For Masuma Ahuja, who grew up in India, moved to the U.S. as a child, and then went to college in London, navigating life as a girl in multiple cities and continents was just part of her everyday experience. Later in life, as a journalist, she wrote feature stories on women and girls highlighting gender-based violence, sexualization and victimization. Ahuja acknowledges that these are important stories, but far from the entirety of a girl's experience.
Now Ahuja is refocusing her lens.
Her new book, "Girlhood: Teens Around the World in Their Own Voices," focuses on the everyday lives of 30 young women in 27 different countries. It was published at the beginning of February.
“I very much wanted to give girls agency in telling their stories in their own words,” Ahuja said. “Who better to tell us than girls themselves?” She worked with each one to tell their story in their own voice by having them send her diary entries, photos and sometimes doing follow-up interviews.
While the book evolved somewhat organically after her 2018 Washington Post series called "The Lilly," the most difficult part of the process was logistical. With so many countries and so many girls, she was constantly coordinating time zones, WhatsApp messages and the lives of young people, like one girl who didn’t respond for a few months because of exams.
How did she find the girls? Ahuja says it was a combination of connections through friends and acquaintances as well as through sports clubs and writing programs. One of the girls on the cover is a surfer from the island nation of Vanuatu. Ahuja connected to her through the Vanuatu Surfing Association.