If a mere headscarf can disrupt public order, then who is responsible: The student who wears it or the law enforcement agencies responsible for maintaining the peace? A hijab-wearing student walks past a worker painting a wall to conceal a pro-hijab slogan, Hospet, March 16, 2022 (PTI) Two days before the Karnataka high court (HC) […]
On hijab, don’t ignore the ground realities Read More »
The BJP’s return to power in Uttar Pradesh, making Yogi Adityanath the first chief minister in 37 years to return for a second consecutive term despite price rise, unemployment and the farmer agitation is being attributed in significant part to the woman voter. There is no data yet on how women actually voted, but an
Where women call the shots Read More »
If the promise to set up committees to look into complaints of sexual harassment in the Malayalam film industry holds true, it will be a historic first that comes nine years after India’s law on workplace sexual harassment was passed in 2013. At a recently concluded workshop, various film bodies in Kerala pledged to set
Malayalam film industry inches towards legal compliance Read More »
A boy is dead apparently because he did not fit social ideas of what is “normal”. His mother is fighting for justice. No parent should have to ever go through this again. The unpalatable truth is that bullying remains the most common form of violence across schools. (airborne) In the note he wrote before he jumped
When school becomes a hostile place for students. Read More »
Tamil Nadu has become the first state in India to officially ban the harassment of LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex) people by the police. Harassment by the police, which is routine especially for transgender people, is now a punishable offence. “We have been fighting for so many years to get our rights,”
A step forward in Tamil Nadu for gay rights Read More »
If you want to save Muslim women, then educate them. It really is that simple. Instead, school administrations, headed by politicians, deny girls education because of a piece of cloth on their heads Burqa-clad female Muslim students arrive to attend a class at ATNC College, Shivamogga, February. 17, 2022 (PTI) After her husband’s death, my
Hijab row: It’s about control, not choice Read More »
What began as a local issue with six high school girls in Udupi insisting on wearing a head scarf over their uniforms to class has now escalated into a full-blown national row that has landed in the Supreme Court. On Friday, the apex court refused to hear petitions against an interim Karnataka high court order which states
Another government-run institute in Karnataka has barred the entry of women students who wear head scarves and hijab. Ramakrishna GJ, the principal of the junior college at Kundapur, Udupi district, shut the gates on the girls as he told them they would have to comply with the uniform rules set by the government. The students counter that
Hijab row erupts, again Read More »
This tribalist culture is reflected in ways in which the mob metes out what it sees as justice. It has the sanction of the crowd, whether it’s dealing with a pickpocket, suspected ‘beef eaters’ or ‘honor’ killings Rule of law, says psychologist Rajat Mitra, remains an alien concept over seven decades after we adopted our
Rule of law remains an alien concept in India Read More »
The death of one of India’s most accomplished dancers resulted in a rash of largely laudatory obituaries. Less vocal and visible was a thread that alleged that he was a sexual predator who abused the famous guru-shishya tradition to prey on young female students. On Twitter and Instagram, a woman kathak dancer posted a thread
How do we talk about the art of predatory men? Read More »
While we’ve been chipping away at the traditional silence around menstruation, its progression to menopause is still deemed too awful to talk about A recent survey in the United Kingdom (UK) finds that one in 10 women has quit a job due to menopausal symptoms. The Indian Menopause Society estimates that 150 million women in
Menopause is real. We need to talk about it . Read More »
Six students have continued to be marked absent since December 31 after being denied entry into their classrooms at the Government Women’s pre-university college in Udupi, Karnataka for their insistence on wearing a hijab. College principal Rudra Gowda has said the students can wear hijab on the college premises but not inside classrooms. The rule is being followed to
Hijab stand-off at Udupi Read More »