Women are bearing the brunt of the lockdown

The silver lining in the Covid-19 shock would be this disruption of India’s business-as-usual labour market. “In the long-term, when companies realise how beneficial work from home is, the biggest beneficiaries would be women,” says Mahesh Vyas, managing director and CEO, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. An ongoing study by researchers at Northwestern University, the University of Mannheim, Germany, and the University of California, San Diego, finds that women are bearing a disproportionate economic burden of the coronavirus disease.(Pratham Gokhale/HT Photo) Gauri, a lawyer in Mumbai, is grappling with a new problem — how to squeeze 25 hours into a…

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Women are bearing the brunt of the lockdown

Women are bearing a disproportionate cost of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic – but there may be a silver lining yet. Creative Commons/mgrhode1 Gauri, a lawyer in Mumbai, is grappling with a new problem — how to squeeze 25 hours into a day that already doesn’t have enough hours. With a nationwide lockdown, her maid who helps with the housework has been unable to come to work. Her parents, who live separately, face a similar situation. And it is now Gauri’s job to juggle the two houses as she cooks, cleans, does the laundry, procures groceries, and takes care of an…

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Reclaiming the identity of the December 16 victim

To honour the one who died, we could begin by reclaiming her identity and calling her by her name We made her the braveheart who accepted her martyrdom. A martyr is someone who embraces death, usually for a religious cause(AP) Indian law does not permit the naming of rape victims. Presumably, this is because the crime of rape is so terrible that, in society’s eyes, it stains not the rapist but his victim with shame; a shame so indelible that her honour and that of her family is irretrievably lost. And, so, even though Badrinath Singh, the father of the…

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Call her by her name

The December 16, 2012 gang-rape victim had a name. To honour her memory, we could start by reclaiming her identity. Praying for the recovery of the rape victim who ignited a nationwide protest in 2012. Creative Commons Indian law does not permit the naming of rape victims. Presumably, this is because the crime of rape is so terrible that, in society’s eyes, it stains not the rapist but his victim with shame; a shame so indelible that her honour and that of her family is irretrievably lost. And, so, even though Badrinath Singh, the father of the 23-year-old gangraped so…

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SC’s judgment on women in the navy points to ingrained sexism

A two-judge Supreme Court bench orders that women officers in the navy be treated at par with men. Those who’ve suffered gender discrimination should be financially compensated. The Indian Navy’s all-women Tarini crew circumnavigating the world/Indian Women Blog “The battle for gender equality is about confronting the battles of the mind. History is replete with examples where women have been denied their just entitlements under law and the right to fair and equal treatment in the workplace.” Justices Dhananjaya Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta, 17 March, 2020 The Supreme Court, yet again, took the wrecking ball to patriarchy with its judgment…

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How to bring men into conversations on gender| Opinion

If men and women are to work as equal partners, then we need new rules of engagement, ones that understand the centrality of mutual respect and consent Symbol for gender equality. Hand turns a dice and changes a unequal sign to a equal sign between symbols of men and women.(Getty Images/iStockphoto) Twenty years ago, Abhijit Das, the founder of Men Engage Alliance, attended a meeting on domestic violence. From the sidelines of the kitchen where he was working, Das noticed about 100 men had accompanied the 3,500-odd women and were listening keenly, but had no opportunity to participate. Apart from…

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Bringing men into the conversation

In the run-up to International Women’s Day, I argue that if men and women are to work as equal partners, then we need new rules of engagement that understand the centrality of mutual respect and consent. Twenty years ago, Abhijit Das, the founder of Men Engage Alliance, attended a meeting on domestic violence. From the sidelines of the kitchen where he was working, Das noticed about 100 men had accompanied the 3,500-odd women and were listening keenly, but had no opportunity to participate. Apart from encouraging women, or accompanying them to meetings, what could these men do? And so began…

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How Kejriwal failed Delhi’s women voters

Women want politicians who will listen to them. The AAP’s work in schools and mohalla clinics, free bus rides for women and subsidies for electricity and water was a major draw. But if Kejriwal really wants to be a game-changer, he might want to end an old bias and recognise that there can be no democratic representation if 48.1% of the country’s population is shut out. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi, February 19, 2020(PTI) Following his party’s triumph in the Delhi elections, the swearing in of Arvind Kejriwal’s new cabinet had the stale whiff of an old…

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How Arvind Kejriwal failed Delhi’s women voters

Aam Aadmi Party’s work in schools and mohalla clinics, free bus rides for women and subsidies for electricity and water was a major draw. But if Kejriwal really wants to be a game-changer, he might want to end an old bias against including women in the cabinet. Creative Commons/joegoauk70 Following his party’s triumph in the Delhi elections, the swearing in of Arvind Kejriwal’s new cabinet had the stale whiff of an old exclusion: No women in the team. Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s explanation that there was “nothing wrong in repeating the same cabinet” doesn’t wash. Repeating a past omission…

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How 11 women officers made army history

Lt Col Seema Singh and Lt Col Sandhya Yadav tell me how 11 officers fought tirelessly from 2008 to make history for women in the army. Their behind-the-scenes account includes tales of chocolate, congeniality and chai. A few good women: (from left) Lt Cols Sonia Sehgal, Maninder Virdi, Sandhya Yadav, Seema Singh, Anupama Munshi/Pic courtesy Maninder Singh When 11 women Army officers first filed a petition in the Delhi High Court in December 2008 to challenge a policy that restricted them to short service commissions, Lt Col Seema Singh’s daughter Garima was just eight or nine years old. “She used…

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Excluding women from top army jobs is illegal: Supreme Court

In a landmark judgment, India’s Supreme Court has ruled that women army officers have a right to command posts. Dismissing arguments made by the central government against giving women command appointments in the army on grounds of their ‘physiological limitations’ and domestic responsibilities, the Supreme Court ruled that the exclusion of women is illegal. The landmark judgment is a victory for gender equality guaranteed by Article 14 of the Constitution. “Implicit in the guarantee of equality is that where the action of the State does not differentiate between two classes of persons, it does not differentiate them in an unreasonable…

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Gender stereotypes can be broken. Here is how

In a slum in New Delhi, a group of young women and men are making their city safer Playing together teaches the team respect for each other. It breaks stereotypes. And it teaches the players that public spaces belong to all.(NAMITA BHANDARE) A quiet revolution brews in a narrow lane in one of Delhi’s most unsafe localities. In Mangolpuri, a locality that registers the most number of police cases, a group of young men and women have taken charge of making their neighbourhood safer. Do streetlights work? Are there enough CCTVs? How do you rid the community park of drug…

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