Girlhood in South Asian Religions

While analyses of gender and women, as well as “youth,” have grown in South Asian studies in recent decades, “girlhood” remains relatively understudied. This roundtable complicates processes of empowerment and agency for girls as they are situated within South Asian religious contexts. Framing questions include: What defines girlhood? What are the boundaries of girlhood and how are girls enabled to cross these boundaries? In what ways are girls granted religious agency, in what ways do they generate it for themselves, and how do such formations help us critique the very notions of girlhood and agency? What is the role of education, secular and religious, in shaping access to these forms of agency and where are the limits of those possibilities? And, perhaps most importantly, how does attention to the formative years of girlhood in South Asia help us think about the future of South Asian traditions, communities, and politics?