Healing History, Shaping Futures

This International Daughters’ Day should remind us that every daughter’s dream is part of a nation’s future.

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Every September, a quiet celebration dares to question centuries of silence - International Daughters’ Day. This September 28 will remind us that while sons were long treated as heirs to lineage and property, daughters were often denied equal worth. In countless households, a daughter who tops her class is still asked when she will get married, rather than what career she will pursue. Honouring daughters is not simply symbolic; it is a way of healing history.

History shows how power reinforced prejudice. In the mid-1800s, the East India Company introduced the Doctrine of Lapse, which allowed it to annex kingdoms whose rulers had no natural-born sons. Adoption, long respected in Indian families as a way of continuing lineage, was brushed aside. Kingdoms like Satara, Jhansi and Nagpur were taken over. When Rani Lakshmibai’s adopted son was denied recognition, Jhansi was seized, and she rose to lead the revolt of 1857.

Although the doctrine ended, its shadow lingered, mixing with dowry and patriarchy to harden son preference. Against this backdrop, the sight of a daughter today signing a property mutation form beside her mother is nothing less than a quiet rewriting of history.

Modern technology gave this bias new ground. Ultrasound scans, intended to reassure families, were turned into tools for sex selection. India’s answer was the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994, strengthened in 2003, banning disclosure of foetal sex and penalising sex selection. Laws are vital, but lasting change depends on culture and families choosing fairness. The dilemma is not unique to India. Technology mirrors the society it serves. Artificial intelligence now offers life-saving predictions in maternal health, but it could also be misused to reinforce outdated prejudices. The challenge is ensuring that innovation empowers rather than discriminates.

Women pioneers

Each field offers pioneers who opened doors and successors who widened them. In politics, Vijayalakshmi Pandit stood before the UN in 1953, while Nirmala Sitharaman stands before India’s Parliament today. In science, Kamala Sohonie broke barriers in the 1930s, while Tessy Thomas breaks new ground in missile technology. In the industry, Sumati Morarjee steered ships across oceans, while Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw steers a biotech enterprise across continents. In culture, Amrita Sher-Gil gave Indian art a modern idiom, while Arundhati Roy gave Indian literature a global voice. In sport, P. T. Usha ignited track dreams in the 1980s, while P. V. Sindhu turned them into Olympic medals. These names are more than symbols. They reshape imagination, showing families that daughters are not burdens but architects of possibility.

Numbers confirm the shift. Female literacy has risen from approximately 10 percent at Independence to over 70 percent today. Girls now account for nearly half of college enrolments. Women scientists account for a growing share of research staff, approaching a third in some agencies, and women officers are a rising force in the armed services. Yet progress is uneven. States like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, with strong social investments, report healthier sex ratios and higher female education, while parts of Haryana and Punjab still struggle with imbalance. Urban India offers daughters new horizons, but rural areas remain a more challenging terrain.

China’s one-child policy left a skewed generation and a marriage squeeze, where millions of men struggle to find partners. This has fuelled social stress and even trafficking. Demographers use this term to highlight how gender imbalance creates structural risks for society. South Korea, once deeply skewed, corrected course through law and public persuasion, showing that social attitudes can change within a single generation. Many Western societies, where daughters were never systematically devalued, use ultrasound purely as a medical tool. Global rankings underline India’s task. The World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report places India in the lower half, while countries like Iceland and Finland have closed more than 90 per cent of their gaps. The UN Development Programme’s inequality index shows India improving, but the distance remains.

Enforcing rights

To honour daughters, India must enforce rights, expand opportunity and recognise contributions. Daughters must inherit property as smoothly as sons through transparent, time-bound processes.

Scholarships and apprenticeships must connect girls directly to careers in science, technology, and skilled trades. For countless families, the simple addition of a safe school bus or hostel has determined whether a girl continues her studies or is pulled out after puberty.

The unpaid labour many daughters provide, from nursing parents to running family businesses to holding households steady, should be valued through tax incentives or social security. Adoption, once dishonoured by colonial policy, should be simpler and more dignified, giving families a humane way to grow.

These steps turn sentiment into substance. They also show why equality is not only a moral issue but an economic one. When half the population contributes fully, productivity rises, innovation multiplies, and society grows more resilient. Each daughter who completes school, claims her inheritance, or leads in her field becomes a force multiplier for the nation. Nations that have empowered women consistently report faster economic growth, better governance, and greater stability. The evidence is overwhelming: societies that invest in their daughters invest in their future.

The Doctrine of Lapse once made it appear that only sons could carry a legacy. Today, India can close that chapter for good. International Daughters’ Day is a reminder that continuity and strength do not rest solely on sons. Daughters uphold traditions, extend family lines, and create new futures. Where dynasties once fell for want of a male heir, families and nations now prosper because daughters step forward with clarity and courage. To honour daughters is to heal history.

(The author is the former Director, Agharkar Research Institute, Pune and Visiting Professor, IIT Bombay. Views personal.)