Decoding women’s labour force participation in 2021-22: What the Periodic Labour Force Survey shows
After recording some improvement in recent years, the growth in female labour force participation rate in India now seems to be stagnating. Among the women who work, the share of those who are self-employed has been increasing in recent years, even as their average earnings, already low, have dwindled further.
The 19th Century Woman Who Challenged the Image of Indian Coupledom
Historian Uma Chakravarti on Pandita Ramabai’s radical photographs of conjugality and its discontents.
‘Untouchable’ After Birth, Uttarakhand’s New Mothers Are Left In Stressful Isolation
At a time when women urgently need rest, support and monitoring, ritual segregation can be dangerous
How many women work in India’s factories?
Of the millions of workers who worked in India’s factories in 2019-20, less than a fifth were women. This share has remained largely unchanged for over two decades
As LPG Prices Soar, Women Return To Toxic Traditional Stoves
A 51.7% rise in the price of LPG refills between January 2021 and July 2022 has forced women from low-incomes homes to minimise the use of gas stoves
Illusion Of Freedom Vs Tyranny Of Gig Work: The Dilemma Of Urban Co’s ‘Partners’
There are rising tensions between the aspirations of thousands of workers and the work structure of the gig economy
Long shadows in the sunset
With limited support structures, India’s LGBTQIA+ community has to work harder to plan for ageing and infirmity
Why Women Stringers Are Missing From Telugu Media In Small Towns
The job is too ‘dangerous’, ‘dirty’ for women, say male-dominated newsrooms
Indian Insurers Are Denying Health Cover For Intellectual, Developmental Disabilities
Despite clear guidelines, insurance companies in India exclude those with intellectual and developmental disabilities from coverage
No Place Like Home
Transgender persons in India constantly negotiate their identities with the spaces they grow up in, live in, or move through in search of a home within and outside.
How The Climate Crisis Is Driving Sex Trafficking In Arid Rayalaseema
The livelihood crisis created by scorching summers, failed monsoons and frequent droughts in the arid Rayalaseema region of southwestern Andhra Pradesh has left women from poor […]
Why Informal Micro Businesses Run By Women Are Not Benefiting From E-Formalisation
“What is this Udyam Registration Certificate? Why do I need the certificate?” Kalpanaben*, who runs a saree business out of her house in Delhi, is bewildered. […]
Women Bear The Emotional Burden Of Kashmir’s Infertility Crisis
Aiman Bhat, 39, describes herself as hanth, a pejorative in Kashmiri for childless women. She is an accomplished young woman with a doctorate in humanities but […]
Three Lessons On Equality From Supreme Court’s Hijab Verdict
On October 13, the Supreme Court of India passed its judgement on the hijab ban in educational institutions imposed by the Karnataka Government. The two-judge bench […]
Harassment, Assault, Murder – But Stalking Is Still Not A ‘Serious’ Crime
The murder last week of Chennai college student Sathya Priya by her stalker is at once horrific and familiar: a young woman is followed and harassed […]
A Day In The Life Of Women Garment Workers: Some Lessons For Employers
In 2021, a qualitative study was carried out on women’s career progression, access to healthcare and grievance redressal mechanisms across the textile and apparel industry. It […]
How India’s Falling Maternal Death Rate Masks Acute Regional, Social Disparities
The steady fall in India’s maternal mortality rate over the last two decades glosses over significant variations between states, districts and social groups, show data. Poverty, […]
Why Surrogates Are Still Passive Deliverers Of Service, With Few Rights
India’s new laws on surrogacy, meant to prevent exploitative practices, still do not fully recognise the surrogate’s rights to full economic, medical, legal, and physical protection, […]
How Forced Evictions Are Pushing Women To The Edge Of Precarity
For two years now Shabana Khatoon has been living under a tarpaulin sheet near the Dhobi Ghat in south Delhi’s Jamia Nagar. For 20 years, this […]
Why Courts Must Stop Fixating On The ‘Modesty’ Of Survivors Of Sexual Violence
The use of the archaic idea of feminine “modesty” in the interpretation of the penal laws on sexual violence is regressive because it undermines the violation […]
Why Delhi’s Sex Ratio Ranks Among The Worst In India
The sex ratio of the National Capital Territory of Delhi has been consistently skewed over three decades, shows a BehanBox analysis. The reason for this lies […]
Navigating Statelessness: How Laws Fail Bangladeshi Trafficking Survivors In India
Nafeesa Bibi* (36) was 16 when she left her home in a Bangladesh village and swam across the Ichhamati river into Bongaon in the North 24 […]
‘Over 80% Of Nomadic Homes Have No Toilets, 70% None Near Them’
With no attention paid to their sanitation needs, India’s nomadic communities are forced to either defecate in the open or struggle for access to unsafe and […]
How All-Girls Collectives Are Battling Sex Trafficking In Sundarbans
With criminal networks, apathetic policing and patriarchal practices turning the impoverished Sundarbans delta region in West Bengal into a trafficking hub, it is now up to […]
Why India’s Abortion Law Still Lacks Principles Of Reproductive Justice
India’s abortion law has evolved over 50 years to become seemingly progressive but it is still not rooted in the idea of reproductive justice, say historians […]
Inflation-Hit, Women Demand Better Wages, More Workdays Under Rural Jobs Scheme
As August rains swept Delhi, more than 500 workers, mostly women, gathered around the Jantar Mantar monument to protest delayed wages, reduced workdays and digital glitches […]
Explainer: Patriarchal Rules Continue To Decide Parenthood In Official Documents
After her undergraduate studies, Tara* decided to take an education loan to pursue a Master’s degree. In her loan application forms she named her mother as […]
Why India Is Struggling With The Burden Of Teen Pregnancies
The pandemic may have undone decades of work in controlling teen pregnancies, shows a Behanbox analysis: at least 7% of all women aged 15-19 years began […]
How Tina, A Van Gujjar Trans Woman, Navigates Many Marginal Identities
At the wedding of her baji (aunt), Tina was so awestruck by the dark red bridal suit that she was adamant she would wear one too. […]
Why India’s Abortion Law Needs To Be Rid Of Moralism
Last week, the Supreme Court passed an interim order allowing an unmarried woman to abort a 24-week pregnancy. The court ordered the constitution of a Medical […]
Why Women Sugarcane Cutters Of Maharashtra Seek Needless Hysterectomies
Sugarcane cutting is relentless, backbreaking work, say the migrant women workers of Kothi village in Kaij taluka of Maharashtra’s Beed district. You have to hack at […]
Why Gender Crimes Need Exclusive Not Segregated Handling By Police: Studies
Police stations with help desks for women, especially those run by women, are more likely to register cases of gender-based violence, says a new study, ‘Policing […]
Fact Check: Why Fears That SC Observation Will Widen Gender Pay Gap Are Baseless
The apex court observed recently that a government employee cannot demand pay parity only on grounds of similarity in designation and quantum of work. The bench, […]
How Delays In Victim Compensation Fund Fail Trafficking Survivors
The Calcutta High Court has ordered the Government of West Bengal to ensure adequate funds with the State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) to disburse compensation to […]
Why Delhi Cannot Celebrate Its Declining Gender Crime Numbers Yet
Here are some critical data-points on crimes against women in Delhi for the year 2020 from the Crime in India report by National Crime Records Bureau. 997 […]
Why Credit Coops Outdo Banks In Alleviating Financial Distress Of Informal Workers
Inclusive financial networks such as credit cooperatives are more effective than traditional financial institutions in relieving the financial distress of women whose lives and livelihoods are […]
How Digital Spaces Are Pushing Marginalised Women Campaigners Further Into Shadows
The rights of women from India’s marginalised communities are being disproportionately constrained and eroded in digital civic spaces, says a report by The Bachchao Project, a […]
SC Order Grants Dignity To Sex Work But It Is Far From Being Decriminalised
The recent Supreme Court directives on guaranteeing sex workers dignity and constitutional freedoms still leaves some critical problem areas unaddressed and these can only be resolved […]
Perpetrators Change But Violence Follows Bangladeshi Women Across The Indo-Bangladesh Border
How do state borders create and sustain the binaries between ‘citizen’ and ‘foreigner’? What implication do these have on the lived experiences of the women who […]







































