Mind the Gap

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 […]

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,”

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

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

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

Vanitha, one of Kerala’s most popular women’s magazines published by the Malayala Manorama group, chose for its January cover a smiling portrait of Malayalam actor Dileep, along with his wife and two daughters. The picture-perfect image caused a furore. Actor Swara Bhaskar tweeted, “shame on you” and film critic Anna Vetticad responded, “sick”. Dileep is

A new variant of Covid in full throttle has tempered the hope that traditionally comes with a new year. It’s also a grim reminder of just how hard it is to dislodge that other ‘p’ word, patriarchy. What are the trends that will define India’s gender agenda in 2022? This edition of Mind the Gap

The protests by some women workers at Urban Company, the Indian platform that provides home and beauty services, are not new. What is unprecedented is the legal notice sent by the company to its workers (called “partners”) who are protesting against “unfair trade practices”, which the women say, will hurt their earnings. Back in October, the women

The government is planning to introduce a bill to increase the minimum marriage age of women from 18 to 21. To become law, the bill must be passed by both houses of Parliament after it is introduced, most likely during the winter session. The proposal, cleared during a Cabinet meeting on December 15, follows the