If women can give birth, why can't they perform their parents' last rites?

The Hindus associate the city of Varanasi with salvation after death

The camera zooms into a funeral on the steps of a ghat by river Ganga in Varanasi. Wearing a white loincloth, a man lights the pyre. There is no woman in sight. When asked for the reason, a sadhu asserts, "It is said in the holy books that a woman is always impure." A pandit seconds, "This has been a custom since ancient times. A woman has no role at a funeral." These voices are part of a two-minute film #mydaughterwill Benaras, released on YouTube a fortnight ago.

A social campaign by marketing communications agency, J Walter Thompson, it aims to give Hindu daughters the same rights as sons - performing their parents' last rites. "We often overlook that, as a society, we have deep-rooted prejudices against women. Death is when age-old rituals come into being that we don't question or comprehend. We asked ourselves a question that gave rise to the campaign: ‘If women can give birth, why can't they participate in the rituals of death. It is a taboo subject but felt it needed a discussion," says Tista Sen, national creative director, JWT Mumbai.

A sadhu makes his point before the camera

This film is a sequel; the first one featured stories of urban daughters who were not allowed at funerals. In the sequel, the team ventures into small towns. "In Varanasi, we found that ordinary folk accepted traditions that have been followed for centuries without question," says Nandita Chalam, senior VP and ECD, JWT Mumbai. They also discovered that several Hindu scholars and priests strongly felt that daughters had to be allowed to perform the last rites. These include Hindu scholar Dr JP Pathak hailing from a priestly family that has served the Maharajas of Varanasi for centuries; Dom Raja, owner of the famous Harishchandra cremation ghats of Varanasi and Mumbai-based Hindu priest Pandit Ramesh Sharma. He says, "There is no mention of this in the Vedas. Sons and daughters are equals. If a girl is willing to perform last rites for her parents, with all respect and reverence, can there be a nobler task than that?"

The website for the initiative offers a platform for women to share their stories, and a downloadable will that ensures that a daughter is not prevented from performing the last rites.

Log on to mydaughterwill.org