years later when her brother was born it was a completely different story. Sweets were going round and she said at that time we should celebrate the birth of daughters.”
When the same thing happened five years ago when Khaira's best friend gave birth to a girl, she was determined to shift attitudes and educate the older generation.
This year, the team led entirely by volunteers, will launch the initiative in the US and they are already spreading their message in Canada and Australia.
As part of their campaign, the activists go into schools in predominantly Asian families and speak to parents and children about gender inequality. They also distribute pink ladoos in hospital maternity wards to celebrate all births regardless of sex.
Johal, who recently visited a school in Redbridge, said: “Gender equality starts from a very young age, where children are taught what they can and can't be and we've started to work within schools to challenge that.
“Some parents say family pressure won't allow them to distribute sweets for a girl, and change is needed. We also talk about dowry and inheritance, if we stripped away some of the traditions, we wouldn't be so worried about having a daughter. It's about working with them to raise these conversations at home. In the long run, it will have a knock on effect on traditions.”
Despite the positive response from young Asian women and men, Johal said some members of the community have been hostile about discussing the issue.
With a following of almost 35,000 on Facebook and a strong level of support from women aged between 25 to 34, Johal is adamant that conversations are now happening in households which is a step in the right direction.
“When I was born 30 years ago, my grandparents stopped my dad from distributing ladoos because they said people would laugh at us. Decades later that is still happening. Our generation is more open, we are quite brave in that way. It's really nice to see males making that change as well.
It's about starting conversations and educating the older generation, but we recognise this is not going to happen overnight.”
