In a day when America is ruling over a global Empire maintained with violent enforcement to insure universal subordination to its will; and in a day when a military-style domestic police state relentlessly makes sure anti-government protest and dissent is contained, the patriarchal part of that America has been enhanced and strengthened. Feminist movements have launched long, fierce struggles[Read More...]
Although the rather inelegant term “allyship” had not yet become part of the social-justice lexicon, I first bumped into the complexity of being an ally in 1988 when I belatedly started to take feminism seriously. I was following a feminist anti-pornography group that challenged men’s use and abuse of women in the sexual-exploitation industries. That is the term I use[Read More...]
What if, compañera and sister, we learn not only to scream out of pain, but to find the way, place, and time to scream a new world into being? Just think, sister and compañera, things are so bad that in order to stay alive we have to create another world.’ Coordinators of the Zapatista Women for the Second International Gathering of Women Who Struggle[Read More...]
A young woman comes to office wearing dark goggles. As her colleagues direct enquiring glances towards her, she says that of late she hasn’t had much sleep and has developed dark circles under her eyes. But her colleagues seem to think they are bruises. In the evening , in the lift of her housing society, a particularly intrusive neighbour looks[Read More...]
by Neha Saigal & Saumya Shrivastava Earlier this year, on a pleasant afternoon we made our way from the walled and very beautiful city of Jaipur to the narrow and uneven lanes of Karauli district. We were there to meet members of Rajasthan Rising, a relatively young movement led by girls, between the ages of 14-24 years, belonging to Bahujan[Read More...]
According to International Labour Organization’s (ILO) July 2021 policy brief, “Building Forward Fairer: Women’s rights to work and at work at the core of the COVID-19 recovery”: “Globally, between 2019 and 2020, women’s employment declined by 4.2 per cent, representing a drop of 54 million jobs, while men’s employment declined by 3 per cent, or 60 million jobs…in 2021, the[Read More...]
Bikinis are a mandatory part of female handball players’ dress code. In contrast, male players wear shorts. Similar sexist discrimination prevails almost in all events. Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, a retired professor from the University of Toronto specializing in critiques of the Olympic industry and gender issues in sport, said: “There are sports where the overt sexualization of female bodies is[Read More...]
As I write this piece ,what lingers in my mind is the picture of the Indian women’s hockey team entering the women’s hockey semi finals for the first time in history even though they eventually lost there. It is interesting turn of events in a country where women are generally denied as many opportunities as men that so many women[Read More...]
German women’s gymnastics team’s stand to wear unitard once again opens up the debate on agency and choice In Tokyo Olympics 2020, the German women’s gymnastics team decided to not wear a leotard, taking a stand against sexualization of women’s bodies. German gymnast Elizabeth Seith commented that “It’s about what feels comfortable. We wanted to show that every woman, everybody,[Read More...]
by Karthika Jayakumar and Sivakami Recent events have coerced Keralites to reflect on the façade of progressiveness borne so proudly by the State. Lauded for its development experience, the continued prevalence of crimes like dowry deaths are reminders of the skewed power structures and deep-rooted patriarchy that has a stronghold here. The tipping point was on June 21, when 24-year-old[Read More...]
