Playing touch rugby, breaking stereotypes
In a New Delhi slum in New Delhi, a group of young women and men play together and, in the process, make their city safer. Pic courtesy: Plan India 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 addicts and gamblers who gather here after sundown? Supported by a set of…
Recognise unpaid care work as a common good
Care work is highly gendered and a barrier to women’s participation in the paid economy. It’s time we changed that Suvarna Santosh Ghate, a 38-year-old housewife who has never held a job, is learning to drive a two-wheeler at a skilling centre in Mumbai where I met her some months ago. It’s an ambitious endeavour for someone whose day begins at 5 am with an unvarying routine of chopping-cooking-cleaning-washing. She cooks twice a day, because, well, her family can’t eat “stale” food. But between 2 and 4 in the afternoon, her “rest” time, she is able to slip away for…
Recognise unpaid care work as a common good
The job of cooking, cleaning, caring for children and the elderly invariably falls to women. This impacts women’s participation in the paid economy. It’s time to change that. Not funny: Women continue to bear a disproportionate burden of household chores. Suvarna Santosh Ghate, a 38-year-old housewife who has never held a job, is learning to drive a two-wheeler at a skilling centre in Mumbai where I met her some months ago. It’s an ambitious endeavour for someone whose day begins at 5 am with an unvarying routine of chopping-cooking-cleaning-washing. She cooks twice a day, because, well, her family can’t eat…
Why it is essential to have women at the table | Opinion
Women have their own perspective based on their struggles to ascension. To exclude them from crucial meetings is to shut out the voices of nearly half of our population Prime Minister Narendra Modi poses for a group photo with Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, Tata Group patriarch Ratan Tata, Business tycoon Anand Mahindra and others during an interaction with business stalwarts .(PTI) They flank the prime minister, six on one side, five on the other, dressed in sombre suits to discuss serious matters. The photograph was taken on January 6 when the 11 — variously described as “telecom czar”, “richest…
A seat at the table
Women have their own perspective based on their struggles to ascension. To exclude them from crucial meetings is to shut out the voices of nearly half of our population. Spot the women They flank the prime minister, six on one side, five on the other, dressed in sombre suits to discuss serious matters. The photograph was taken on January 6 when the 11 — variously described as “telecom czar”, “richest Indian”, and even “patriarch” — met with Narendra Modi ahead of the budget. No “czarinas”. No “matriarchs”. Just an all-boys-club meeting to weigh in on the economy, talk about the…
Anti-CAA protests have shown women can lead
The photographs emerging from the Jamia protest — not just the iconic video featuring the four but also women breaking stereotypes in all— women protests, offering roses to police, giving clear soundbytes, or just claiming their place on the streets — show courage and tenacity, clarity and commitment. More important, they tell us that women belong and, yes, they can lead. Members of Women India Movement display placards and raise slogans during a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), National Register of Citizenship (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR), in Bengaluru, December 26(PTI) Akhtarista Ansari is not new to…
Leading the charge
Women are at the forefront of the recent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act Photo courtesy: Akhtarista Ansari Akhtarista Ansari is not new to protest. In 2017, she marched against discriminatory hostel timings at Jamia Millia Islamia where she studies. Earlier, she was part of a demonstration to demand that the university set up a gender sensitisation committee against sexual harassment. So, it seemed natural for the 19-year-old Sociology (hons) student to participate in a march led by women against Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens on December 12. “It was the first protest led by…
Wage a battle against India’s rape culture
We’ve done the easy part — brought in tough laws, sanctioned fast-track courts, reduced the age of juveniles, and raised the age of consent. Now comes the hard part of mindset change, of demonstrating the will to stamp out violence against women, of realising there are no short-cuts or half-measures Change begins at home. Media campaigns can help change parenting norms so that daughters are brought up with the sort of rights that sons enjoy, and sons are taught that their gender does not entitle them to be waited on and served by women(Sonu Mehta/HT)’ A week after an “encounter”…
Wage a battle against India’s rape culture
India can solve its rape problem. The question is: Do we want to? Protest against rape/Creative Commons. A week after an “encounter” with Telangana police left four rape and murder-accused men dead, it might not be out of place to ask if India has solved its endemic problem of violence against women. Have men stopped raping women, or killing them, or dousing them with acid, or beating them just because women talked back, didn’t heat dinner adequately or simply because the men felt like it? Sadly, no. We’ve done the easy part — brought in tough laws, sanctioned fast-track courts,…
The battle for gender equality in an era of machismo politics
The rise of fundamentalism, chauvinistic nationalism and macho leadership has made defending women’s rights that much harder, I report from Bangkok at the Beijing +25 review. BRICS leaders at the G20 Summit, November 2015/Creative Commons Away from the tight-lipped silence of government officials locked in negotiations, some 150 people sat huddled on the floor outside one of the cavernous conference halls of the United Nations (UN) building in Bangkok. The group was plotting and planning steps to take at the Beijing +25 review, a conference held to take stock of where the world stands on promises made on gender equality…
Why it is time for women to speak up, be angry
One in three women worldwide faces violence. But in a post-MeToo era, conversation around sexual violence is in the open and so is the need for change. Globally one in three and, in South Asia, 37% of women face some form of violence: Physical, emotional, financial and, increasingly, online(Raj K Raj/HTphoto) Women have been told to be many things – patient, accommodating, docile even. Now, for the first time on an international platform, they are being told to be angry. Not that they needed prompting. Anger was in evidence at the regional Beijing +25 conference held this week in Bangkok…
On the question of love and underage marriage
India has the largest number of underage brides in the world and 26.8% of girls marry before they are 18 . This is the age of consent under a 2012 amendment, which makes even those under 18, in consensual relationships, vulnerable to parental backlash, with boyfriends and husbands branded as sex offenders. The story of adolescent girls and their quest for love is rarely told(Manoj Kumar/Hindustan Times) They met at a wedding; she was 16 and he was 18. They exchanged numbers and were soon in love. When Anju’s father started looking for a match for her, she told her…