April 2, 2026

Building New Traditions

In Saraswati’s house, traditional arts were reserved for sons but when Saraswati decided to question this, she changed everything for women in her family.

Dr. Anita

Sharma , Campaign Ambassador

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In Saraswati’s community in Jharkhand, the knowledge of ancestral art was traditionally reserved only for the sons. Her father carried on the ancestral legacy of idol making. However, when Saraswati showed interest in learning, her brother fumed at the request. 

Girls in her community were discouraged from learning these skills and sometimes even considered unclean to touch these idols while menstruating. Having attended Breakthrough sessions, Saraswati believed girls and boys can both do all kinds of work. She dared to pose a question to her father: “Is it only the right of the sons to learn traditional crafts? Don’t I have the potential to learn?” She persistently had a conversation with her father about it. 

In many families, such questions never even come up, let alone answered. So her attempts to bravely challenge them moved her father.

He agreed and in doing so, shifted a fundamental belief just a little. Now, Saraswati is happily learning the traditional art of idol making, and opening doors once never available to the women in her house.