The birth of a baby is a time of celebration – but not in the eyes of some members of the south Asian community, if that baby is a girl.

This is something Gravesend father-of-two Sat Mann knows all too well, having faced forms of gender discrimination, because he’s a parent to daughters and not sons.

The 39-year-old said: “We had our second daughter and my wife and I were over the moon, but it was the subtle sort of remarks.

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“People would say ‘are you going to go for the third one’ and ‘are you going to go for the boy?’

“I was just thinking, ‘let’s get this baby home first at least. I’m talking about this happening in the hospital.”

He added: “Some people were saying congratulations but not in an enthusiastic kind of way, it’s like they had to say it and I just found it all very odd.”

Video: The Pink Ladoo campaign aims to promote gender equality.

Long-standing traditions within the culture often see parties thrown, cards sent and Indian sweets passed around when a baby is born into a family, although some choose to dismiss such acts if a girl is born.

Within the community, a woman is traditionally regarded as moving into another family when she gets married and takes her husband’s surname.

Whereas a man’s expected to ensure the family name continues and any assets move on into the next generation. This has led to some members of the community regarding men as ‘the favoured gender’ – and this can start from birth.

However, a campaign has been launched to help tackle such forms of gender discrimination.

The Equality is Sweet (Pink Ladoo) Campaign is encouraging people to hand out pink sweets when a daughter is born

‘Ladoo’ is a particular type of Indian sweet often handed out on occasions.

Raj Khaira, founder, said: “There are many long standing traditions to celebrate the birth of a boy but none to celebrate the birth of girl.

"This gender-biased practice sends a message from birth to South Asian girls that they are worth less than their male counterparts.”

She added: “I want to raise the status and value of baby girls and transform attitudes towards women by changing this tradition.

“The Pink Ladoo is not just a sweet, it is the symbol of a protest against established South Asian gender-biased social norms.”

These are values Mr Mann has been faced with ever since becoming a father.

He said: “A few relatives have said ‘the curls in your youngest baby’s hair means a boy’s going to come next’. They were implying you’ve had a second daughter now so probably the third will be a boy. I was just thinking, what’s this thing about having a boy?

“We’re in 2015, it just seemed really ridiculous to me. We’ve got really amazing women out there, doing amazing work throughout the world. Why can’t my daughters be the same, they’re equal to a boy, it just seemed really strange to me.”

He added: “It’s very good the way they do it because you start thinking to yourself yes, maybe we needed a boy, to carry on the name. It’s that sort of subtle, passive aggressive language that they use and it does soak in a little bit.”

The campaign was launched earlier this month but since then a number of stores have incorporated the sweets into their regular stock.

This includes Barfia Gravesend, based on the Imperial Business Estate in West Mill.

Owner Satinder Kang said: “We believe every child's birth is worthy of a celebration and we want to help break down the barriers to gender equality, one pink ladoo at a time.

“We wanted to be involved in this campaign because community collaboration is one of the core values of our business.”

He added: “The initial response has been very positive. I think people are quite keen to get behind the campaign.”

Since opening in July, the store has seen the majority of sweets marking a birth sold to families celebrating the arrival of a boy.

The 35-year-old from Gravesend hopes the move will help balance out the trend.

He said: “Within the area, I hope people support this campaign and support newborns, regardless of whether they’re a baby boy or a baby girl.”

Many others within the community hope the move is a positive step forward in making sure there are celebrations all round when a baby is born, no matter what the gender.