Today, we know that while floods, droughts, fires, earthquakes, and tsunamis do not discriminate on the grounds of caste, religion or gender, their impact is profoundly discriminatory. Studies have shown that it is women (and the poor and marginalized) who bear their heaviest burden. When Swarna Rajagopalan, a political scientist who specialises in gender issues, […]
Women should lead the way in rebuilding Kerala Read More »
In Foreign Policy: A new act gives more maternity leave — and reinforces the same old patriarchal values. American progressives often bemoan the country’s lack of maternity leave, but in India, the problem may be too much time off, not too little. As many as 12 million Indian women could lose their jobs next year
Motherhood Is Kicking Indian Women Out of Work Read More »
At a meeting earlier this month to discuss a draft bill of rights for women that Delhi’s AAP government wants to introduce, some women express their anxiety over the proliferation of CCTVs that the government has announced as a safety measure. At a meeting earlier this month to discuss a draft bill of rights for
In the name of protection, safety measures curb freedom of women Read More »
Few other budgets in recent memory have been quite as sweeping in terms of its reference to women and gender. The comparison was inevitable: Rs.200 crore for a statue of Sardar Patel, but only Rs.100 crore for the girl child through a Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao awareness campaign, which will include courses on gender mainstreaming in school curricula. “NDA
Budget 2014: A cautious start on gender inclusivity Read More »
Through the 1980s when dowry deaths were routinely passed off as kitchen accidents, Satya Rani Chadha was the face of the anti-dowry movement. To a generation of connected, social media-savvy users, Satya Rani Chadha will not be a familiar name. But this was the name that launched the anti-dowry movement in Delhi and across India.
Satya Rani Chadha: The face of India’s anti-dowry movement Read More »
Across India, millions of women and girls either wake up well before dawn or wait until late at night to use the open fields that function as their toilet. New Delhi: Under cover of a hot night in May in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district, two teenage cousins stepped out to do what millions of girls and
Toilets at home will not stop rapes, but can reduce risks Read More »
Women candidates account for a paltry 8% of the total tickets distributed in the first 7 phases of the election. Despite all the talk of the need for greater representation and women’s empowerment by major political parties, women candidates account for a paltry 8% of the total tickets distributed, according to data released by the
Women get a raw deal from parties in ticket distribution Read More »
Compared to the geeky earnestness of her brother, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is a star. Her belated entry will not stop a likely UPA defeat, but you have to credit her with putting up a fight. If the Congress campaign suddenly seems to have shifted to a more combative mode, it has one woman to thank
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is a charismatic enigma Read More »
A recent survey found that security and empowerment of women was tenth most important in a list of 30 election issues. New Delhi: Who would have imagined that the roar of the angry crowds at India Gate in December 2012 would echo all the way to the general elections 18 months later? Who could have predicted
Political parties yet to move beyond symbols on women’s empowerment Read More »
A slim optimism lies in the start to a conversation of a changed India, an India where women outnumbered men as voters in all five of the recently held assembly elections. A slim optimism lies in the start to a conversation of a changed India, an India where women outnumbered men as voters in all
A very tiny stepping stone Read More »
A photoshopped Twitter photo of Gul Panag with an AAP cap before she was named candidate from Chandigarh is just an example of blatant misogyny reserved for women politicians. New Delhi: If it hadn’t been so predictable, it might have been dismissed as a sick joke. But there it was, in full colour. Scantily dressed with
Women seeking political office face personal attacks Read More »
To not be raped. To not be subject to dowry. The right to be acknowledged as their children’s natural guardian. Meet four women who forced the law to recognize these basic rights. A protest march can sometimes tell us just how far, or how little, we have travelled. In 1972 a girl called Mathura was