How An Arts Campaign Seeks To Bring Gender Sensitivity To Healthcare

A creative initiative using literature and visual arts hopes to educate and sensitise medical students and practitioners about gender-affirmative care


Why Armed Forces Struggle To Provide Safe Workspaces For Women

Does the entrenched notion of masculine solidarity in the military create room for misogynistic behaviour? In view of a recent case, we look at how these attitudes impact the effective application of sexual harassment laws


More Women In India’s Labour Force Now But In Low-Paying Or Unpaid Work

The findings in the latest labour force survey indicate that the rising aspirations of educated rural women are not matched by opportunities in non-agricultural work


Why Instant And Populist Anti-Rape Laws Will Fail To Deliver Justice

Fueled by public demands for quick justice, and pushed through hastily with no effort at addressing systemic issues, these laws cannot bring real change, say experts


Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Has Not Caused Any Significant Shifts: Report

Opacity surrounded the outcomes of the BJP-led NDA government’s flagship scheme for girl children. Data on sex ratio and education do not show significant changes


What Parental Support Means For A 17-year-old Trans Girl In Assam

A trans girl in Guwahati battled hostility and harassment in her early school years but found strength in her parents’ unwavering support, love and care. Recently expelled from school for posting a bikini photo, her parents are pushing back


How India’s Employee State Insurance Scheme Lets Down Low-Wage Women Workers

Long distances to medical facilities, shortage of women doctors and frustrating bureaucratic hurdles discourage women workers in the garment sector from accessing the Employees’ State Insurance Scheme


It Took A Women’s Collective To Fix The Gender Skew In Malayalam Cinema

For decades, women film workers in the Kerala film industry have been dealing with exploitative work conditions, inequalities and sexual harassment. What shook up the complacent club run by powerful men is a band of tenacious women


Transgender women Are Being Excluded From Maharashtra’s Cash Scheme For Women

With no clarity on trans women beneficiaries, and the many hurdles to establishing gender identity, the Ladki Bahin scheme is becoming exclusionary


Why A Roomful Of Bright Young Chennai Women Refused To Discuss Harassment

Tamil Nadu boasts fantastic gender indicators but some subjects still remain a taboo, which shows that deep-set social attitudes take longer to change


What Afreen’s Story Says About Poor Healthcare Funding In India

Two of Delhi’s biggest government hospitals are right in Afreen’s backyard. But her struggle to access healthcare for her husband when he had a stroke underlines why the government needs to spend more on health


Monsoon Misery: Why Umbrellas, Rain Footwear Are A Luxury For Working Class Women

A polythene bag clasped over their head is all the protection many domestic workers and women vendors have against heavy coastal monsoons


When Women Have Cancer: Navigating Families, Society and Medicine

When women are diagnosed with cancer, a common concern is this — how will they cope with the needs of both care and caregiving? They also have to face the possibility of neglect and abandonment


Why Justice Remains Elusive For Adivasi Victims Of Sexual Violence

 In 2017, a 15-year-old Adivasi student in Odisha’s Cuttack district was raped by a group of men wearing police uniforms as she was returning from the […]


Despite Law, Caste Panchayats Still Run Kangaroo Courts In Maharashtra

Jaat panchayats that routinely impose brutal and humiliating punishments on women for defying caste norms should have been a thing of the past. But they continue to operate with impunity, say activists


Exploitative Wages, Backbreaking Work: The Home Workers Behind Jalandhar’s Mega Sports Goods Industry

Rs 4 to feather a dozen shuttlecocks, Rs 35 to stitch a football, Rs 62 to tack together six panels of a rugby ball – that is what home-based women workers are paid to keep the booming sports good industry of the city in business.


More Women, Adivasis, Dalits and Muslims Died During COVID-19 First Wave

Unlike the rest of the world, women’s life expectancy fell by more years than men’s and that of marginalised communities fell more sharply in the first year of the pandemic. This skew, say, researchers can be traced to social inequalities


How Fertility Preferences Are Killing Women In India

Pregnancy can exacerbate pre existing health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune conditions and cancer. But even women in vulnerable health are often pressured to conceive, especially if they have yet to deliver a son


Blockades Are Putting Lives Of Women, Children At Risk In Manipur’s Relief Camps

The blockades mounted by community vigilantes in Manipur make it hard for critical relief material, especially medicines, to reach relief camps. It is the women and the children who suffer the most


In Koraput’s Villages, Women Are Charting A Map For Sustainable Living

Forests, water-bodies, flowers, tubers and bears have disappeared from the biodiversity rich villages of Koraput because of climate change. The women are trying to draft a map to understand the loss and plan ahead for conservation


How This Young Dalit Union Leader Found Her Place In The Union

Gender based violence, caste discrimination and forced labour practices are rife in Indian garment factories. In Tamil Nadu, Theivanai Maruthai, a young Dalit woman trade union leader is trying to change this


Caring and Fierce, Jailed Adivasi Activist Suneeta Pottam Fights Injustice Everyday In Bastar

She is an Adivasi leader, an activist, a farmer, a migrant labourer and an eager student. But the only descriptor the police have for her is ‘Maoist’


Rape Survivors From Nomadic Tribes Get No State Support, Compensation Or Counselling

Stigmatised and doubted when they report sexual violence, women from NT DNT communities are never informed about the resources the state provides to rape survivors


A Dream Deferred: How The NEET PG Crisis Has Hurt Women Aspirants

A doctor and a once-NEET aspirant provides an insider perspective on what the ongoing exam crisis means for the healthcare system and especially for women aspirants who have to constantly deal with the pressure to start family life


Ignorance and Apathy: Why One Indian Woman Dies of Cervical Cancer Every 7 mins

This story is supported by the Pulitzer CenterThe flow of patients is incessant at the outpatient departments of the Gujarat Cancer Research Institute (GCRI). The tertiary […]


In TN’s Garment Factories, Heat Stress Is Leaving Women Workers Sick, Fatigued

The delivery deadlines of fashion brands and suppliers make no allowance for women who are forced to work in peak summer with poor access to water, sanitation and healthcare


Why Few Informal Workers Know Of A Portal, Meant To Ease Their Access To Welfare Schemes

An offline registration process and better outreach could help, say labour rights activists


Why Not Enough Women Are Benefitting From Odisha’s Rural Employment Boost

Odisha’s scheme to increase workdays under MGNREGA has run into systemic challenges, resulting in poor uptake, especially of women workers


‘Inflation Does Not Allow Us To Even Aspire For A Better Life’

A cinema outing, books, dreams of personal space – every joy, big and small, has to be put off, says a young social activist, in the face of inflation


Diversion Of Forests Hits Adivasi Women The Hardest. Here Is Why

In 15 of the 86 constituencies where the general elections will be held tomorrow, more than 30% of voters are impacted by the Forest Rights Act. We look at how the loss of forests impacts the lives and livelihoods of Adivasi women


How Jal Jeevan Mission Left Women In Maharashtra’s Hill Districts High And Dry

The taps and pipelines meant to carry water to the homes of hill-dwelling communities of the state have either not been installed or have no water supply. Women trudge miles and undertake risks to collect water


“My Income Hasn’t Changed In Ten Years, And We Have No Savings”

Whether it is putting off an urgent surgery or making do with 250 gm of fish for her family of four once a month, Lakhya Hira Phukon, like most other poorly-paid ASHA workers, has to balance her domestic budget with extreme care


Why Surveillance Measures Will Not Ensure Women’s Safety

The numbers do not tell the complete story of violence against women and this means that the measures based on existing evidence are inadequate too


Has Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’s Media Advocacy Focus Achieved The Desired Outcomes?

The improvements in parameters related to the girl child cannot be solely attributed to the scheme’s implementation


How Caste Smells: Notes From A South Asian Beauty Salon In London

In a London beauty salon run by women from the subcontinent, links between caste, food and odour echo the arguments in the debate in India over a ‘pure vegetarian’ delivery fleet


How Gender, Mobility, and Disability Barriers Prevent Many From Voting In India

At least 986 million Indians should be voting this year. But it is likely the final numbers will be many millions less. We explain why


In Govt’s Maternal Health Scheme, Big Gap Between Intent And Reality

Initiatives to make the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana more effective has not quite worked out the way it should, we find


Justice And Normalcy Are Far Dreams For Us, Say Hate Crimes Survivors

These are stories of women whose lives and livelihoods remain ruptured months after they faced sectarian violence


How Evictions And Resettlement Upend Women’s Working Lives

In Delhi, evictions get you resettlement housing but in areas with little access to job, services or essential facilities. And it is the women who struggle the most with travel and livelihood options


Why Repealing Assam Muslim Marriage Act May Do Little To Empower Women

It will not curb child marriage but may complicate registrations, say experts


‘Sandeshkhali Shows That Women Are Not Passive Beneficiaries of Welfare Schemes’

The fact that they are resisting exploitation ruptures the popular political image of marginalised women, says political scientist Proma Raychaudhury


Despite Laws, Guidelines, Queerphobia Remains Unchecked In Campuses

Students have reported frequent incidents of queerphobia and misogyny in universities. We look at why redressal mechanisms remain ineffective


Cost Of Maternal Healthcare Is Pushing Families Into Debt Trap In Maharashtra

Few women in impoverished packets of rural Maharashtra are aware of government welfare schemes or do not have the documents to access them


‘With UCC, The State Has Become A Father Figure That Sanctions Who We Love’

In a wide-ranging interview on the controversial Uniform Civil Code swiftly pushed through by the Uttarakhand government, feminist legal scholar Surbhi Karwa explains how the law has weaponised the language of women’s rights without actually advancing them


Why This Year’s Interim Gender Budget Is Riddled with Ambiguity

The lack of clarity on exclusion of schemes in previous years, arbitrary increases in scheme allocations, and mismatch in scheme performance and corresponding allocations are concerns


Budget 2024: Empty Declarations, Insufficient Allocations For Key Schemes

Schemes aimed at women did not get the big push they needed, we find


Bribes, Bullying, Sexual Harassment: Why Workers In A Delhi Hospital Want An End To Outsourced Hiring

Striking sanitation workers in Delhi’s Burari Hospital have accused private hiring companies of corrupt practices and sexual harassment


As Ram Mandir Euphoria Peaks, I, A Young Muslim Woman, Am Filled With Dread

In the public discourse around the Mandir, the Muslim voice has been absent. Here is why the community has chosen numbness over articulation


Why A Dalit Woman Is Demanding A Cremation Ground For Dalits In Her Village

In rural Maharashtra, landless Dalit families often struggle to find space to cremate their dead. Pramila Zombade wants that to change


Assam’s Family Size Norm For New Initiative Could Hit Its Marginalised Women Most

Linking economic welfare schemes for women to their family size will further limit women’s participation in work and increase their vulnerabilities, argue experts


How ASHA Workers’ Overwhelming Workload Impacts India’s Healthcare System

The relentless cycle of field and paperwork is affecting their mental health, leaving them prone to errors


What Justice for Bilkis Bano Means For Feminist Solidarity

Feminist solidarities come in all forms — legal petitions, street protests, Whatsapp conversations, vigils and signature campaigns – as the Bilkis case shows


Why Maharashtra’s Anganwadi Workers Stir Is Spiralling Into A Livelihood Crisis

Faced with termination and loss of salary, striking Anganwadi workers in the state are living in fear and anxiety


Why Adivasis Of Hasdeo Aranya Are Back On The Streets, Again

Protests to protect one of India’s largest forested corridors has been ongoing for over the past one decade


For Young Women, Savitribai Phule’s Legacy Of Rebellion Is Empowering

The bright red slash of kumkum across her forehead has become a mark of feminist solidarity


Their Roles Ambiguous, ASHA Workers Fight For The Right To Contest Elections

There is state pressure to dissuade frontline health workers from fighting for political office even though they are still hired as ‘honorary volunteers’


When Women Became The Main Spectacle In Manipur’s Civil Conflict

Sangi Duhlian is constantly browsing her phone for updates on the Gaza war on social media. She is anxious and triggered by the war in the […]


Why The Digital Dream Soured Quickly For Anganwadi Workers

Anganwadi workers says their role has gone from deliverers of schemes to being data collectors for the government


“50, Fat and Frumpy: Our bodies deserve respect”

In conversation with playwright Jyoti Dogra, whose new play Maas discusses patriarchy, capitalism and our bodies


Freedom, Enterprise And Sisterhood: What Women Find At Chaityabhumi

The annual Mahaparinirvan Din means many things for the women who throng the annual event in Mumbai to mark Dr.Ambedkar’s life and work


Kabaddi Means More Than A Game For Women Wage Workers Of Rural Maharashtra

A unique sports event gives women from poor homes the chance to defy gender norms and find sisterhood in play


Why I Want To Put Begamati Zubaan, The Vivid Urdu Of Zenanas, On Stage

Women’s Urdu was pungent, it drew from the world around, and it makes for great theatre


‘Data Breach Affects Women More, Has Chilling Effect On Their Online Participation’

Data breaches not only violate digital boundaries, but also have real-world consequences that disproportionately affect women and marginalised groups, says Radhika Roy of the Internet Freedom Foundation


After Recent Elections, Women’s Share Increases In 4 State Assemblies

Two in five women fielded by major parties won in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana elections


Why Bastar’s Young Adivasi Women Struggle For A University Education

It is difficult for young Adivasis to leave home and head for neighbouring towns or far metros to join universities. For the women, these challenges are multiplied by fear of the city and social biases


Despite New Statehood, Female Representation In Telangana Lags Behind

In the south, Telangana has one of the lowest shares of female MLAs, doing worse than its sibling state Andhra Pradesh


Why The Adivasi Protest Against Mining In Gadchiroli Shows No Sign Of Flagging

Intensification of mining activity has upset the tribal groups for whom the Surjagarh Hill, forest and water bodies are sacred


Women Win In Tougher Poll Fights In Rajasthan, Yet Don’t Get Enough Chances

In the last two decades of their rivalry in Rajasthan, only around 10% of the candidates picked by the BJP and Congress have been women


Why Homi, 15, Has No Option But Work At A Mine In Rajasthan, 7 Days A Week

Rural women have few work options in the state and poverty does not allow them to study either


Why Lives And Deaths Of Trans Persons Remain Underreported, Undocumented

Procedural issues around self-identification mean that the real numbers are rarely reflected in official data, show studies


For These Women Running Public Toilets In Mumbai, The Workday Lasts 15 Exhausting Hours

On World Toilet Day, here are the stories of two women who struggle to keep sanitation complexes in the slums of Mumbai clean and safe


In Rural Madhya Pradesh, Women Struggle To Access Govt Schemes Aimed At Them

The Madhya Pradesh government is going all out to woo women with special schemes. But how do the women see this outreach, we ask


How Young Girls In Small Towns Learn about Sex In The Absence Of Sex Education

With sex education centred around reproductive biology and not consent or pleasure, young girls in small towns rely on their peers, family and the internet


‘’We Are Being Intimidated For Seeking Job Security And Fair Wages’

There are growing instances of criminalisation of women workers protesting for better work conditions and wages. After ASHA, Anganwadi and Mid-Day Meal workers, this is happening to the communications workers at Dial 112 in Uttar Pradesh


Why Odisha’s Adivasi Women Are Trekking Forests And Hills To Collectivise Against A Mining Project

The Sijimali mining project could end up destroying a fragile ecosystem and an entire way of life, say Adivasi women and they are determined to protect them


One In Two Trans Men Struggle To Access Basic Healthcare: Study

Most trans men and transmasculine individuals in India end up seeking private medical care because of multiple hurdles to government schemes, says a study


Malnutrition, Poor Rural Public Health Infrastructure Behind Infant and Maternal Deaths In Maharashtra

Sunita Sahebrao Dandekar (28), a Dalit woman from Kharvad village in Hingoli district in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra had to be rushed to Dr. Shankarrao […]


‘Buses Don’t Stop For Us, We Are Shamed For Free Travel’: Delhi’s Women Commuters

Up to 80% women complain that buses drive past them and they have to frequently deal with snide remarks about freeloading


How A Dalit Women Led Trade Union Made History

In January 2021, when Jayasre Kathiravel, a 20-year old employee of a garment factory in Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul district was sexually assaulted and murdered by the […]


‘I Am Furious With How State, Politicians Neglect The Poor And Marginalised’

In the bastis of east Mumbai, trade union leader Sangeeta Kamble is an ally and friend of the


What Beauty Parlours In Jharkhand Villages Tell Us About Gender, Caste And Hope

Parlours are small pockets of rebellion and assertion where girls and young women find solidarity in small towns and villages


We’re Humiliated, Denied Reduced Bus Fares For Women, Say Trans women In Maharashtra

Every time they ask for the concessional tickets for women on state buses, trans women are asked to furnish gender and identity proof


How A Regressive Transgender Act Was Finally Thrown Out

The Telangana High Court recently struck down the state’s Eunuch’s Act which criminalised the entire transgender community. We explain why it was outdated and violative of citizen rights


A Ramble Through Delhi’s Queer History, Told Through Monuments And Subcultures

A heritage walk looks at the capital city’s historic and contemporary spaces through the queer lens, revealing some less known insights


In Their Fight For Space, Female Vendors Deal With Everyday Violence

Violent evictions from streets, abuse and brutality are routine for street vendors. A law to protect their rights suffers from flawed implementation


‘Digital Art Gave Me Control Over My Work As A Queer Disabled Artist’

Digital illustrator Ritika Gupta talks about the significance of the digital medium for neurodivergent artists and why community networks for disabled artists must thrive


Aaram Ki Jagah: Tracing Leisure Spaces For Raghubir Nagar’s Women Vendors

In this, the third in the series ‘Placing Work, Mapping Places’, we explore the many reasons why Raghubir Nagar’s women hawkers associate leisure with the safety of places of worship


‘Queer Affirmative Medical Education Should Begin At School, Not College’

Medical education has remained largely binary, focusing on male/female bodies, heterosexuality and Cis-gendered lives. There are nascent efforts now to make medical education – and the […]


Despite growing climate risk, livestock insurance is out of women farmers’ reach

Government policies oblivious to gender and caste inequities leave women livestock farmers from lowered communities without economic safety nets.


‘Life Is Not Over For Trans Persons Over 50, I Want To Use Theatre To Say This’

Theatre can be a powerful, joyful medium for the trans gender community to make its voice heard


Love Should Be A Radical Tool Of Rebellion Against Caste

A trainer who works with marginalised youth groups believes that Dalit women in intercaste relationships do not get the respect they deserve


Five Years On, Odisha’s Transgender Persons Yet To Get Land Under State Scheme

A range of issues – state apathy, knotty conditions, local hostility – hobble the programme


Godna: The Resistance Art Form Of Madhubani’s Dalit Dusadh Women

Godna, the fine art of tattoo painting, is practised by Dalit Dusadh women. Its approach, raw material, and themes are nothing like the more popular Mithila artwork


Virtual Sexual Violence Is Everywhere, From Chat Rooms To Webinars

There is little conversation around violence against women and other marginalised groups on the internet


Homes Razed, Tughlaqabad’s Women Agitate For Rehabilitation Rights

The bulldozers arrived with no notice, women allege, leaving them stranded without shelter or belongings


Why Punjab, Not Kerala Or Gujarat, Has A ‘Missing’ Women Problem

Data debunks false claims about ‘missing women’, the real problem lies elsewhere


Tired of Roaming About At Home And In The World

The country is partitioned. India is independent. Crowds of people are pouring in from East Pakistan—from Jessore, Khulna, Barisal, Faridpur, via Kushtia and the border at […]


Jaharveer Mela In Mathura Is An Assertion of Dalit Faith, Cultural Identity

The Jaharveer festival is an important event in the life of Mathura’s Valmikis, marking their distinct culture and identity


Dalit Lacemakers Of Narsapuram: How They Found Dignity And Livelihood In 19th Century

A craft brought by the missionaries changed the lives of Dalit women in multiple ways before it became the domain of a dominant caste


Vending Law Ineffective, Raghubir Nagar’s Pheriwalis Reimagine Safe Work Spaces

In this, the second in the series ‘Placing Work, Mapping Places’, we detail the struggles of Raghubir Nagar’s pheriwalis in dealing with street and State violence. We ask them to reimagine their workspaces as safer, gender-friendly and more productive.