Behind an outsourced list of sexual predators is the story of a law that often doesn’t work in favour of the women it is supposed to protect In January this year, the Indian National Bar Association published one of the largest surveys of some 6,000 people across India, 78% of whom were women. It found that 68% of victims avoided reporting workplace sexual harassment(HT photo/Arijit Sen) I don’t like anonymous lists, that is lists that purport to name sexual predators compiled by one person on the say-so of other unnamed persons. I don’t like them because I subscribe to old…

Behind an outsourced list of sexual predators is the story of a law that often doesn’t work in favour of the women it is supposed to protect. I don’t like anonymous lists, that is lists that purport to name sexual predators compiled by one person on the say-so of other unnamed persons. I don’t like them because I subscribe to old school journalism (attribute, get-the-other-side, verify). I don’t like them because they legitimise all sorts of lists from ‘shameless women’ to ‘dog haters’. But mainly I don’t like them because I believe that women are better and must be better.…

The price of speaking up is simply too high. We have a law, but most companies remain mindful of hierarchies that make it easy for powerful men to prey on subordinate women. When it comes to the crunch, who’s more dispensable, the boss or the one who reports to him? Our Harvey Weinstein moment is passing by in deafening silence. Sure, #MeToo tells us how depressingly pervasive sexual harassment and assault is all over the world. And, yet revelations that Hollywood’s most powerful producer is a creep has not emboldened similar whistle-blowing here in India.(AFP) Did you know he…? Oh,…

The price of speaking up is simply too high. We have a law, but most companies remain mindful of hierarchies that make it easy for powerful men to prey on subordinate women. When it comes to the crunch, who’s more dispensable, the boss or the one who reports to him? Did you know he…? Oh, we knew better than to enter his cabin alone. Yeah, she complained but left the job when no action was taken. This should have been the moment when the gossip swirling around water coolers burst into the open, leading to discussion on social media, letters…

In reinterpreting the meaning of consent in two recent cases, judges are creating a dangerous precedent: Future rapists can plead that their victims either didn’t say no, or didn’t say it strongly enough. Perhaps the judges forgot that good girls never say no and that we bring up our daughters to ‘adjust’ and never complain. Either way, it seems ironic that judges in different courts this past month seemed to be penalising women for failing to say no forcefully enough. In Chandigarh, two high court judges suspended the sentences of three law students convicted by a lower court of raping…

In reinterpreting the meaning of consent in two recent cases, judges are creating a dangerous precedent: Future rapists can plead that their victims either didn’t say no, or didn’t say it strongly enough Are we creating a hierarchy of victims, with assertive, independent women being somehow less deserving of justice? The judiciary needs to recognise women as independent, adult authors of their own destiny(AP) Perhaps the judges forgot that good girls never say no and that we bring up our daughters to ‘adjust’ and never complain. Either way, it seems ironic that judges in different courts this past month seemed…

Hillary Clinton concedes that her new book titled ‘What Happened’ isn’t a comprehensive account of the elections, admitting that, “I couldn’t get the job done, and I’ll have to live with that for the rest of my life.” Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attends a signing of her new book ‘What Happened’ at Barnes & Noble bookstore at Union Square in Manhattan, New York City(REUTERS) I was on a flight out of Delhi when the results started coming in. But I wasn’t breaking out into a sweat: My column was ready; Hillary Rodham Clinton was taking the White House.…

Hillary Clinton concedes that her new book titled ‘What Happened’ isn’t a comprehensive account of the elections, admitting that, “I couldn’t get the job done, and I’ll have to live with that for the rest of my life.” I was on a flight out of Delhi when the results started coming in. But I wasn’t breaking out into a sweat: My column was ready; Hillary Rodham Clinton was taking the White House. As soon as I landed, I realised I would be rewriting that column. It had taken 240 years for a major American party to nominate a woman to…

High potential men and women in India start out on an equal footing when it comes to job levels, pay and even aspiration, but, over time, a gender gap emerges with women earning less, receiving fewer developmental opportunities compared to men. In eight years to 2012, 19.6 million women quit or lost jobs in India, says a report. It was while working for a shopping website that Parul A Mittal, 43, discovered her calling as a writer. It was 2008. She had been working for 12 years, was at middle management level at her company and no reason to quit.…

Among the dozen women extraordinary women awarded for transforming India is an amputee mountaineer, an acid attack survivor, an educator and India’s first blade runner. Before she left her village to catch a flight to Delhi, Sunita Kamble’s grandmother had some advice for her: Don’t talk to strangers, follow instructions and, above all, don’t wave your hand out of the window. Nobody in Kamble’s family had ever seen the inside of an airplane. But Kamble was flying, to Delhi to be recognised as one of 12 ‘women transforming India’, an award given jointly by Niti Aayog, MyGov and the United…

The hospitality sector – hotels, aviation, tours and travels – reflects a 5-10% increase in hiring intent, according to a report. Many of the girls who sign up brave parental opposition. Swati Shinde, an assistant food production trainer at the Pace Hospitality Training Centre, teaches a class that at present has no women students. Swati was married soon after she completed grade VIII but she was soon back home with a newborn son and hasn’t looked back. Today she earns enough for her mother to lead a retired life.(IndiaSpend/Namita Bhandare) Banudas Sonawane is an angry man: Angry that his eldest…

The fact that the battle was fought and won by determined Muslim women themselves should help alter the narrative of the singular stereotype – the shadowy figure behind the burqa, illiterate, disempowered and left to fend for herself. Muslim Women celebrating the Supreme Court verdict on triple talaq in Lucknow.(Subhankar Chakraborty/HT PHOTO) The Supreme Court judgment on triple talaq has achieved many things, but the one that has received comparatively less attention is this: It reverses the narrative of the oppressed Muslim woman. The fact that the battle was fought and won by determined Muslim women themselves should help alter…