In the remote northern region of Ladakh, India, young Muslim women are redefining their culture, religion, and gender roles. As they pursue higher education and participate in traditionally male-dominated sports, these women are discovering their strength, freedom, and happiness while exploring some of the world's most rugged mountains.
Rubaba, left, Gufran, center, and Sayeba, left, share stories while exploring the mountains near their villages of Kargil, Ladakh.
Mountain Girls of Kargil
Eleanor Moseman | Kargil Ladakh, India
Photographer: Eleanor Moseman
Exhibit Title: Mountain Girls of Kargil
Location: Kargil Ladakh, India
In the remote northern region of Ladakh, India, young Muslim women are redefining their culture, religion, and gender roles. As they pursue higher education and participate in traditionally male-dominated sports, these women are discovering their strength, freedom, and happiness while exploring some of the world's most rugged mountains.
The Mountain Girls of Kargil bears witness to a story about the courage to explore one's identity in the face of societal constraints and the roles a young Muslim woman must take on within her culture. These societal constraints include gender norms, limited educational opportunities, and cultural expectations that often restrict women's freedom and potential. These women's parents encourage an educational or career path their children do not want to follow. Or push these curious and bright women to get married and start a family.
This Mountain Girls of Kargil illuminates the profound strength of quiet acts of defiance while pushing boundaries to see what can be discovered about oneself and the world.
This story begins last winter while volunteering at a women's empowerment camp in Leh, Ladakh. I met exceptional young women from all over Ladakh and found the common bond of activism, pushing our boundaries, and curiosity. Our most significant connection was our love for the freedom found in the mountains while seeking to understand more about ourselves and the world.
I began this story last July, and seeing firsthand what these women are
capable of, such as hiking in slippers under +100F temperatures, I was
determined to share their stories. Behind the lens, I was also trying to find
programs to help these women gain professional training in extensive
mountain exploration. However, as I explained who these women were and
their dreams, I was met with constant doubts. This story is to prove to them
that young women are traversing some of the most rugged and remote
mountains in the world and will achieve whatever they can dream of.
This story empowers and motivates others to challenge cultural expectations and societal rules. This project seeks to inspire both their community and others to reconsider the role of tradition in shaping identity and aspirations and to let the world know that anyone and everyone belongs in the mountains.
This is a story about love, friendship, joy, adventure, and navigating the world with hopes and dreams—something we all need to be reminded still exists.
I am working on a very short film that was recorded last summer. There are plans to continue following these young women, hoping to create a full-length documentary about the "Mountain Girls of Kargil."
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