Yuwa Foundation Helps Young Girls Fight Patriarchy With Football

YUWA foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Jharkhand, is trying to help girls to access positive mentorship

( Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Rajeev Rawal)

Yuwa foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Jharkhand, aims to provide opportunity to every girl who wants to fight this patriarchal society for their rights. Football is an opportunity for them to overcome the deeply entrenched discrimination in their rural villages. Yuwa aims to use girls' team sports as a platform for social development, and the young footballers clearly enjoy the camaraderie and the competition.

In Jharkhand, six out of ten girls drop out of school and become child brides, thousands of girls are trafficked from here every year. But you don’t have to be trafficked to be suffering from abuse. There is a tremendous amount of sexual abuse even according to the government statistics.

Franz Gastler, Founder of Yuwa 

Gastler, from Minnesota, started Yuwa in 2009 and added a school for girls in 2015. Around 300 girls participate in the Yuwa soccer program, and about 80 of those girls attend the Yuwa School for Girls. The aim is to approach their parents to discuss her options before the advent of an early marriage. Yuwa has enabled some girls to travel outside of their village for the first time, and Some have taken trips around India or even to Spain for a tournament.

Yuwa is trying to help girls to access positive mentorship, to gain strength and confidence by being part of teams, and to get access to the type of education that’s going to help them develop a life-long love of learning, to really stoke their curiosity, to help them find their voice and become leaders.

It is a tradition in the village that girls aren’t allowed to pursue higher studies. In my village, everyone told me that I was a burden and they said I should be married and sent away

Chanda Kumari, 16 year old girl

Most people only think of encouraging boys. There is discrimination between boys and girls, and many don’t want to let the girls pursue higher education 

Suman Devi, Mother of Football player

Yuwa is trying to build a residential school and a football centre which is going to help a generation of girls to become leaders in their communities, in their country and specifically, to prepare girls for good universities ."

The organization has received a Nike Game Changer’s award and hosts workshops to educate about health and life skills, such as menstruation and parent meetings.

Yuwa received more than $2,00,000 in donations in 2016.

Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj