Women&#039;s Health

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Award-winning game helps young girls and women navigate and negotiate life choices

Shayla Brown — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 20:48:16 +0000

Award-winning game helps young girls and women navigate and negotiate life choices Shayla Brown Wed, 09/27/2023 - 16:48

When Susan Howard’s mother wanted to leave India for the United States in the 1950s, she had some negotiating to do.

“My grandparents were against it,” Howard said of her mom’s request, “but agreed on the condition that my mom be married. So, she compromised and said, ‘how about I get engaged?’”

That real-life scenario inspired the ��AV professor to create Go Nisha Go, an award-winning game that helps girls and young women in India navigate and negotiate life choices.

A poster for Susan Howard's game, Go Nisha Go. Photo provided.

“We're not trying to tell girls what is right or wrong. For some girls, listening to their parents is right for them,” said Howard, who teaches in the School of Integrative Studies. “Our aim with Nisha is to show players that their decisions matter and not to relinquish decisions to the father or their husbands or society even.”

The game, which was launched in June 2022, addresses public health concerns such as nonconsensual sex, reproductive health, relationships, contraception, and the detrimental stigmas that are attached to them, said Howard.

Go Nisha Go, which has more than 250,000 players in India, is a virtual experience that provides players with essential resources in the real world they can access directly from the game. It has 25 in-game partners from social entrepreneurs to private-sector companies and small businesses.

Susan Howard. Photo provided

These partners provide menstrual hygiene products, as well as legal and crisis helplines for women who are being bullied or abused.

“The technology of embedding these links was challenging, but it was really worth it because we felt that it was our responsibility to bridge the in-game experience with real life.”

Howard, who received a PhD in environmental science and policy from Mason in 2020, cited an example of an important app embedded in the game.

“There's a scene where Nisha is talking to her mentor about when she's most at risk for pregnancy and how does she know. The mentor shows her an app that’s called Cycle Beads where you can track your period. In real life, players can download this app to their phones.”

The game was originally only available in three states in India—Rajasthan, Bihar, and Delhi—because that’s where young girls are most at risk for early marriage and pregnancy, Howard said, but it is now available in all 11 Hindi speaking states in India through Google Play.

Go Nisha Go is an interdisciplinary effort, Howard said. College of Science PhD student Chih Hao “Andy” Huang handles the in-game analysis and data security management, Schar School PhD student Patrick Baxter helped design the game’s large-scale randomized control study that is being done among 1,900 girls, and Mason alumna Jeannette Cachan is the knowledge management and monitoring advisor on the project. Mason Board of Visitor member Dolly Oberoi, CEO of C2 Technologies Inc., has been a mentor and guide to Howard since the inception of the idea.

As a game data engineer, Huang ensures the game's structure and the data used are safe and updated.

“One of the features that we used in the game was creating different models and using predictive analytics. During the game, the players will make different decisions and select different answers for questions or situations,” said Huang.

“We use that data, run through different algorithms, and then we get results for personalized messages so players can have a more personalized experience instead of a ‘one game fits all’ kind of experience."

Go Nisha Go was awarded Best Learning Game in 2023 by Games for Change and made the list of 10 Fast Company Innovation by Design honorees in social justice interventions.

“All design begins with people and understanding people,” said Howard. “At the end of the game, you get to see the outcome of all the choices you have made for your character, and how in real life you can be inspired to be your ‘best self.’”

Howard credits the liberal arts and the humanities for her approach of putting people at the center of technological innovations. She is currently working on two additional games: one in Nepal and a game for boys in India.

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Kakenya Ntaiya speaks her truth at Mason’s annual Sojourner Truth Lecture

Shayla Brown — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 18:51:25 +0000

Kakenya Ntaiya speaks her truth at Mason’s annual Sojourner Truth Lecture Shayla Brown Wed, 03/22/2023 - 14:51

In This Story

LaNitra M. Berger, PhD

Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya, guest speaker at ��AV's Sojourner Truth Lecture. Photo by Shayla Brown/Strategic Communications.

Kakenya Ntaiya’s life was set to follow the traditional Kenyan path of ending school early in preparation for marriage and motherhood at the age of 15, but she had a different dream.

Ntaiya, who was ��AV’s 2023 Sojourner Truth Lecture guest speaker on March 2, is the founder of Kakenya’s Dream, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to educating and advocating for young girls across rural Kenya.

“I’m really grateful to be here as we are ending the celebration of Black History Month, and also welcoming Women’s History Month since they’re two of the entities that I have within me,” she said. “In communities like ours, you find that the place of a woman is pretty low.”

About 50 people were in attendance during the lecture. When Ntaiya was asked why it was so important for a Black feminist to also be committed to health, she responded, “Health is everything, especially mental health, but general health is everything.”

“I grew up in a community where about 40 percent of young girls between the age of 15 and 19 give birth, 50 percent are married off during childhood, 80 percent undergo female genital mutilation (FGM), often without anesthesia,” said Ntaiya, who also was subjected to the procedure in Kenya where it is considered a rite of passage to womanhood.

“I was lucky to survive because most girls die from bleeding,” she said. “There are consequences for the bodies of these young girls.”

Despite having been subjected to FGM, Ntaiya made a deal with her father to let her forgo marriage and finish her education, promising her rural Kenyan community that she would go to school in the United States and use her education to help the village in exchange for their support.

“The commitment that Kakenya has to supporting women and girls internationally is unparalleled,” said LaNitra Berger, director of Mason’s African and African American Studies Program. “I have so much respect for the organization that she runs, and the ways in which she is completely dedicated to the cause of women and girls’ education.”

Ntaiya said she was driven to make a difference to help end child marriage in Kenya, in the absence of intervention from NGOs or other aid organizations.

“The government of course had laws in Kenya [that said we're] not supposed to be married before 18, but those are just laws in the box that are not implemented,” said Ntaiya.

In addition to educating girls and women on various topics, Kakenya’s Dream also gives boys and men the tools to help them be allies for women battling cultural norms.

“They now speak out against the practices [of the past] and we have a better future with the younger generations now sensitized about the harm of FGM,” said Ntaiya. “Young men learning about this are going to marry a woman that is not cut, and that is where we start seeing the generational change that will break the norms that have been there thus far.”

Topics

Sojourner Truth Lecture

African and African American Studies

Guest Speaker

Access to Health Services

adolescent health

Three years later, students continue to urge UTA to completely fulfill Resolution 18-04.

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The Shorthorn (UT Arlington): CHHS study on period poverty mentioned.

eander6 — Thu, 18 Nov 2021 15:38:47 +0000

The Shorthorn (UT Arlington): CHHS study on period poverty mentioned. eander6 Thu, 11/18/2021 - 10:38

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Texas Public Radio (audio): Dr. Jhumka Gupta discusses period poverty.

eander6 — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 14:36:47 +0000

Texas Public Radio (audio): Dr. Jhumka Gupta discusses period poverty. eander6 Wed, 10/20/2021 - 10:36

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2 in 5 Americans have struggled with period poverty. Why are menstrual products still treated as a luxury, instead of a necessity? Gupta starts at the 15-minute mark.

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College of Health and Human Services Department of Global and Community Health

The Lily: Dr. Jhumka Gupta comments on period poverty.

eander6 — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 17:48:34 +0000

The Lily: Dr. Jhumka Gupta comments on period poverty. eander6 Mon, 07/19/2021 - 13:48

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CalMatters: Dr. Jhumka Gupta comments on latest ‘menstrual equality’ bill.

eander6 — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 15:53:13 +0000

CalMatters: Dr. Jhumka Gupta comments on latest ‘menstrual equality’ bill. eander6 Mon, 07/19/2021 - 11:53

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Latest ‘menstrual equity’ bill would require California’s public colleges to provide period products.

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Ms. Magazine: Representative Grace Meng references Dr. Jhumka Gupta’s study on college students and affordability of menstrual products.

eander6 — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 14:57:52 +0000

Ms. Magazine: Representative Grace Meng references Dr. Jhumka Gupta’s study on college students and affordability of menstrual products. eander6 Wed, 06/09/2021 - 10:57

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It’s Time for a Whole-of-Government Approach to Address Period Poverty in the U.S.

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College of Health and Human Services Department of Global and Community Health

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Jhumka Gupta Receives Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Evidence for Action Grant to Study Intimate Partner Violence in Forcibly Displaced Populations

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 19:49:06 +0000

Jhumka Gupta Receives Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Evidence for Action Grant to Study Intimate Partner Violence in Forcibly Displaced Populations Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/07/2021 - 15:49

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