The daughter of impoverished parents is India’s first openly gay athlete. But what we will remember and judge her for is being a first-rate athlete. Dutee Chand is not known to shy away from a challenge. One of seven children born to impoverished weavers in Jajpur, Odisha, the sprinter was barely 20 years old when she challenged the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) on its rule on hyperandrogenism, a condition she is born with and one that causes naturally high levels of testosterone in women. The IAAF suggested she opt for corrective surgery or hormone treatment. She went to…

In the concluding part of my three-part series for IndiaSpend, I analyse the results. How little has changed. BJP’s winning candidate Hema Malini, one of 78 new women MPs elected to the 17th Lok Sabha A beauty queen, an award-winning writer and four giant-killers; one who contested because she received a “signal from God” and another who once famously showed her middle finger to a hectoring news anchor, it is safe to say that the women contestants to the 2019 general elections reflect the diversity and vibrancy of India. Of the 724 women who contested the 2019 general elections, 78…

Personal attacks targeting women candidates diminish women’s opportunities in participating fully in public life The effect of personal attacks is not merely to defeat a political opponent, but to diminish the opportunities of independent, capable women and deter them from entering public life(PTI) Political pundits have been debating on whether 2019 is the most ugly, personal, below-the-belt election campaign. Comments, including by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Pragya Thakur who called Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin a deshbhakt, have plumbed new depths. Her belated, so-called apology notwithstanding, we now at least know that certain women can be as foul-mouthed as some men. What…

“I was not likely to get justice,” reads the press statement by the Supreme Court employee who has alleged sexual harassment by the chief justice. The Supreme Court remains every citizen’s last hope. For now, India’s women are watching developments there very closely Their lordships have sworn to uphold Constitutional values of equality and dignity. Their courtrooms have delivered landmark judgments, like Vishaka, which affirmed women’s right to a safe workplace and preceded the law on sexual harassment by 16 years. Now, one of its own, a first among equals, stands accused of sexual harassment. A signed affidavit by a…

My Hindustan Times column looks at what is perhaps the biggest scandal to hit the Supreme Court with the Chief Justice of India accused of sexual harassment.  Their lordships have sworn to uphold Constitutional values of equality and dignity. Their courtrooms have delivered landmark judgments, like Vishaka, which affirmed women’s right to a safe workplace and preceded the law on sexual harassment by 16 years. Now, one of its own, a first among equals, stands accused of sexual harassment. A signed affidavit by a former Supreme Court employee sits on the desk of 22 Supreme Court judges. It alleges not…

This is the second in a three-part series on gender and the 2019 general elections I wrote for IndiaSpend The sarpanch or head of Hussainpur village in Haryana’s Nuh district, I photographed Farhuna, an arts graduate, as she made rotis for her extended family of 22 She may be the head of her village, but making rotis for her extended family of 22 is still her responsibility. Hunched over the small chulha (earthen stove) in the family house at Hussainpur village in Haryana’s Nuh district, her hands efficiently slapping a small piece of dough into a round roti, Farhuna (she uses one…

There are many words — cheat, lowlife, scoundrel — that describe men who lie to women just in order to have sex with them. Rapist is not one of them If rape is about consent — or the lack of it — then can consent obtained on false information truly be consent? And if it’s not true consent, then isn’t it rape? This past week, the Supreme Court weighed in and said it was indeed(Amal KS/HT PHOTO) He was a doctor, she was studying pharmacy. They met in 2009 and fell in love, or so she thought. They lived in…

Nuh in Haryana is India’s most backward district. It is also where Rakbar Khan and Pehlu Khan were lynched on suspicions of cattle theft. I travel to Nuh to meet their families. Pehlu Khan’s grave at Jaisinghpur, Nuh/Namita Bhandare/Shot on my iPhone Lying on a string cot beneath a row of pale green prayer beads that hangs from the wall, Asmeena Khan holds up a frail hand and says softly, “Please pray for me.” There is no electricity and Asmeena cannot summon the strength to wave away the flies that settle on her face. She has been bedridden since being…

Women voters are turning up in record numbers, outnumbering male voters in 16 states. Yet political parties, with just two exceptions, remain loathe to field them in the elections as contestants. My deep dive for IndiaSpend examines the data: To understand how some political parties seem to have woken up to the need for greater women’s political representation ahead of the general elections scheduled for April and May 2019, you have only to look at the millennial female voter. Anju Baa, a 20-year-old tribal girl from Rajgampur village in Sundergarh district in northwestern Odisha, has completed her graduation. She is…

This is the first in a three-part series I wrote for IndiaSpend, looking at the 2019 Indian general election from a gender angle. To understand how some political parties seem to have woken up to the need for greater women’s political representation ahead of the general elections scheduled for April and May 2019, you have only to look at the millennial female voter. Anju Baa, a 20-year-old tribal girl from Rajgampur village in Sundergarh district in northwestern Odisha, has completed her graduation. She is enrolled in a computer class and says she will apply for a job once her course…

Justice Sujata Manohar at the National Commission of Women office, New Delhi I spoke to Sujata Manohar, the Supreme Court judge who wrote the judgment on workplace sexual harassment guidelines two decades ago, on what she thinks of a contemporary movement. New Delhi: Before the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act of April 2013, there were the Vishaka guidelines passed by the Supreme Court in August 1997. Vishaka not only defined sexual harassment for the first time, but also included a broad sweep of offences from outright sexual assault to sexually loaded comments made in the presence of a woman…

One of three Supreme Court judges to pass the path-breaking Vishaka guidelines on workplace sexual harassment, Justice Sujata Manohar spoke to me about India’s MeToo movement and its larger implications.    Before the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act of April 2013, there were the Vishaka guidelines passed by the Supreme Court in August 1997. Vishaka not only defined sexual harassment for the first time, but also included a broad sweep of offences from outright sexual assault to sexually loaded comments made in the presence of a woman employee. Relying on multilateral and international treaties such as the Convention on the…