On Monday morning, Swati Maliwal, a Rajya Sabha member of Parliament for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), arrived at Flagstaff Road, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence. Kejriwal had just made interim bail and had already plunged headlong into campaign mode. As she waited to meet her party leader in his drawing room, who should […]
A prestigious constituency in the Capital is offering voters a curious choice: A first-time woman candidate versus a man once accused by his wife of physical violence. It’s infuriating. Do political parties think so little of women that a man accused by his wife of domestic violence is still considered a suitable candidate? To be
At an election rally, Congress’s Rahul Gandhi is speaking about something rarely spoken about by Indian politicians. In academic papers, yes. By feminist economists, also yes. But women’s unpaid care work is not the usual stirring, vote-garnering speech you’d expect from a mainstream politician. After working outside the house for eight hours, says Gandhi, women put in
Everybody loves women. Especially when they’re out voting Read More »
Why would a giant multinational add sugar to a baby product? Come to think of it, that’s the second question to ask after the first: Why is there even a distinction between Nestle’s baby products sold in markets in Africa, Latin America and South Asia and the same brands sold across Europe? The revelation that
India’s Supreme Court has, for the first time, weighed in on climate change, ruling that citizens have a right to lead a life safe from its adverse effects. The apex court was hearing a petition filed by wildlife activist M.K. Ranjitsinh to protect the critically-endangered Great Indian Bustard and Lesser Florican. Due to the death of
For all their stirring speeches while passing the women’s reservation bill in Parliament in September last year—454 for, two against—political parties across the board have gone back to their usual stinginess in fielding women candidates. Nobody knows when the women’s reservation bill will kick in. A long process must be completed first: A census, followed
The missing link in political empowerment of women Read More »
For the first nine decades of her life, Prabhavati Bhagwati had focused on bringing up her daughters and being a supportive wife. Even after his retirement as chief justice of India, her husband, P.N. Bhagwati had remained busy and active and she had remained busy and active along with him.
The time of their lives: For some women age is just a number Read More »
She left him because, she said, he and his family were torturing her for dowry. Five years later, the husband has gone to court asking for ‘restitution of conjugal rights’. In court the judge noted the woman wasn’t wearing sindoor, which is the ‘religious duty of a married woman’. Go back to your husband, he
Candidate lists are trickling in, and seat-sharing configurations are being hammered out, but you can already smell it, that unmistakable stench of misogyny and sexism. The announcement of actor Kangana Ranaut as the BJP candidate from Mandi did not surprise political watchers. Ranaut is open in her admiration for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the
For Ananya Upendran, the pivotal moment came on the opening night of Women’s Premier League (WPL) when Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Capitals with a last ball six by Sajeevan Sajana. The uncapped 29-year-old from Wayanad “had been on the circuit for 10 years, on the verge of letting go,” says Upendran, a former state-level player who now
Ee sala cup namdu: How WPL is a gamechanger for girls and sport Read More »
In a post AI world, rarely have images mattered as much as they do now. An innocuous-enough photograph of a mother and her three children has created a stir that is bouncing off our planet as if the first bugle of armageddon has been sounded. Kate Middleton, on track to be the future queen of
Laapataa Lady: The world has gone bonkers over the ‘missing’ Kate Middleton Read More »
In Kiran Rao’s new film, Laapataa Ladies, the brides are making their own journeys, gradually spreading their wings and discovering parts of themselves they have never known The brides, veiled and dressed nearly identically in red, have been swapped. And what seems to be the starting premise of a wholesome comedy is actually a portrait
Missing women in search of themselves Read More »