Daughterland

India is a land of contradictions. It is known as ‘Matribhumi’ in Hindi, meaning ‘Motherland’, and yet many mothers are denied the right to bear daughters. UNICEF estimates that some 7,000 female foetuses are aborted per day. Systematic gender discrimination also means that many baby girls are killed soon after birth. The result is a giant gender gap, with some 50 million women ‘missing’ from the population. To make this ‘hidden genocide’ visible, Peggy de Bruin designed a series of matchboxes. Costing only one rupee, matchboxes have proven to be an effective way to communicate with the masses, literally putting the message in people’s hands.