I report from Singapore on new cases of Covid-19 exploded among migrant workers who live in the country’s far-flung dormitories. Human rights watchers say these developments should be no surprise. A near-empty Changi airport greeted us as we arrived in Singapore on March 22 as the country was being hailed for its ‘gold standard’ response in battling Coronavirus. Taken by me on my iPhone. Hailed as a model for its early success in containing the spread of coronavirus, Singapore is now having to explain an alarming surge in infections—more than 75 percent of which are among low-paid migrant workers who…

As the world battles the pandemic, it cannot be a coincidence that countries headed by women — Taiwan, Germany, New Zealand — are doing comparatively well. In Taiwan, President Tsai Ing-Wen’s early intervention, including screening passengers from Wuhan, limited the outbreak to 393 infections and six deaths. Six days before Kerala recorded its first coronavirus case on January 30, health minister KK Shailaja made plans. She was following the news from Wuhan, China, where many students from the state were studying, and the minister knew there was no room for complacency.(ANI) Six days before Kerala recorded its first coronavirus case…

It cannot be a coincidence that countries headed by women are doing comparatively better at battling the Covid-19 pandemic Angela Merkel’s Germany witnessed a high infection but comparatively low death rate. Creative Commons/eugenbittner Six days before Kerala recorded its first coronavirus case on January 30, health minister KK Shailaja made plans. She was following the news from Wuhan, China, where many students from the state were studying, and the minister knew there was no room for complacency. The state’s international airports began screening, a control room was set up, and contact tracing and testing started. By early February, Kerala had…

The lockdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic has led to a rise in rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment, stalking & voyeurism, according to online data from the National Commission for Women. With husbands at home, many women unlikely to complain. Pic courtesy: Breakthrough India The woman calling on the phone from Ghaziabad was distraught. Her husband, she told counsellor of the Delhi-based NGO Shakti Shalini, used to beat her occasionally. Now since the lockdown came into effect on March 24, she said, he has been home and beats her, brutally, every single day. The woman’s parents live only 10 km…

The silver lining in the Covid-19 shock would be this disruption of India’s business-as-usual labour market. “In the long-term, when companies realise how beneficial work from home is, the biggest beneficiaries would be women,” says Mahesh Vyas, managing director and CEO, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. An ongoing study by researchers at Northwestern University, the University of Mannheim, Germany, and the University of California, San Diego, finds that women are bearing a disproportionate economic burden of the coronavirus disease.(Pratham Gokhale/HT Photo) Gauri, a lawyer in Mumbai, is grappling with a new problem — how to squeeze 25 hours into a…

Women are bearing a disproportionate cost of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic – but there may be a silver lining yet. Creative Commons/mgrhode1 Gauri, a lawyer in Mumbai, is grappling with a new problem — how to squeeze 25 hours into a day that already doesn’t have enough hours. With a nationwide lockdown, her maid who helps with the housework has been unable to come to work. Her parents, who live separately, face a similar situation. And it is now Gauri’s job to juggle the two houses as she cooks, cleans, does the laundry, procures groceries, and takes care of an…

To honour the one who died, we could begin by reclaiming her identity and calling her by her name We made her the braveheart who accepted her martyrdom. A martyr is someone who embraces death, usually for a religious cause(AP) Indian law does not permit the naming of rape victims. Presumably, this is because the crime of rape is so terrible that, in society’s eyes, it stains not the rapist but his victim with shame; a shame so indelible that her honour and that of her family is irretrievably lost. And, so, even though Badrinath Singh, the father of the…

The December 16, 2012 gang-rape victim had a name. To honour her memory, we could start by reclaiming her identity. Praying for the recovery of the rape victim who ignited a nationwide protest in 2012. Creative Commons Indian law does not permit the naming of rape victims. Presumably, this is because the crime of rape is so terrible that, in society’s eyes, it stains not the rapist but his victim with shame; a shame so indelible that her honour and that of her family is irretrievably lost. And, so, even though Badrinath Singh, the father of the 23-year-old gangraped so…

A two-judge Supreme Court bench orders that women officers in the navy be treated at par with men. Those who’ve suffered gender discrimination should be financially compensated. The Indian Navy’s all-women Tarini crew circumnavigating the world/Indian Women Blog “The battle for gender equality is about confronting the battles of the mind. History is replete with examples where women have been denied their just entitlements under law and the right to fair and equal treatment in the workplace.” Justices Dhananjaya Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta, 17 March, 2020 The Supreme Court, yet again, took the wrecking ball to patriarchy with its judgment…

If men and women are to work as equal partners, then we need new rules of engagement, ones that understand the centrality of mutual respect and consent Symbol for gender equality. Hand turns a dice and changes a unequal sign to a equal sign between symbols of men and women.(Getty Images/iStockphoto) Twenty years ago, Abhijit Das, the founder of Men Engage Alliance, attended a meeting on domestic violence. From the sidelines of the kitchen where he was working, Das noticed about 100 men had accompanied the 3,500-odd women and were listening keenly, but had no opportunity to participate. Apart from…

In the run-up to International Women’s Day, I argue that if men and women are to work as equal partners, then we need new rules of engagement that understand the centrality of mutual respect and consent. Twenty years ago, Abhijit Das, the founder of Men Engage Alliance, attended a meeting on domestic violence. From the sidelines of the kitchen where he was working, Das noticed about 100 men had accompanied the 3,500-odd women and were listening keenly, but had no opportunity to participate. Apart from encouraging women, or accompanying them to meetings, what could these men do? And so began…

Women want politicians who will listen to them. The AAP’s work in schools and mohalla clinics, free bus rides for women and subsidies for electricity and water was a major draw. But if Kejriwal really wants to be a game-changer, he might want to end an old bias and recognise that there can be no democratic representation if 48.1% of the country’s population is shut out. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi, February 19, 2020(PTI) Following his party’s triumph in the Delhi elections, the swearing in of Arvind Kejriwal’s new cabinet had the stale whiff of an old…