Girls and Girlhoods at Threshold of Youth and Gender : VACHA Initiatives
Contents: Foreword/Sonal Shukla. Introduction. Editor and contributors. 1. The adolescent girl in India/Sonal Shukla and Pradnya Sawargaonkar. 2. Need to introspect factors responsible in upbringing of girl child to ascertain her identity and status in society/Prabha Tirmare. 3. Government\'s commitment to the girl child: promises belied?/Cynthia Stephen. 4. The declining sex-- ratio in India/Daksha Dave. 5. Education and health of girl child in urban India/Vibhuti Patel. 6. Child labour in India: emerging issues/Dolly Sunny. 7. Trafficking of tribal girl child/Rekha Talmaki. 8. Existence in shadows: women and disability/Prerna Sharma. 9. Condition of female children in Orissa (with special reference to Ganjam District)/Krishna Chandra Pradhan. 10. Sibling abuse: a study of sibling interactions in family setting/Indira Rani and N. Komali Saloni. 11. The Indian girl child: Trajectories of social construction/Sunita Parmar. 12. Politics of gender and the familial structure in the story -- \'girls\' by Mrinal Pande/Pratima Dave Shastri. 13. Girl child, television advertising and status quo: gender in HDFC standard life advertisements/Mira K. Desai. 14. Absence of an age: had it been a Durga Trilogy?/Amrit Ganger. 15. Adolescent girls, expelled by the community -- detained by the state/Shalini Mathur. 16. Understanding of the issues of vulnerable and violence affected girls through Mukta\'s intervention/Mukta. 17. Violence against girls residing in two slums of Mumbai/Rohini Kashikar Sudhakar. 18. Shaishav Balsena/Parul Sheth. 19. Empowerment of adolescent girls through NGO intervention/Ruby Ojha. 20. Girl child and law/Vijay Hiremath. 21. At the threshold of youth and gender national symposium on girls and girlhoods on November 6-8, 2008 at SNDT Women\'s University, Mumbai and Organized by Vacha Resource Centre for Women and Girls and P.G. Dept. of Economics, SNDT Women\'s University--Media Matters.
"This volume is an outcome of three decades of deliberations on girls and girlhoods by the women\'s rights organizations in India.
Vacha is a women\'s group involved in social research and action. Vacha started with a women\'s library and since has developed several programmes dealing with research and training, a children\'s centre, and a cultural centre. The library maintains a collection on women\'s issues. Since most available written material on women\'s issues is in English, Vacha also collects, creates, and disseminates cultural resources such as songs, skits, audio and video material concerning women\'s rights. Vacha decided to hold a symposium on "Girls and Girlhoods at Threshold of Youth and Gender" in November 08 in collaboration with SNDT women\'s University.
The Symposium aimed to focus on girlhoods, generate information about them and create a platform for groups and individuals concerned about the issues. It naturally included girls themselves. Girls from different locations were invited, together with scholars and practitioners, to make presentations and to celebrate girlhood. Girls are strong survivors in our society. The symposium celebrated their power, strength and creativity in foyer and quadrangle events and during debates on declining child sex ratio and other crucial concerns of girls such as health and education, child labour, trafficking, disability, media portrayal (In advertisements, television and cinema, violence, institutionalization of "Problem" girls, mobilization of girls, social security for empowerment of girls by the state and NGOs and legal provisions. Important papers presented followed by and discussion at the symposium are included in this volume" (jacket)
