'What should also concern us is that the message of the Beti Bachao campaign itself is steeped in the same patriarchy that it claims to be fighting. And patriarchy is one area where ‘using fire to fight fire’ does not work. In June 2018, the Indian social media saw a photograph of a mural against sex selection on a wall in Haryana. The image showed a little girl, with her head covered, rolling out rotis, with the slogan ‘Kaise khaoge unke haath ki rotiya, jab paida hone nahi doge betiyan?’ (Who will make rotis for you if you won’t let daughters be born?).
'Two separate groups of women from the riot-hit areas of north-east Delhi, one of which was present at the Chand Bagh protest on Monday, and one which was present at the violence perpetrated at Shiv Vihar, have told The Wire that members of a right-wing mob pulled down their pants, exposed their genitals to them and said, “Yeh lo azaadi.” (‘Here, take freedom.’) ‘Azaadi’ is part of the rallying cry that protesters across the city have been using to ask for freedom – from the Citizenship Amendment Act, from the National Register of Citizens, from the reign of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah...'
'Close to 80 per cent of urban women working in low-income generating jobs in Hyderabad’s Old City area faced sexual harassment at their workplace, revealed a recent study. Most of them work in the unorganised sector and therefore, do not have access to an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) and do not have the benefits that women in the organised sector are provided with...'
'After the heinous insult the 68 women students of a Bhuj girls’ college were subjected to by being asked to strip and prove they were menstruating, in another incident female trainee clerks of the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) were allegedly made to strip, stand naked and undergo a gynecological finger test, apart from being asked personal questions at a state-run hospital, reported The Times of India.
'Thirty-six-year-old Shivani had been married for 16 years. From the early years of the marriage, she had been depressed because her husband and his family confined her to the house, in Rohtak, Haryana, she told IndiaSpend. Her husband would insult her for being overweight and for falling sick often. In August 2017, Shivani tried to kill herself. Shivani’s mother-in-law found her unconscious and called her brother...
'If you eat food prepared by a menstruating woman even once, then your next avatar will definitely be that of a ‘balad’ (ox). A menstruating woman who cooks food for her husband will certainly be reborn as a ‘kutri’ (bitch). These are the preachings of Swami Krushnaswarup Dasji of Swaminarayan Bhuj Mandir ((Nar Narayan Dev Gadi) that exposes the misogynistic mindset of the sect and its followers, who run the Bhuj institute where 68 hostellers were forced to strip for a menses check...'
'In a tragic incident, a 26-year-old Kannada playback singer Sushmita HS died by suicide on Monday at her mother’s residence in Nagarbhavi in Bengaluru after she was allegedly subjected to dowry harassment... In fact, Bengaluru has now come to be known as the dowry capital of south India. According to the latest crime statistics published by the National Crime Records Bureau, 53 women died due to dowry in Bengaluru in 2018. Also, more than 80% (81.3) of all cases under the Dowry Prohibition Act in 2018 were registered in Bengaluru.
'The Supreme Court on Monday criticised the central government for not following the Delhi High Court’s 2010 order granting permanent commission to women Army officers and said the submissions of Centre against it were based on “sex stereotypes”. Upholding the high court’s order, the apex court said that the permanent commission will apply to all women officers in the Army in service, irrespective of their years of service...'
'RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on February 16 said the cases of divorce are found more in “educated and affluent” families nowadays as education and affluence brings arrogance along, which results in families falling apart. Mr. Bhagwat also said that there is no alternative to a Hindu society in India. He was addressing RSS workers in Ahmedabad...'
'If there is one social demographic that played the most significant role in ensuring AAP’s second consecutive landslide victory in Delhi, it is that of women. Not only did women electors this time nearly match their male counterparts when it came to voting, falling short by just 0.07 percentage points, they also ended up voting overwhelmingly in favour of AAP, far more than men did, disproving the long-held belief that women vote on the advice of their husbands or other male members of their family.
