The Pink Ladoo Campaign Aims To Combat Gender Discrimination One Ladoo At A Time
Lifestyle Oct 21, 2015
When boys are born in the South Asian community, there's the usual fanfare of ladoos, mithai, and sometimes gold for the mother and son — but why not for girls? The Pink Ladoo campaign aims to celebrate the births of girls and boys equally.
Women routinely face hurtful and sexist micro-aggressions throughout the world, but there's an added layer of discrimination when a girl's birth is seen as a disappointment and a burden on her family. Raj Khaira, the founder of the Pink Ladoo campaign, sought a simpler way of celebrating girls with ladoos and combatting inequality.
"This gender-biased practice sends a message from birth to Asian girls that they are worth less than their male counterparts. I want to raise the status and value of baby girls and transform attitudes towards women by changing this tradition. The Pink Ladoo is not just a sweet, it is the symbol of a protest against established South Asian gender-biased social norms,” she said in an interview to Kent Online.
On International Day of the Girl Child on October 11, Khaira and volunteers with the campaign visited Birmingham Women's Hospital to distribute the pink ladoos to mothers who'd given birth to girls and boys. The sweets were provided by Barfia, a popular sweet shop across the United Kingdom. This is a cause that Gravesend franchise owner Satinder Kang is keen to support.
Pink Ladoo Launch from G.Arni on Vimeo
“We believe every child's birth is worthy of a celebration and we want to help break down the barriers to gender equality, one pink ladoo at a time. We wanted to be involved in this campaign because community collaboration is one of the core values of our business," said Kang to Kent Online.
The Pink Ladoo campaign is eager to expand its cause by reaching out to the rest of the world. "We have received interest from around the world and can confirm that we have operations in place in planning out expansion to Canada in the coming months. Watch this space," said Khaira exclusively to ANOKHI.
The campaign is another example of how a small gesture can change mindsets and rewrite the inequalities that girls have to face from their birth onwards. It's an admirable campaign that makes us fist-bump the air — because girls deserve to be celebrated and not dismissed because of their gender.
These small customs of ladoos and revering boys devalue women from their first entries into the world. If we want to keep these traditions, we ought to question why we don't celebrate for baby girls like we do for baby boys. The Pink Ladoo is a grassroots campaign, but it's one that we hope catches on. No matter what the gender of a child, they should be welcomed — especially with some scrumptious sweets!
Main Image Photo Credit: Pink Ladoo
Rumnique Nannar
Author
Rumnique Nannar is a new journalist with a passion for all things pop culture, film, and art. Rumnique was born in London, with a predilection for devouring English chocolate with her Vogue, ANOKHI, and Glamour magazines in tow. She is currently in her Journalism Masters at UBC. Connect ...
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