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


  • Ground Reports
  • 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


  • Gender Based Violence
  • Those Killed Include Innocents, Say Adivasis Of Recent Anti-Naxal Operation In Bastar

    A fortnight before polling in Bastar, security forces killed 13 persons in what it called the biggest anti-Naxal operation since 2017. But at least two of those were Adivasi villagers, one of them a young deaf girl


  • Care economy
  • “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 Saikia, like most other poorly-paid ASHA workers, has to balance her domestic budget with extreme care


  • Data
  • 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


  • Ground Reports
  • ‘Our Farms Are Failing, We Live On Loans From Here, There, Everywhere’

    We speak to a farmer family whose roots lie in rural Andhra, but have also spread to the cities – there is simply never enough money to get by


  • Data
  • 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


  • Caste
  • 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


  • Caste
  • Rural Jobs Scheme Has Yet To Benefit The Most Marginalised Women Of Maharashtra

    Our investigation across eight villages showed just one project available under MGNREGS, forcing women to migrate as far as Odisha in search of work


  • Ground Reports
  • 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


  • Ground Reports
  • How Young Women In India Are Carving Space For Themselves In Politics

    They don’t helicopter into villages and vamoose. We speak to young women who are political newcomers on how they ensure constant interaction with people


  • Data
  • 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


  • Communalism
  • 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


  • Inequality
  • 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


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

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


  • Caste
  • ‘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


  • LGBTQIA+
  • 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


  • Care economy
  • 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


  • Gender and Climate
  • In A Forest Amidst Mumbai’s Concrete Jungle, Adivasi Women Are Demanding Their Right To Shelter And Dignity

    An ambitious road project is likely to swallow many Adivasi homes in Aarey forest, already the site of many other development projects


  • Gender Files
  • ‘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


  • Data
  • 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


  • Data
  • Budget 2024: Empty Declarations, Insufficient Allocations For Key Schemes

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


  • Inequality
  • 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


  • Gender Based Violence
  • 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


  • Caste
  • 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


  • Beats
  • 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


  • ASHA Workers
  • 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


  • Beats
  • 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


  • Beats
  • 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


  • Anti Mining
  • 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


  • Beats
  • 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


  • Beats
  • 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’


  • Stories
  • Back When Wrestling Was Macho, This Delhi Akhada Began Training Women

    Now 40% of the trainees at the Guru Premnath Akhada are women dreaming of making it to the Olympics, mostly from small-town India


  • Gender Based Violence
  • 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 […]


  • Beats
  • Who Is Responsible For Safety Of Domestic Workers At Workplaces?

    India has approximately 5.2 million domestic workers according to government data. However, the National Domestic Workers’ Movement (NDWM) estimates the total number in India from anywhere […]


  • Beats
  • 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


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

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


  • Caste
  • 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


  • Freedom
  • 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


  • As I See It
  • 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
  • ‘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


  • Data
  • 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


  • As I See It
  • 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


  • Beats
  • 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


  • Anti Mining
  • 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


  • Data
  • 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


  • Beats
  • 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


  • Data
  • 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


  • Inequality
  • 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


  • Policy
  • 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


  • Beats
  • Patchy Fixes, Poor Redressal System: Why Campus Harassment Continues Unabated

    Students say that university authorities remain apathetic to repeated instances of sexual harassment and complaints panels are neither unbiased nor effective


  • Sex Education
  • 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


  • Resistance
  • ‘’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


  • Health
  • Several Schemes, But Bastar’s Adivasi Women Still Remain Highly Anaemic

    The acute anaemia crisis in the state is missing from the poll agenda of Chhattisgarh’s political parties


  • Politics
  • With No Women Legislators, Mizoram Buckles Up For Assembly Elections

    Since it attained statehood, women have made for only 4% of all candidates who have contested in Mizoram’s electoral history


  • Politics
  • Maratha Women’s Voices Missing In Public Discourse Around Reservation

    Even the women who are leading pro-reservation rallies in Maharashtra are using the language of patriarchy


  • Anti Mining
  • 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


  • Financial Inclusion
  • Why Women In Maharashtra Are Agitated About Ration-To-Cash Switch

    Ration cardholders in various parts of Maharashtra are complaining that they are being denied food grains even before cash transfers have been made to their bank accounts


  • ASHA Workers
  • ‘Our Movement Will Continue For ASHA Workers In Other States’: Sunita Rani

    After a 73-day protest, Haryana’s ASHA workers were able to negotiate for themselves a Rs 2100 hike in their honorarium. This surpasses what is paid by Kerala, the state that pays ASHA workers the highest amount. But the Haryana ASHA workers union is determined to continue the movement for those working in other states too.


  • Premium
  • For Women Hawkers In Mumbai’s Flower Market, The Day Begins In Jungles

    Despite the enervating humidity of the mid-October night in Mumbai, Bhimabai Zunjure, 40, is deftly working a mound of mango leaves into neat bunches. She sits on the bridge leading to the Dadar flower market, and looks up from her work to only sell the leaves which are in high demand for the ongoing Navratri rituals.


  • ASHA Workers
  • 73 Days and Counting, ASHA Workers Continue Their Strike For More Pay In Haryana

    The frontline health workers have called for a 24-hour strike outside district offices and homes of political leaders


  • Politics
  • Chhattisgarh: State With Highest Percentage of Women MLAs Gears Up For Elections

    Since its first assembly election as a separate state in 2003, Chhattisgarh has seen a steady increase in the number of women contestants as well as the number of elected women representatives


  • Health
  • 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


  • Health
  • 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 […]


  • A Woman's Place Is In The Union
  • How A Trade Unionist Used Art To Power Her Unique Trade Union Journey

    Culture is a powerful medium to collectivise and empower the working class, says the veteran union leader


  • Policy
  • ‘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


  • Data
  • Does the size of an organisation have any link to the share of women it employs?

    Key Highlights Firms with a larger number of total employees had a higher proportion of female workers  For every 1 percent additional workers firms hire, the […]


  • Leisure
  • What An Evening At Purdah Bagh In Old Delhi Says About Women And Leisure

    Are segregated parks for women the solution to a city’s heavily male-dominated leisure spaces? Even as urban planners and feminists argue, we take a walk in Old Delhi’s historical zenana parks to find some answers


  • Caste
  • 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 […]


  • A Woman's Place Is In The Union
  • ‘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


  • As I See It
  • Indian Women Have No Say In Their Own Healthcare. Here Is How That Can Be Changed

    Guwahati: One evening, my partner and I were comparing notes after work. “I had to explain the prognosis of a female patient to her next-door neighbour,” […]


  • Premium
  • 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


  • Climate and Environment
  • How Assam’s Human-Elephant Conflict Is Impacting Women’s Physical And Mental Health

    When entire fields and homes are flattened by elephant movement, it is the women, as primary caregivers, who deal with acute anxiety and deprivation


  • LGBTQIA+
  • 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


  • Gender Based Violence
  • ‘Anything Can Happen’. Why Kuki Women In Assam’s Camps Fear Returning To Manipur

    Resources are sparse at this refugee camp in Silchar but women from Manipur who have sheltered here with their families do not want to return home yet


  • Law
  • How The Amendments to Karnataka Factories Act Will Impact Women Garment Workers

    Karnataka’s Factories Act amendments raise concerns about worker welfare, women’s rights, and need for international standard compliance


  • Communalism
  • Anger, Anxiety, Loneliness: How Haryana’s Communal Violence Looks Through The Gender Lens

    Poverty, injustice and insecurity have added to the vulnerability of the women affected by the communal violence in Haryana


  • Inequality
  • Women Waste Pickers Jeopardise Their Lives For As Little As Rs 100 A Day

    In July, a woman rag picker died as her foot caught in a waste truck during a desperate scramble to find valuable scrap. Her story reveals the highly hazardous conditions in which waste pickers work for a pittance


  • Caste
  • Gender Based Violence Among Adivasis Comes From Long Years Of Paternalist, Upper Caste Administration

    ‘Modern’ institutions like schools, colleges, hospitals, media and the district and state administrations have played a big role in shaping the gender dynamics among Adivasis


  • Policy
  • More Women, Marginalised Community Teachers In Bihar’s Public Schools. But The Good News Ends There

    Only 20% of students attend primary schools in Bihar’s Araria and Katihar districts, revealing a grim post-pandemic state of government schools.


  • Manipur Conflict
  • Jobs, Education Interrupted, Manipur’s Women Struggle To Rebuild Their Lives

    A student just an exam away from finishing her Masters, a dental doctor on the verge of a career, and a school warden held hostage – the violence in Manipur has left them all rudderless. We speak to them in Delhi as they seek to rebuild their lives


  • Public Transport
  • Punjab’s Free Bus Scheme Has Changed Women’s Lives But Its Future Is Shaky

    The number of women commuters has doubled but with no funds, public bus networks are stretched, leading to overcrowding and disrupted schedules


  • Manipur Conflict
  • How A Women’s Collective In Delhi Is Aiding Displaced Communities In Manipur

    The violence in Manipur has displaced thousands of people who are now staying in refugee camps. A tribal women’s collective from the north east is spearheading relief operations out of Delhi


  • Law
  • Why The Uniform Civil Code Has Become A Polarising Idea

    The debate around the UCC goes back to colonial times. Here is an explainer of how the idea has evolved over time


  • Law
  • 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


  • Premium
  • Sleep And Night Time Economy In A Street Vendor Neighbourhood

    What are the peculiarities of sleep and rest in the life of a female street vendor who works in a market that opens before dawn? Can alternate ideas of urban planning help reimagine her life, ease her anxieties? We return to Delhi’s Raghubir Nagar for answers


  • Climate and Environment
  • Women Bear The Biggest Cost Of Climate Disasters In Coastal Bangladesh

    Frequent cyclones and erratic floods are increasing saltwater contamination, leading to health hazards and distressing living conditions


  • Culture
  • 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


  • Gender Based Violence
  • 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


  • As I See It
  • ‘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


  • Leisure
  • 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


  • Health
  • ‘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 […]


  • Climate and Environment
  • 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.


  • Gender Based Violence
  • Delhi Needs 11 Sexual Harassment Panels For Informal Workers. Only One Is Effective

    Except one, none of the PoSH-mandated Local Committees in the capital are doing what they should – create conditions that encourage women workers from the informal sector to speak up against sexual violence


  • As I See It
  • ‘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


  • Caste
  • 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


  • Law
  • 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


  • Caste
  • 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


  • Crime
  • 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


  • Law
  • Homes Razed, Tughlaqabad’s Women Agitate For Rehabilitation Rights

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


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

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


  • Gender Based Violence
  • ‘Women In Sports Need More Networks Of Solidarity’

    Many athletes are not even aware of what constitutes sexual harassment and those who complain meet with apathy from government sports bodies, says Jagmati Sangwan, activist and former athlete


  • LGBTQIA+
  • How Familial Hostility, Binary Laws Hinder Property Rights Of Transgender Persons

    Gendered laws and emotional issues between transgender persons and their often estranged families are problem areas