Gender and Discrimination Theme Analysis

In Boy Overboard, Jamal and his family are acutely aware of the fact that girls and women don’t have the same rights or opportunities as boys and men in Afghanistan. The government forbids girls from receiving education, leaving the house without a male escort, and most annoyingly for Jamal’s sister Bibi, playing football (soccer). Boy Overboard makes it clear that these rules are nonsensical: as Bibi and Rashida, an older girl Jamal meets on the ship, demonstrate, girls are just as intelligent and capable as their male counterparts. But though Bibi and Jamal resent the implication that girls are lesser than boys, they nevertheless must navigate a society—both in Afghanistan and on the ship to Australia—that discriminates against girls and women, something that in turn makes women particularly vulnerable to violence.

Bibi’s journey highlights the injustice of gender discrimination. Not only is it unfair, but it also makes inaccurate assumptions about the innate abilities and dispositions of boys and girls. For instance, Bibi is the exact opposite of what the conservative Afghan government thinks a girl should be––instead of docile and obedient, Bibi is headstrong, outspoken, and independent. She is also a talented athlete: despite stereotypes around girls’ athletic abilities, she proves herself to be an excellent football player. In fact, she’s even better than her brother. As such, she often forgets or ignores the rules the Afghan government places on girls, which puts her and her family in danger. Later, Jamal and Bibi discover that this danger doesn’t end when they leave Afghanistan: when pirates in league with the smugglers board Jamal and Bibi’s ship and begin taking women on board with them, Jamal immediately recognizes that his sister and Rashida are in danger. By disguising them as boys and beginning a soccer game (playing on the stereotype that girls aren’t good at sports), Jamal is able to keep his family and friend group together. Thus, while Boy Overboard consistently shows that gender roles aren’t innate and often harm girls and women, it also suggests that playing into them can, in some cases, offer safety and protection.