The visual language of women in Madurai

There is a movement for women’s rights underway in India. When I saw the report on ZDF (Second German Television) entitled ’India’s unwanted daughters’, in which Rosi Gollmann explains how Indian women blame themselves for giving birth to girls, I was deeply shocked, confused and sympathetic. How can a woman be so convinced that she alone is to blame for the birth of a girl? I have travelled to Madurai twice. The first time was to research the visual language, which is the subject of this work, and the second time was last year to deliver the animation on digital tablets. The animation is now being shown in many villages by Andheri staff and is helping women to understand how the sex of a child is determined at conception.