When one voice with a message can be a catalyst of change, it spells one more battle won, one more struggle ended in victory. Bhagwan Pawar, district health officer in India has such a voice. Although, women have fiercely fought against gender imbalance for decades, this man joined in the fight and marched India's women to a huge achievement last month.He has fought alongside the women in India to be heard, to help them take their rightful place not behind, not under, but next to men. The fight is not over, in fact it is far from over - it will never be over till female fetuses in India are kept and not aborted. However, India's women have won one round of this battle – thus October 2011 has been written into our history books.
Earlier this month, over 200 Indian girls were given a new lease on life. These girls have borne the weight and shame that come with their name for years: being named Nakusa by their parents. Nakusa means unwanted in Marathi. We in Trinidad and Tobago go to strange lengths to procure a meaningful name for our children, while they are still in the womb, understanding that it is something they will have to live with and be known by for the rest of their lives. With a name like unwanted, what message have your parents subtly imparted to you, how motivated will you as a woman be to achieve all that you can, what psychological issues will you accumulate over the years as you endure the indignity that comes with your name – instead you may find yourself hiding behind your shadow for the rest of your life, wouldn't you?
Determined to put a stop to this, Bhagwan Pawar has been the driving force behind combating the negative attitudes towards girls in India. "Many of these girls that we've identified don't want their name. They feel very bad about it, so there is a psychological impact," said Pawar. "We will change their names and we will award them with certificates with the signature of the district collector (local government official) and myself. All their school documents and official records will be changed."Having this name has caused a culture of poor self-esteem and insecurities amongst these girls and threatened to pass these feelings on to the future daughters of these young women. Sudha Kankaria, the activist behind the Save Girl Child charity in India also played a major role in the renaming process. In her words, this project is bigger than we may think, "It's a vicious circle and we should break it. With this project, we are benefiting two people; the Nakusas and the future Nakusas."
