Girlhood by Masuma Ahuja

Today is International Women’s Day and that prompted me to post a review for GIRLHOOD: TEENS AROUND THE WORLD IN THEIR OWN VOICES by Masuma Ahuja. The voices range from Alejandra who is 17 in Argentina to Viona, 15, in Kenya. In between are teen girls from India, Iraq, Mongolia, South Africa, Sweden and more for a total of 30 girls from 27 countries. As Ahuja says in her afterward, “I thought about how rarely we get to see the world through girl’s eyes … about what life looks like for us and for everyone else.” This collection of diary entries, quotes, photographs and other images includes a roughly 7 to 8 page scrapbook-like “collage portrait” of each participant. Award-winning journalist Ahuja adds context and analysis of news stories to each, rounding out the pictures of these lives. She includes some shocking statistics like “about 130 million girls between the ages of 6 and 17 are not in school” and “one in five girls around the world marries before the age of 18.” The book is recommended for those in middle school and early high school and I wish it would be on the shelves everywhere. The opportunities to reflect on common themes – finding identity and pursuing dreams, separating from parents, developing friendships and struggling to fit in – deserve the time and space that is often not allocated to girls and their issues.  It would be fascinating for advisories (homerooms) to read and share these stories as well as to use them for a model to create their own. Somewhat similar stories for older teens was created a few years ago when The New York Times’ Jessica Bennett shared “What 18 Looks Like Around the World” with the #ThisIs18 project.  Coincidentally, The New York Times posted today “Teens on a Year That Changed Everything” – an absolutely stunning commentary on the last 12 months from a teenage perspective.