The first Indian woman to ever win a medal in the Paralympics Game is ready to fly, literally. She’s bought a business class ticket on KLM; the privacy of the flatbed in a cubicle means she will be able catherize herself as she is paralyzed from the waist down. Two days before departure, she emails […]
Not once did she refer to her gender or the historic possibility of becoming the first woman president of the United States. While referring to the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, not a word was said about the erasure of women’s rights in that country. Acknowledging Israel’s right to defend itself elicited an oblique reference to
Ever since public outrage and anger erupted in the aftermath of the rape and murder of a doctor at the state-run RG Kar hospital in Kolkata on August 9, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been calling for a mandatory death sentence. Now by unanimous vote, the West Bengal assembly on Tuesday passed the Aparajita
The death penalty cannot fix India’s rape problem. Here’s why Read More »
There are many ways in which you could choose to approach Neha Dixit’s first book, The Many Lives of Syeda X: The story of an unknown Indian. First, it is obviously the story of Syeda, the X in her name marking her as an Everywoman migrant, one of 35,000 who stream into Delhi everyday looking for
Neha Dixit on gender, the informal economy and the invisible work of women Read More »
Rarely has the sound of heads rolling sounded sweeter. The first to go after the lid was blown off the Malayalam film industry’s rampant sexual and other abuse of women were actor Siddique and filmmaker Ranjith. By Thursday, Siddique had been charged with rape, and Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA Mukesh had to get
What after the Hema panel report? Answer lies with us Read More »
Nearly five years after Justice K Hema submitted her report on the working conditions for women in the Malayalam film industry to the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government, it has finally been made public. Through a two-year long examination of actors, directors, producers, cinematographers, script-writers, make-up artists, hairstylists, and costume designers, among others, the release of the report
The Malayalam film industry’s dirty, not-so-little, secret Read More »
News of a yet another ghastly rape and murder, this time of a 31-year-old doctor at the government-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata has led to massive protests, a nationwide strike by doctors, the trading of charges between ruling party TMC, Congress and the BJP, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi making an
All she wanted at the end of a 36-hour shift was to rest. Since Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital does not have such a designated space for doctors, she did what the others do, find a quiet place for a nap — in this case, a seminar hall. The complete facts are yet
In the years to come, how will we remember Paris? The Games where for the first time as many women as men competed? Or the Games where an ugly gender row over a female boxer revealed the persistence of misogyny? A Games where women owned the headlines and made history? Or a Games where inclusion did
At the most gender equal Olympics, the good, the bad and the downright hideous Read More »
The night before, she has done the unthinkable — beaten a wrestler who has been unbeaten since the beginning of her international career. The night before, she is India’s great medal hope, a silver at the very least but gold is within kissing distance. The night before, she is the woman who took on the
Pinned to the mat by rules, Phogat remains a champion Read More »
It seemed fitting that India’s first medal in Paris was won by a woman. It seemed fitting too that the second medal in Paris was also won by a woman. Of course, it seemed entirely fitting that both were picked up by the same woman: Manu Bhaker, the first athlete in independent India to win
How Manu Bhaker found her groove—and Haryana became a crucible for women athletes Read More »
Four years after it passed a law ostensibly to prevent fraudulent religious conversions, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to get tougher. The maximum punishment for marrying a woman by deceiving her or converting her religion is now life imprisonment, instead of the earlier 10 years. Earlier, only a family member could lodge a complaint,
Anti-conversion laws exude fear of independent women Read More »