KOLKATA: Sonagachhi , where thousands of women work in the sex trade in abysmal conditions, has struck a blow for the girl child. The city’s biggest red-light area can now boast of its first women’s football team. Christened ‘Amra Padatik’, the team will start training from the first week of August.The initiative, taken by Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, which has been fighting for the rights of sex workers, attempts to tackle the stigmatisation that children of sex workers experience due to their mother’s occupation through football that is globally associated with the fight against discrimination.The girls will start training at B K Paul ground near Sovabazar from next weekZoya Sheikh (name changed) is a Class IX student and loves to watch and play football. She is a little disappointed that her favourite team, Belgium, did not lift the trophy in the just-concluded World Cup in Russia. Zoya developed an interest in the game while watching her male friends playing. “At first I was hesitant, but then I thought that if boys my age can play this game, so can I without thinking of societal pressure. This thought drives me to play football whenever I get time after completing my studies,” she says.Ankhi Das, also a Class IX student and a die-hard Ronaldo fan, wants to become a professional footballer. She loves Ronaldo’s passion and wants to channel the same degree of passion and hard work into her practice sessions.“All these restrictions about girls not playing football are man-made and it’s high time we defy such preconceived notions and prove to society that girls can play football with as much love and passion as boys,” she says.Ankhi’s mother is supportive of her daughter’s decision. “There’s hardly any difference between a girl and a boy now. I will encourage her to play football and will be there by her side if she wants to pursue it as her profession. I just want my daughter to lead a respectable life, unlike mine,” she says.Smarajit Jana, chief adviser of Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, said the idea of forming a team came from the young girls themselves. “There was a lot of enthusiasm among these children about the World Cup. I would regularly get calls from some of the girls, who later came to me and said they wanted to play football. But they were shy and afraid at the same time, worrying what people would say. There is a lack of conscience in our society which gives rise to various differences and discriminations. So, I thought this is perhaps the best time to break the notion that football can only be played by boys,” said Jana.“Football, among all team games, is a great leveller and can help break the gender stereotype and kick away the stigma against sex workers’ children,” he said, adding that it would also boost self-confidence of these girls and help them move forward by fighting all obstacles and defying conventions and prejudices.The team, with eight girls, is ready to start training at the B K Paul ground near Shobhabazar from next week. The training session will take place thrice a week in the morning. More girls, not just sex workers’ children but also backward and under-privileged girls, will join them later. Plans are on to begin such training sessions first in Asansol and then in other districts as well.Ismail Sardar, son of a sex worker who has represented India at international football tournaments and is party of Durbar’s boys’ team, said, “I want our girls’ team to fight all obstacles and play the game wholeheartedly so that we, children of sex workers, are accepted in society.”

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