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 […]


In Delhi’s Illegal Factories, Hazards, Precarity Are Every Day Challenges For Women Workers

The recent industrial fire at an electronic assembly unit of Cofe Impex Pvt Ltd in west Delhi’s Mundka village has exposed the social and economic precarity […]


Insistence On Digital ID Limits Access To Abortion In India, Raises Privacy Concerns

The insistence on furnishing a digital identity proof, especially Aadhaar, at healthcare facilities not only limits women’s access to abortions, which is highly stigmatised in India, […]


How Punitive Demolition Drives Deepen The Precarity Of Muslim Women

NEW DELHI: On Monday, May 9, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation brought bulldozers and the police to Shaheen Bagh to remove “illegal encroachments”. Residents protested against […]


Abortion Is Legal In India But Rules, Stigma Make It Hard To Access

At 25, and into the fourth year of an abusive marriage, N*, discovered that she was eight weeks into an unwanted pregnancy. She approached a doctor […]


“We’re Capable. We Can Do It”; Jagadevi’s Decade-Long Engagement With Local Governance

Jagadevi, a seasoned elected woman representative, is currently serving as a ward member of the Chittawadi gram panchayat in north-east Karnataka’s Bidar district. She has been […]


Why Climate Impact On Tea Yield Is Making Women Workers Sick

From skin inflammation and blurred vision to respiratory and digestive disorders, women workers in Darjeeling’s tea plantations are struggling with an array of health issues caused […]


“They Want To Show Us Our ‘Place’. We Will Continue To Show Up” Shahida Banu Takes Head-On Patriarchal Mores

Shahida Banu’s decision to run for the seat of a sarpanch of Kuraj panchayat in Rajsamand district of Rajasthan was met with great resistance from the […]


‘Where Can They Burn Their Pads?’ Caste And Access To Menstrual Products

Lack of information on and access to hygienic practices adversely affects girls and women, especially from marginalized castes and tribes. Only 37% women across India reported […]


Livelihoods Lost, Jahangirpuri’s Muslim Women Struggle With Economic & Emotional Precarity

On the morning of April 20, Raheema Begum* watched as her family’s only source of livelihood, a cold drink kiosk, was reduced to rubble during the […]


How Indian Laws Patronise Working Women, Limit Job Opportunities

Leela had been a binding assistant at the Kerala Books and Publications Society, a state-owned textbook publishing house, for 19 years when she was overlooked for […]


A Dalit Women’s Union Wrests a First-Ever Private Pact Ensuring Gender Safety At Work

After a year-long campaign by a Dalit women’s union in Tamil Nadu, the multinational fast-fashion brand H&M and its Tamil Nadu-based supplier, Eastman Exports Global Clothing […]


Dalit Survivors Of Sexual Violence Deal With Blocks To Justice At Every Step

[This article contains descriptions of sexual and physical violence, which might trigger unwelcome and distressing memories or thoughts. We advise readers to use their discretion before […]


Why Only 1 In 10 Survivors Of Domestic Violence Seeks Justice

Every third married woman in India faces spousal violence but only one in 10 seeks any help, says a 2020 study published in the BMJ. Worse, […]


India’s New Transgender Portal Is Caught In Red Tape, Apathy and Bias

Roll call is always traumatising for Veronica Tyagi, 19, a trans woman studying zoology at the Lovely Professional University in Phagwara, Punjab. Every time Tyagi responds […]


Health Workers Can Be Critical In The Campaign Against Domestic Violence

“A pregnant woman has been hit in the stomach by her husband; she is bleeding. There are also marks of assault on her legs and hands. […]


Gujarat’s Rural Hospitals Become Support Centres For Domestic Violence Survivors

The excitement is palpable at the gathering of around 30 women, old and young, seated in a circle at the sub-district hospital in Patan district’s Radhanpura […]


How Maternity Leave Policies Discriminate Against Adoptive Mothers And Children

It took nearly a year for Virginia* and her husband to bring home the four siblings they had asked to adopt. The children were aged between […]


Its Nutrition Schemes In A Mess, Stunting And Wasting Are Rampant Among UP’s Children

A slew of initiatives, some dating back to nearly 50 years, have not succeeded in saving the children of Uttar Pradesh from acute malnourishment, shows an […]


Delhi Anganwadi Workers To Move Court Against Termination Orders

Delhi’s anganwadi workers (AWW) and helpers (AWH), who ended their 38-day strike on March 9, will move court against the state government order terminating the services […]


‘Growing Workload, Still Treated As Volunteers:’ Why Delhi’s Anganwadi Workers Are Protesting

A sea of red flags rises up along Flagstaff Road in north Delhi’s Civil Lines area, just a few metres from the home of chief minister […]


Why India Needs A Targetted And Gendered Education-Job Policy for AIDS Orphans

Tinni* is all of 15 but she is weighed down by many anxieties about her future. She meticulously lists these in her diary: How will she […]


Grave Hunger Crisis Stares India’s Most Marginalised: Hunger Watch Report

Two years into the pandemic, approximately more than two-thirds of Indian households surveyed across 14 states reported experiencing some kind of food insecurity, according to the  […]


Why Manipur’s Women Remain Underrepresented in Electoral Politics

Manipur is all set to elect its 12th state legislative assembly as it goes to polls in a 2 phase election, with the electorate voting on […]


Why UP’s Crime Records Fail To Report Full Extent Of Crimes Against Dalit Women

[This article contains descriptions of sexual and physical violence, which might trigger unwelcome and distressing memories or thoughts. We advise readers to use their discretion before […]


In Tribal UP, School-Girls As Well As Graduates Are Driven To Construction Work

It is a wintery February morning and a dense fog has descended over Palia, a town 100 km from Lakhimpur town in northern Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur […]


‘We Live, Work In Filth And Are Treated Like Filth:’ Punjab’s Dalit Women Caught In Cycle Of Bonded Work

Tej Kaur, a Dalit Sikh , has been cleaning and collecting cow dung for 30 years. Her walk is steady but the strain and struggle of working […]


Budget For Adivasi, Dalit Schemes Is Too Little, Gender-Skewed: Report

Schemes that directly target Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) have not received enough allocations in the Union Budget announced on February 1, says a […]


Women, Hit Hardest By Pandemic, Needed A More Dynamic Budget Response

Women have emerged as the single largest category of persons disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. The female labour force in January 2022 is 9.4% smaller than it […]


A Colonial Vestige, Why Marital Rape Exception Has Become Untenable

With the Delhi High Court currently considering petitions on criminialising marital rape in India, it is critical to look at the history, politics and ideology of […]


Isolated, Bindu Ammini Fights A Lone Battle Against Orthodoxy

“Pinnottilla (won’t backtrack)”. That message in Malayalam on Bindu Ammini’s WhatsApp profile summarises her life so far. The 43-year-old Dalit activist and lecturer of law has […]


Hijab Ban In Udupi College Points To Growing Communal Fissure

For over three weeks now, eight Muslim students of the Government Pre-University College (PUC) for Girls in Udupi, Karnataka, have been sitting outside their classrooms with […]


Bulli Bai: How State Inaction Has Emboldened Cyber Harassment Of Muslim Women

[Trigger Warning: This article contains some disturbing accounts of harassment and violence against women,which might trigger unwelcome and distressing memories or thoughts. We advise readers to […]


A young Dalit woman Challenges Patriarchy in Panchayat Politics

For Khublata Regar (31), a Dalit woman, the decision to run for the office of the Sarpanch (president) in the Gram Panchayat elections in Potlan in […]


Indian Women Are Exercising More Agency But Urban-Rural Gaps Persist

Indian women are exercising more agency as they participate more in decision making within their households, own and operate bank accounts and mobile phones, and own […]


Dalit and Adivasi Students’ Futures At Stake As Scholarship Schemes Cut

Sujata Lilaka (21), a final year nursing student at YMT Ayurvedic Medical College and Hospital in Kharghar in Panvel district of Maharashtra, collapsed on her way […]


Chhattisgarh Government Is Taking Back Covid Incentives Paid To Mitanins

Usha Sahu, 45, a Mitanin trainer from Bemetara district in central Chhattisgarh was in for a  shock when she checked her bank account in October. The […]


Adivasi Women Of Hasdeo Arand Lead a 300 Km March to Save their Forests

“We will not leave our forests and lands for Adani,” thundered Mayawati, a 65 yr old Adivasi woman from Fattepur village in Surguja district in northern […]


Mid-Day Meal Renamed PM POSHAN: New Name, Reduced Budgets

The Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN), a modified version […]


Mass Sterilisation Camps Violate Norms And Fail Women’s Health Needs In Chhattisgarh

On August 26th, 2021, Dr Jibnus Ekta performed tubectomies on 101 women in a span of seven hours between 8 PM and 3 AM, at a […]


Government Data Shows Inconsistencies In Covid Lockdown Payments To Women

On 26th March 2020, the Union Finance Ministry announced  a Rs 1.70 Lakh Crore COVID-19 relief package under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY). The […]


How Kerala is A Long Way Off In Gender Affirmative Healthcare For Trans Persons

Anuradha Govindan of Kannur, 38, waited for thirty years to embrace her identity as a transwoman. Before she was able to live the life she wanted, […]


Cyber Crimes On the Rise Against Women in Jammu and Kashmir

Farah Zaidi, a social activist from  Kulgam district in North Kashmir was trolled online by men after her interview was published online where she talked about  […]


Why the UP Population Bill Harms Women And Marginalised Populations

On July 11th, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, announced the Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilisation and Welfare) Bill as part of the state’s population […]


Central Government Disbands Scheme For Dalit And Adivasi Girls’ Education

The Union government has discontinued the National Scheme for Incentive to Girl Child for Secondary Education (NSIGSE)  a central government scheme aimed to incentivise education among […]


Sulli Deals: Online Platforms Fuel Cyber Sexual Violence Against Muslim Women

Shaikh Tabinda received a message from her friend, on the night of 4 July, which read that she had been ‘sold’ in an online ‘auction’ on […]


How Garment Factories Forced Illegal Resignations Of Women Workers In Karnataka

As Karnataka begins to ease state-wide restrictions imposed since May 10, 2021 to control the spread of COVID-19 virus, industries have been allowed to function with […]


Despite NALSA, Transgender Persons Absent In Government Policies In West Bengal

Silk (28), a transwoman, was in for a shock as she went to cast her vote in Kalyani, in Nadia district of West Bengal in mid-April […]


Women’s Political Representation In Assam Slips To Its Lowest In 20 Years

Fewer women will now occupy seats in the newly elected Vidhan Sabha (state legislative assembly) in Assam in 2021. Six women were elected in the recently […]


Mamata Banerjee’s Schemes For Adolescent Girls Bear Fruit But Challenges Remain

“I am determined to go for higher studies. Once I get my Kanyashree money, I will use it to go to college,” says Jahira Khatun. Khatun (17), […]


From ‘Didi’ to ‘Banglar Nijer Meye’: The Rebranding of Mamata Banerjee

‘I will win Bengal on one leg and in the future, will get victory in Delhi on two legs’, thundered Mamata Banerjee, the current chief minister […]


In Poll-Bound Tamil Nadu, Labour Rights Of Women Workers Flouted

S. Rathinam (39) had escaped death by a whisker that afternoon.  On February 13, 2021, she, along with hundreds of others, had to run for their […]


Long In The Backseat In Kerala Politics, Women Now Claim Their Space

Kerala’s first Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) was a woman.Rosamma Punnoose, 44 years-old when Kerala elected its first post-Independence legislative assembly in 1957, was elected from […]


All-Women Panchayats In Uttarakhand Reimagine Post-Covid Futures

“This is just the beginning; there is much to do and fight for”, said Kavita Arya (31), Dalit Pradhan ( village council head) of Rauliyana Gram […]


Rising Caesarean Births Increase Inequity For Women Among Different Social Groups

Caesarean births are on the rise in  almost all Indian states, according to latest available data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5). In the southern […]


How Women Garment Workers Took On A Global Clothing Giant And Won Their Rights

On 24 October, 2020, 1300 women garment workers of  Euro Clothing Company– 2 (ECC-2) of a unit of Gokaldas Exports in Srirangapatna, in Mandya district of […]


Teen Pregnancies Drop In India, Urban Rural Divide Still High

Teen pregnancies declined in most states and UTs of the country but there continues to be a great divide between rural and urban India according to […]


Indian Women Have Greater Voice in Households But Less Property Ownership

More women are engaging in making decisions within their households, are owning and using bank accounts and mobile phones which reflects greater agency  that they are […]


Poor Wages, No Social Security Hurt Women Beedi Workers

“I have been rolling beedis since I was fifteen. Our whole community is dependent on the profession. Our employers underpay us, our pension never arrives without […]


Women Leaders Breathing Life Into Van Panchayats in Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand is home to the fierce ‘Chipko Movement.’ Led by the bold and spirited women in the 1960s, the movement was one of the many significant […]


Transgender Persons Invisible In India’s Prisons

Transgender persons in India’s prison systems  remain invisible among all the vulnerable groups, with their rights and dignity as citizens denied, according to a new report […]


How Women Farmers in Punjab Mobilised Against The Farm Laws

“These capitalists will ruin us,” thundered Charanjeet Kaur, a thirty nine year old farmer with a medium landholding of 12 acres (4 hectares) from Wara Bhaika […]


Menstrual Interventions Vary Across Countries; Still A Long Way To Go

As India announced one of the harshest lockdowns in the world, among the many groups that remained invisible in the government policy announcements were menstruating persons. […]


How Police And Justice System Fails Survivors of Sexual Violence In Uttar Pradesh

“Tum gareeb ho, tum rehne do. Waise bhi tum jhoota case likha rahi ho toh case nahi likha jayega” (You are poor, so you shouldn’t pursue […]


Cost Of Sugar: Women Cane Cutters In Maharashtra

Neeta (name changed), a cane cutter in one of the many sugarcane farms in Beed district of central Maharashtra, was only in her early 30s when […]


How Farm Acts Affect Women In Agriculture

On 27 September 2020,  three Farm Bills became law after receiving presidential assent. The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill […]


Adivasi Women Claim Power In Local Elections

Badami Bai (32), had a problem on her hands, just a week before the Panchayat (India’s directly elected village councils) elections in India’s western state of […]


Bihar’s Gender Budget Fails To Bridge Gender Gap

Gender gaps in Bihar are glaring. Nearly half (46%) of women in Bihar are illiterate, increasing their chances of being married early, found a new report […]


ASHA Workers Criminalised For Fighting For Their Rights

India’s frontline women health workers, or ASHAs, play a critical role in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. But when they demanded better pay, protective gear and fixed […]


Adivasi Women In Rajasthan’s Zawar Mines Reclaim Their Rights

Lakshmi Devi (56), a Bhil Adivasi woman from Kanpur village in Udaipur district in Rajasthan has not been able to harvest a single grain from the […]


Concerns of Raising The Age Of Marriage

In February 2020, the Finance Minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman announced a new proposal to raise the legal age of marriage from 18 to 21. A […]


First African-Pakistani Lawmaker Fights To Claim Power

Tanzeela Qambrani (41) created history in Pakistan when she became the first Sheedi Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) of Sindh Assembly in 2018. Her election to […]


Women Criminalised For Protecting Spiti Valley

For the past 6 months, Sonam Dolma (29) along with 15 women, has stood guard at the entrance gate everyday in Kaza town- the gateway to […]


Dalit And Adivasi Women Leaders Secure Community Rights

Surta Bairwa (33), the former Dalit Sarpanch of  Srirampura Panchayat in Rajasthan’s Tonk district had enough of the centuries old dominance of the upper caste Gurjars. […]


Women With Disabilities Invisibile In Covid Policy Responses

“My bhabhi is pregnant but has no place to deliver. We are scared of catching Covid. We’re still facing the (basic) challenges. The biggest challenge for […]


India’s Missing Women Remain A Global Concern

Only 810 girl children are born per 1000 boys in urban Uttarakhand. In rural areas, the state recorded a comparably higher sex ratio at birth (female […]


How the Government Diluted Forest Rights Of Adivasis during Lockdown

Policy decisions for forest diversion during the COVID19 lockdown  which potentially dilute the Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA) and undermine the decision-making authority of the Gram […]


How the Government Diluted Forest Rights Of Adivasis during Lockdown

Policy decisions for forest diversion during the COVID19 lockdown which potentially dilute the Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA) and undermine the decision-making authority of the Gram […]


Garment Workers Take On Global Clothing Giant

For over a month now, over 600 women garment workers have been sitting in protest against the illegal layoffs in the factory premises of the  ECC […]


We Fought For Our Right To Our Land With A FistFul Of Rice

Anna Kujur (53) is a fearless Adivasi leader from the Sundergarh district of Odisha. Sundergarh is a predominantly tribal district in north-west Odisha where over half […]


Women Continue To Be Underrepresented in India’s Parliament

Women’s political participation remains abysmally low in the Lok Sabha- the directly elected House of the Parliament as well as state legislative assemblies. The current Lok […]


COVID-19 : Adivasi and Forest Dwelling Women Face The Brunt

Socio-cultural values and norms have traditionally excluded women from participation in community decision making fora and denied them equal inheritance and property rights, both under formal […]


COVID-19 : Adivasi and Forest Dwelling Women Face The Brunt

Socio-cultural values and norms have traditionally excluded women from participation in community decision making fora and denied them equal inheritance and property rights, both under formal […]


A double blow for Adivasi Women Collectives

” We are unable to sell Mahul flowers in the market due to the lockdown. Lockdown has taken our  livelihood away”, said Baijanti Kalo of Bamandagarh […]


Women From The Bedia Community In Morena (MP) Suffer Disproportionately As Their Work Halts

The duration of lockdown has proven difficult for everyone, but it has been more challenging for those who belong to the marginalized sections of the society, […]


A “Resilience Fund” by women in coastal Odisha is Helping Them Cope With COVID-19: Story of Women of Penthakata Urban Slum in Puri

Satyavathi (48) has borne the brunt of disasters before and knows the heavy toll it takes on the lives and livelihoods of families. On 3 May […]


Adivasi Women Collectives Busting Misinformation

Every morning, Kamla Bai ( 30) makes a round of the hamlets in the Saklal Panchayat in Udaipur district of Rajasthan. Her mission is to bust […]


COVID-19: Intra-State Migrants Marooned Too

Thousands of families of intra-state migrants are stranded on the margins of Guntur’s world-renowned chilli farms, scrambling to live on a meagre supply of grains and […]


Women Continue To Be Underrepresented in Delhi Assembly

Delhi Vidhan Sabha, the elected body of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, has a dismal representation of women. Only 9% of the elected MLAs in […]


Women Resist Against India’s Citizenship Laws

‘Jamia ki ladkiyon ne raasta dikhaya hai, toh Jamia ki ladkiyon ko Inqualab Zindabad’ [ Jamia’s women have shown us the way, so revolutionary greetings to […]


Women’s Political Participation Sees A Steady Increase In Jharkhand

Women’s political representation in Jharkhand has seen a constant upward surge since the state came into existence in 2000. The proportion of women Members of Legislative […]


Haryana’s Women Carve a Larger Role in The State’s Politics

In Haryana, a state with a skewed sex ratio (913 girls to 1000 boys, an improvement from 830 girls in 2011), there is one gender indicator […]