Girls Move Mountains is a photographic series that portrays young girls who use soccer as a catalyst for gender equality and independence in the remote Karakoram Mountain Range of Pakistan.

Annually, eight female soccer teams converge for the challenging Gilgit-Baltistan Girls Football League which gets celebrated in small villages that are close to the Chinese and Afghan border and surrounded by lofty 6000-meter peaks. Co-founders Karishma and Sumaira strategically deploy soccer to challenge regional stereotypes. Through the league, they motivate girls from isolated rural towns, some enduring arduous 7-hour journeys to play the tournament, some others coming from very conservative backgrounds.

Karishma highlights the issue of early marriages, advocating for educational opportunities through sports scholarships. She says: “the main problem in my village is that when girls are 18-19, and when their parents aren’t able to get them educated or pay their fees, they think it’s a good idea to get them married, so their husbands can manage the rest of their life. We want this to be finished. We want to give them a purpose. Some can get admission to university on sports scholarships”.

Organizing the league proves intricate. The girls face recurrent criticism and religious opposition when planning the event.
Even amid the numerous threats, they finally manage to celebrate the tournament-surrounded by security forces and having to manage online harassment: “fuck, lots of whores”, “these creatures are worse than dogs”, “ask them to play in underwear” or “one day you will drown”. Despite these challenges, the league persists, marking a transformative stance against societal norms in a region that has started to get some wins towards gender equality.