Story by Se Yeon Kim
Indian fathers are posting selfies with their daughters online to address the alarmingly skewed gender ratio caused by sex-selective abortions in India. #SelfieWithDaughter, which has been going viral on social media since last Sunday, is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Save Your Daughter, Teach Your Daughter” campaign to discourage female foeticide and improve women’s education.
I urge all of you, share a #SelfieWithDaughter. Also share a tagline that will encourage ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ : PM @narendramodi
– PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 28, 2015
The hashtag originally started in a village in the state of Haryana where female foeticide, despite being illegal, is so common that in 2011, its female-to-male ratio was one of the lowest in the nation. In an effort to stop the declining number, village leader Sunil Jaglan launched a community-wide WhatsApp contest that urged fathers to submit selfies with their daughters.
“Usually we don’t see many pictures of daughters in people’s house,” Jaglan was quoted as saying. “The objective of the contest is to increase importance of daughters in their homes. Clicking selfies is the latest craze, so we decided to hold this contest to encourage parents to take pictures with their daughters.”
Weeks later, in his radio program “Mann Ki Baat,” Prime Minister Modi called on fathers across the nation to join Jaglan’s initiative and express their appreciation for their daughters on Twitter, using the hashtag #SelfieWithDaughter. Modi also promised to retweet the photo with the best tagline to further promote his “Save Your Daughter, Teach Your Daughter” campaign. Both men and women, not just fathers, showed support for #SelfieWithDaughter to speak up against the gender inequality in India’s patriarchal society:
Here’s mine #SelfieWithDaughter My daughter, my pillar of strength! #betibachaobetipadhao @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/vBuaGtQnpE – Vijay Goel (@VijayGoelBJP) June 29, 2015
Love the #SelfieWithDaughter campaign. My selfie with my daughter Yashasvini @narendramodi. #BetiBachaoBetiPadhao pic.twitter.com/gbbaBlsuj2
– Naveen Jindal (@MPNaveenJindal) June 29, 2015
#SelfieWithDaughter here it is to the best relationship.. pic.twitter.com/q1BcEAGOkn – Rubika Liyaquat (@RubikaLiyaquat) June 28, 2015
#SelfieWithDaughter They say daughter is one of the most beautiful gift world has to give ….. I have two . pic.twitter.com/6mdm66oci8
– Sanjay Rathod (@Sanjay_Vis) June 28, 2015
I smile the most when I see you smiling – Tashvi Thank you for making my life full of joy. #selfiewithdaughter pic.twitter.com/YF4N7vphxw – Hemant Nahata (@Hemnahata) June 28, 2015
And this isn’t the only initiative working to improve women’s education. Similar to the “Save Your Daughter, Teach Your Daughter” campaign, the Security for Girls Through Land Project also aims to empower women and teach parents what a blessing it is to have a daughter.
As Landesa Rural Development Institute website points out, “In India, girls are often perceived as burdens by their families because they are not seen as financial contributors and because their families must pay dowry to have them married.” As a result, many girls are married off at a young age–while their dowry is considerably lower– and these girls must give up their education and often face very serious health problems during and after early pregnancies.
The Security for Girls Through Land project not only teaches girls in West Bengal about their land rights and their rights as women, it also reminds families that daughters are not burdens. Thankfully, a lot of the fathers in the photos above seem to have already realized that.
