A village in India is practicing its own form of eco-feminism in an effort to change the prevailing culture of male domination. They celebrate the birth of girl babies by planting 111 trees for each one. In India, the number 111 is considered a guarantee of success, and that is what the village is hoping to ensure for these girls. The prevailing culture makes many parents reluctant to accept daughters, feeling that they are of less value than sons. So all families who have new daughters are asked by the village elders to join this initiative.





In addition to the tree planting, a fund is started for each baby that matures in 20 years, to help support the girl when she starts her adult life. But even more important is a pledge that these parents sign promising that they will send their daughter to school, and not marry her off before the legal age (18). They must also take care of the trees that are planted in her name.





It is a relatively poor village, but their good intentions have created a silver lining to this story. The village has planted over 250,000 of these trees, plus 500,000 aloe vera plants which act as a natural pesticide. At some point they realized that all of this aloe vera could be valuable if properly processed, so they invited experts to train local women on how to do this. Now the village is prosperous as they produce and market products like aloe vera juice and gel. It turns out that working to save the girls has empowered the village to save itself.