If you’re a parent or educator, how often do you think about your methods of raising and educating your children? Likely, daily.
Now, how often do you think about how you’re actively working towards changing the landscape young girls are growing up in? About how you’re working to shift the various frameworks and ecosystems that are working against them?
As parents and changemakers, this is what we think about daily.
According to a recent article published in September 2025 by Dr. Gail Post, clinical psychologist, parenting coach, and author, titled The Many Reasons Why Women and Girls Abandon STEM Fields, there is still much work to be done especially when it comes to clearing the way for girls to pursue STEM careers.
“Women face systemic, cultural, and structural barriers to success in many fields, not just STEM careers . . . women are underrepresented in multiple fields, ranging from CEOs of Fortune 500 companies to members of the U.S. Congress.” She continues on to name widespread and well-known discrepancies like the gender pay gap, glass ceilings, the motherhood penalty, and the wealth gap.
Upon further examination of barriers women face, Dr. Posts elaborates, “Broad systemic barriers and entrenched stereotypes about women are changing much too slowly. Meanwhile, several additional factors can be more immediately addressed by those who teach, raise, coach, or counsel young girls.”
Our newest picture book, The First Girl on Stage (Yali Books/Sambasivan & Parikh) explores this narrative through the lens of Tunga, a young girl enthralled by yakshagana, a South Indian art form solely performed by men. As she grows, her presence on stage empowers other young girls to follow in her footsteps.
Tunga’s story is inspired by our recent history, where a growing number of women have begun performing Mahila Yakshagana, an all-women’s practice of yakshagana. In a panel discussion we recorded earlier this month—including, the book’s author Shruthi Rao, illustrator Devika Joglekar, photographer Richa Bhavanam, and educator and author Anjali Joshi—we explored the lives of these women and how their stories can inspire contemporary youth.
Screenshot from webinar recording including, Shruthi Rao, Devika Joglekar, Richa Bhavanam, Anjali Joshi, Ambika Sambasivan, and Suhani Parikh.
Author, Shruthi Rao was inspired to write the story back in 2014 after seeing a young girl in a yakshagana performance in Bangalore, India. She spoke with Poornima Yathish Rai who is widely recognized as the pioneer of Mahila Yakshagana who confirmed how challenging the space was for women, “[Despite being from a yakshagana family] People mocked them, and . . . even shunned them.”
Shruthi learned that the barriers to entry were beyond societal expectations, “[Male Yakshagana artists] can wash themselves at the well, and they can spread a mat and lie down under the sky, and it would be okay, but for women, it wasn't possible. So there was not only society's impressions about it. It was also a kind of systemic disadvantage. It wasn't safe [for women].” Reminding her of a time earlier in her career when she was openly denied an energy engineering position due to a lack of safety measures for women in remote areas she shared, “[Some] stereotypes happen for a reason . . . but we must always be aware that circumstances change . . . we have to evaluate every situation and say, is [the argument] still valid?”
Sumangala Ratnakar with her students before a performance.© Richa Chandru Bhavanam, 2018, All Rights Reserved]
Devika Joglekar, the book’s illustrator, felt a strong connection to Tunga’s character as she built her own career as an illustrator and animator without formal training, “I could really see Tunga’s struggle, and if you have a dream, and if you have courage to pursue a dream, then nothing is impossible.”
Richa Bhavanam who contributed photographs from her documentary Mahila Yakshagana: Where Women Become Heroes for the back matter of the book, shared a thought upon examination of the green rooms of women artists, “. . . even in settings like these which are advantages to women . . . we occupy space very gently. As opposed to a lot of the men that I saw there, who had, an easy ownership of the space . . . I wonder what it would be like to truly own a space, and to have, complete freedom to shape its narrative.”
Throughout her interviews Richa learned something key that Shruthi’s story reflected as well, “[For these women] Yakshagana is very central to their identity . . . but it still seems to exist in this sort of, peripheral manner . . . they're allowed to practice it when they're able to check off all of their other responsibilities at school, and work, and home, and family . . . what would a world be like where we're able to go after these things without it having, to be pit against all of the other roles that we embody?”
Enter the conversation, Anjali Joshi, science teacher, curriculum developer, and children’s book author including several STEM-related books. Holding a masters’ degree in STEM education from the University of Oxford, Anjali is a strong advocate of the importance of guiding more young girls toward the pursuit of careers in STEM.
“We have to look at systemic issues . . . [20-plus years ago] creativity and STEM have been seen as mutually exclusive, like they don't coexist. STEM is seen as analytical, and the arts are creative, imaginative, so those are like two separate worlds. But what we're starting to see in the last five or so years . . . is that STEM is deeply creative and I think that's something that we haven't really acknowledged . . . Every single discovery begins with somebody asking, what if we try this in a different way? Why don't we think outside of the box . . . that’s inherently creative, right?”
Thus the critical question — how can we, as educators, parents, and changemakers, help shift the narrative for young girls growing up today?
As publishers and changemakers, we present this story of Tunga who through her own conviction and grit, gains the support of Sannappa as her yakshagana guru to help clear the path for her to forge forward.
Interior spreads from "The First Girl on Stage" by Shruthi Rao, art by Devika Joglekar, published by Sambasivan & Parikh.
How can parents and educators, tasked with raising our next generation, become like Sannappa for young girls to pursue their interests in STEM or other historically masculine fields and dismantle invisible but ever-present barriers for our next generation?
When we shared the book with Natalie Modasra, LCSW, a clinical social worker & therapist, she shared, “Gender biases and stereotypes exist in many forms. It can help to define them at the micro (one on one), mezzo (families, schools, local communities) and macro (large scale, systemic) levels in order to understand how to intervene.” Natalie saw a wonderful alignment between various elements of Tunga’s story and this framework.
We asked Anjali and Natalie for their suggestions for parents and educators based on their years of experience in the educational and clinical spaces. Here's what they had to say:
1) Reframe STEM as a space for creativity and human impact
Anjali Joshi explains, “[If we want to close that gender gap, I think we need to tell] our kids, that STEM isn't just about solving pre-existing equations, it's actually about creating and designing, and imagining new possibilities. [The research] does show that girls want to be creative. They love community building and collaboration. [But the way we] have historically taught STEM . . . from a very early age, we've siloed STEM from the arts and humanities . . . that divide doesn't even exist in the real world.”
"In my years as a STEM educator, what I've really tried to do is help illuminate for my students that creativity isn't separate from science — it drives it. And engineers don't just calculate forces, they design bridges that connect communities. Programmers don't just code, they create experiences that shape how people interact with technology, can make social impact and drive change. So, bringing the human back into the STEM, bringing the creativity, the innovation, the art. And I think that as we're embarking on this path, we will need to reframe STEM as a space for imagination and design and human impact and I think then, we're gonna start to shift the conversation.”
2) Help kids develop a clear understanding of themselves
In Tunga’s story, kids come face-to-face with a character with a very strong sense of who she is and of her desire to pursue training as a yakshagana performer.
In thinking of children growing up today, Natalie Modasra shares, “On the micro level, we can help individuals define their sense of self and how they see themselves fitting into the world. Core beliefs about themselves, others and the world are always forming and these beliefs can be informed by both experience and explicit and implicit communication.
If a child makes a statement that displays the impact of a stereotype, for example:
I'm a girl, I'm probably not very good at math.
This is an opportunity to directly discuss that belief and how it might be changed. A counter might be:
All students who take the time to study and learn can be good at math.
3) Change the way you respond
Natalie appreciated seeing the shift in Sannappa’s thinking from saying “Out of the question . . . aata isn’t for girls,” to “I will teach you the aata,” upon seeing her determination.
His example brought to her mind the crucial role of adult role models for children.
Natalie explains, “On the mezzo level, parents and educators should pay attention to their language and their own biases that may find their way into their interactions with young girls. Adults holding themselves accountable to use an inclusive framework—reframing their own assumptions and beliefs about gender stereotypes in order to focus on the growth and potential of each individual—will set the tone for the classrooms, families and communities that they lead.”
“Some examples may include teaching a curriculum which includes diverse perspectives, or encouraging equal participation in all subjects, rather than differing based on gender.”
While macro level interventions including policy changes and representation by public figures and leaders may take more time to achieve, as a parent, it’s empowering to know that so much of the change-making power rests in our hands and in the hands of those tasks with teaching our children. My co-publisher and the acquiring editor of this story, Ambika Sambasivan shares, “We are so proud to publish this [book] because this, amplifies the feminist viewpoint of Yali Books . . . and really creates a space to talk about gendered expectations in society, and how you still pursue your passions even when you're told that it's not appropriate for you.”