E-Paper
Girls as first responders to tomorrow's crises
This article is authored by Neha Parti, director, schools programme & Bhawna Parmar, youth futures architect, Quest Alliance.
From climate shocks to the economic upheaval of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the crises of the future will require a new generation of leaders. Solving these complex problems demands resilient, empathetic thinkers with sharp digital skills. These leaders are already in our communities and classrooms: they are girls and women who make up 50% of the global population.
Historically, we have seen that women solve problems which are not seen as problems otherwise. The dishwasher was invented by Josephine Cochrane in the 1880’s, initially to have a way to protect her chinaware from chipping, but it also became a device to save women’s time from domestic chores. Another ordinary invention which changed the way we shop for everyday groceries, the flat-bottomed paper bag was invented by Margaret E Knight. In 1868, Knight invented a machine that cut, folded, and glued paper to form the flat-bottomed brown paper bag familiar to shoppers today. This machine enabled the mass manufacture of flat-bottomed bags, increasing the speed of production.
We have seen similar perspectives brought in by young school going girls when they are given an opportunity to imagine and build solutions using technology. They become creators and innovators. They step into roles that social circumstances often deny them. They stop merely consuming technology and start wielding it. We have seen girls design time saving solutions to peel garlic so that they can save time for their mothers and their hands do not have to smell of garlic. When given access to AI, a group of 9th standard girls designed Cycle Sathi based on their lived experiences of having started menstruating. They wanted an app which helps them understand periods better, where they can share their concerns about missed or irregular periods without feeling judged and get inputs on how to manage periods effectively with suggestions for diet and physical exercise. What they wanted was a safe space to discuss their bodily issues without feeling judged.
The hidden cost of this digital divide is high. Quest Alliance’s research into ‘the Digital Lives of Young People,’ highlights the silent barriers that shape girls’ engagement with technology. Where young men often claim online space with ease, many girls navigate the internet as "digital wallflowers." They are cautious, self-disciplined, and do not venture outside the arbitrary digital boundaries lest they bring shame to their communities. Limited device access combined with a deep fear of digital surveillance from family or community turns their digital journeys into hesitant ventures, not habitual exploration. Girls also feared that with deepfake their images could be circulated. Sexist and misogynist digital content is pushed out in the mainstream social media further entrenching gender biases. The patriarchal norms that exist in our physical world are being recreated in the digital spaces as well.
This quiet policing has sharp consequences. In focus groups conducted by Quest Alliance across secondary schools, boys described using the internet to learn new skills and formulate newer aspirations, yet girls were very cautious and stayed away from trying out new things. The difference was starkly visible in terms of how skills and awareness were affecting young girls’ digital agency. Girls are not empowered to explore and understand emerging technologies like AI which are changing our daily lives, often rendering them unable to leverage them let alone think about creating AI solutions.
The urgency could not be clearer. UNICEF notes that nearly 90% of jobs worldwide already require digital skills, yet fewer than 30% of internet users in India are women. Furthermore, the GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2024 reveals that women in South Asia are one-third less likely than men to use mobile internet. Without immediate, forceful intervention, the digital divide will become the most damaging face of gender inequality in the next decade.
From problem identification to AI solutions, programmes that strategically blend technology education with a focus on gender equity are turning critical thinking and computational thinking skills into tangible community impact. Our experience across the country provides powerful evidence of this shift.
For instance, girls participating in Quest Alliance’s hackathon, ‘Hack to the Future’, recognising the deep-rooted fear of harassment during night travel, developed a GPS-enabled safety watch with a buzzer and emergency contact system to instantly alert trusted contacts with location data. Another team of girls with a focus on dismantling barriers to education, designed alert machines to notify school staff when sanitary pads are running low, directly addressing the menstrual hygiene issues that cause girls to miss school.
These innovative projects show the truth: When girls are given responsibility, advanced tools, and mentorship, they instinctively become compassionate leaders and innovators.
We see this same foresight applied to systemic challenges during the pilot of our critical AI futures pedagogical framework. Consider the students in Odisha. After witnessing chronic water scarcity, even while living near a major lake a group of high school girls recognised the issue to be one of inequity. A nearby resort received water daily while their homes struggled for water every three days. During the workshop girls were able to imagine a future with equitable water distribution in their district and after developing a critical understanding of AI, they were able to imagine how AI could be leveraged to reach their desired futures. Their proposed solution was to design AI-based 'smart taps' to monitor and ensure equitable water distribution based on household members and livestock.
These examples reveal that when girls are trusted with advanced tools, a space for critical reflection and the opportunity to solve real problems, they instinctively become innovators, future thinkers, teachers, and compassionate leaders.
But empowerment is not achieved by merely enabling access through distributing a device or increasing enrolment numbers. It happens through cultivating agency and building the confidence and capacity to use these tools for self-expression, learning, and leadership.
Our field experience consistently demonstrates that when girls are supported through mentoring, robust peer networks, and inclusive learning environments, they move from being passive consumers of technology to active creators. We see girls who once hesitated to speak now confidently leading teams, mentoring peers, and presenting at state-level forums. They design with empathy, prioritising community solutions over competition. They prove that technology can be used for collective well-being.
The warning signs of exclusion are severe. Women make up only 28% of the global AI workforce (UNESCO, 2023). When half the population is absent from the digital platforms where civic life, innovation, and policy conversations increasingly take place, entire economies suffer. The cost of leaving girls behind is not borne by them alone; it’s paid by families, communities, and nations that lose half their problem-solving potential.
As India observes the International Day of the Girl Child 2025 under the powerful theme, "The girl I am, the change I lead: Girls on the frontlines of crisis," the moment demands a radical shift in how we imagine these futures to be and the work needed to get there. We need action at multiple levels engaging different stakeholders. To begin with we need a better understanding of how digital spaces are being navigated and safeguards on the kind of digital content being generated and disseminated, especially in the era of AI. We need to work with boys and men to break their notions of gender biases and create more equitable mindsets, the same needs to happen with parents and communities. At a policy level, we need more attention on girls completing secondary education, getting access to free and safe transport, hostel and residential facilities, and scholarships to complete higher education. The education system itself needs to provide safe and inclusive digital ecosystems where girls can explore, experiment, and learn and imagine without fear of surveillance or judgment. We need to encourage more girls to get into non-traditional livelihoods which include a lot of STEM pathways as well and need a policy ecosystem to facilitate that.
The future crises, be it climate, technological or social will require maximum resilience, ingenuity and human empathy. When equipped with future skills and an enabling environment, girls become the architects of equitable progress. As the nation commits to empowering its youth, let us recognise and invest in the girls who are already demonstrating what a more just and resilient world looks like. They are the curious coders, the community leaders, and the creators of change who will truly stand as the first responders to tomorrow’s challenges.
This article is authored by Neha Parti, director, schools programme & Bhawna Parmar, youth futures architect, Quest Alliance.
