For many of the families of Shivaji Nagar, even the idea of girls entering the playground without an accompanying male family member was alien. When Sabiya Sheikh tried to get girls from Shivaji Nagar, a slum in Govandi, to play in a kabaddi tournament she was helping organise, she met with resistance. She says, the girls’ parents “asked me whether it will be safe for girls to play in track suits; ‘won’t it make them vulnerable to boys? Why don’t you teach them some household work instead of kabaddi?’ There were so many questions!” Ms. Sheikh, a third-year B.Com student, is a volunteer with Parivartan, a programme run by the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW), Apanalaya (an NGO in Mumbai), and the STRIVE research consortium (from the London School of Health and Tropical Medicine). Parivartan seeks to address gender discrimination using sports, connecting girls with mentors, coaching them on teamwork, skills and empowerment.

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