gender rights

Campaign Highlights Suffering, Injustice, Oppressions During COVID-19 Lockdown

Launched on the third death anniversary of Gauri Lankesh, the ‘If We Do Not Rise’ campaign saw the participation of 632 women’s and other rights groups.

New Delhi: Around 15 lakh people actively participated through social media in the Hum Agar Utthe Nahin Toh… (If We Do Not Rise) campaign that was launched by various women’s groups, members of the LGBTQIA community and human rights organisation on September 5, the third death anniversary of journalist Gauri Lankesh. The event sought to highlight the suffering of the masses during the COVID-19 pandemic and seek greater accountability from the government.

At a press conference on September 15, the organisers of the campaign spoke about its progress and presented a charter of their demands that seek to ameliorate the sufferings of the masses. They also accused the Centre and the states of trying to put a lid on the plight of the people and urged greater transparency to ensure that the schemes announced for the poor and distressed reach them effectively.

Highlighting the need for the campaign, Anjali Bhardwaj of Satark Nagrik Sangathan said it was felt that there was a need to “speak out against inequality, injustice and oppression.”

‘Ill-timed lockdown threw economy in doldrums, impacted livelihood’

She charged that there has been an “unprecedented attack” on the constitutional rights and the democratic rights of the people in the recent past. “There is a huge problem with the economy, the GDP is witnessing a 24% contraction, unemployment is at an all-time high and after demonetisation and missteps like the introduction of Goods and Services Tax, we had an ill-planned lockdown which totally threw the economy into doldrums,” she said.

In such a scenario, she said, “The working poor, the farmers, the working class in general, sex workers are suffering because of the way the economy has been handled – there is widespread destitution, hunger and starvation.”

Also Read: No Data, No Problem: Centre in Denial about Migrant Worker Deaths and Distress

Rather than work towards addressing these issues, she said: “The government is using lockdown to curb dissent. After bringing in the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and diluting Article 370, the Centre has shown that it has no intention to be answerable or accountable to the people of the country.”

She said laws like the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act will adversely impact the rights of transpersons.

Bhardwaj said, “We are now seeing an attack on all those who raise their voice and question. We are also seeing an attack on all institutions of oversight which can hold the government answerable and all instruments that empower people.” She said the campaign has demanded that RTI laws should be strengthened, electoral bonds that allow the ruling party to get enormous amounts of money should be done away with and there should be an end to attacks on people who question the government.

‘Whoever raises questions is labelled anti-national’

Prominent social activist Shabnam Hashmi said the campaign was organised when it was felt that ‘a siege was being laid around us’. “We wanted to come out of that atmosphere of fear and helplessness. Also right now the atmosphere is such that anyone who raises question is labelled an anti-national,” she said.

She said within a month the campaign grew across India and over 632 women’s organisations in 28 states participated. “This is a first-of-its-kind campaign where people from all strata of society participated. People were asked to make videos and do Facebook live programmes. We managed to reach out to around 15 lakh people through social media participation.”

Hashmi termed the campaign “a celebration of opposition” and insisted that “it has posed a major challenge to the authoritarian forces in power.”

Women pose with posters for the campaign. Photo: Facebook/IfWeDoNotRise

‘Women vulnerable to losing jobs in absence of support’

Annie Raja of the National Federation of Indian Women said her group organised 1,427 physical programmes involving 10-20 women each across the country on September 5. She said while the events went live on Facebook, the videos were also shared. A number of memorandums were also submitted to various authorities as a part of the programme.

She said there have been reports of deaths due to hunger during the COVID-19 lockdown from various states but the Centre and state governments were not willing to acknowledge these. “In the days to come, we fear, that due to the lockdown the livelihoods have been impacted and in the absence of support from the government a very large number of women workers will become vulnerable to losing their employment.”

The governments, she said, have announced various measures but imposed pre-conditions relating to ration and Aadhaar cards due to which a large number of people have been denied their benefits.

She demanded that food security schemes should be continued until all impacted families regain their source of livelihood. She also demanded the collection of gender-based data to ensure the schemes reach their intended targets.

‘Release women, transgenders from prisons’

Activist Kavita Krishnan said while ideally a democracy is marked by the presence of constraints on abuse of power and offers protection to the weak, in India this appears to have been overturned. “The police in India, instead of relying on investigation, rely on torture,” she charged, adding that she would like to seek accountability of those who are in power.

Krishnan also spoke about issues related to women and transgenders lodged in prisons and urged that they be released in view of the pandemic.

The campaign also released a Charter of Demands that covered 13 thematic areas and 20 fact sheets on various topics.

Work in Progress

‘A battle over, is only the beginning of yet another for her.’

How did that woman get promoted?
“Duh, because she’s a woman.”
the ease with which this statement is made,
breaks my heart;
and everything women, today, stand for.

The battle to break the boundaries,
the four walls –
that once kept us captive, long ago,
and in some places, to date.
yet again, gone unnoticed.

Seems like there won’t be a day
where “she” won’t face new hurdles.
A battle over is only the beginning of yet another
for her,
simply because “she” is.

Being a woman is a battle enough,
being subject to society’s mindset
is far greater than one.
in a world, where “she” fights
for education and for equality,
for rights and for respect.
now, how should she prove to you
that she has already proven herself?
time and again, time and again,
time and again and yet again.
how did that woman get promoted?
“Easy, because she’s a woman.”
bingo! that is correct.

It is only because she’s a woman
that she knows she has to fight,
prove herself more than twice.
It’s only because she’s a woman,
that she knows she has the right
and a will to win what a “he” might.
It’s only because she’s a woman,
that she works that hard,
harder than you’ll ever know,
only to still be considered an unequal.
still, she keeps going.
undeterred, unfettered;
the high-spirited, second-class citizen that she is.
with all her might combined,
even when the chance of it happening is only a “might”.

It’s only because she’s a woman –
that she knows to struggle and strives to overcome
the hurdles, that you’ll never see.
the battles, that you’ll never know.
daily, she does
what you can’t even imagine.
with hopes, that someday –
she could make it here.
and even now, she will continually work hard.
all this, only because she’s a woman.
every day, she is a work in progress.
working hard, hustling;
proving herself, non-stop.
and what you think of her, is her last concern.
instead, she just keeps going,
undeterred, unfettered, unbothered;
the high-spirited, second-class citizen that “she” is.

Isha Prakash is a law student at Government Law College, Mumbai.

Featured image credit: Tim Mossholder

Don’t Tell Her to Behave ‘Like a Girl’

A poem about bringing up a girl child.

Don’t force anklets and bangles,
On tiny hands and feet.
Let her choose to have those,
If and when she feels.

Don’t kill her laughter,
Or tell her to behave ‘like a girl’.
Let her speak her mind,
Let her thoughts unfurl.

Teach her cooking,
But not because she is a girl.
Teach her to be independent,
To find her own world.

Let career or kids be of her will,
Not of yours or your relatives’.
And if she makes mistakes,
Tell her it’s alright.
Let her take responsibility,
But stand by her side.

Tell her to spread love and joy
And take care of people around.
But also tell her not to forget herself,
When things get tough on the ground.

Don’t expect more from her,
Just because she is a girl.
Don’t call her the stronger sex,
But make her an equal one.

Barkha Shah is a freelance writer who missed sparing enough time for her first love – writing. Now, she is making amends. She is also a digital marketing strategist and is based out of Bangalore.

Featured image credit: @ericjamesward/Unsplash

Lunar Cycles

A poem on the fear of harassment that women and girls routinely encounter in cities and society’s tendency to blame victims.

i.
i am born in the capital of the country
and grow used to gazes

ii.
madras finds me shoving my hands in the pockets of my too-short shorts
or so the aunties and teachers and friends’ mothers think
get pulled aside one sunny afternoon (but then most afternoons are sunny)
when I am sitting by the library (the safest spot on the campus)
my physics teacher asks my why I wasn’t wearing shorts
under my uniformed regulation skirt and aren’t I sending the boys
the wrong idea, somehow?

madras finds me laughing in the face of my modern-day medusa
asking her if she thinks boys staring up my skirt might
already have completely the wrong idea
through no encouragement of my own through no intention of mine

medusa and I call an uneasy truce after that but I can feel her stone eyes
whenever I walk through the mud through the grass over the basketball court

a friend (with whom i’ve long lost touch) asks me, aged nine, whether my top
is slightly too revealing and shows too much of my midriff
I feel her eyes on my stomach on my yet-flat chest still-growing body
‘that’s what my mother thinks anyway’ she says, and takes a sip of her juice

madras finds me combatting many modern age knights in shining armour
worried about my honour and my prepubescent body
littered with skinned knees and adorned with shorts
I learn, then, to avert the eyes of those that want me preserved, to turn to stone

iii.
i move back to the capital and watch it grow around me
and it silently watches me right back

it lurks uneasily at the side of barely-developed roads
men look at me through car windows and whistle
they watch me wait for my uncle at the airport
they watch me walk down the path to school
they watch me fling myself across a court to catch a ball

delhi waits for me to step a single toe out of line
so that it can claim me for its own

growth spurts mean being hauled up in front of class
and being loudly asked by my chemistry teacher
(is it any wonder that I never take a shining to science?)
about whether my pink bra is appropriate within hearing range of
every boy in class who ask me every day for a week
whether my breasts are appropriate

(I am 11 when I am called a slut for the first time
She probably learned it from her mother
back then, it means girl who wasn’t scared of her own body
now, it means girl I don’t like because she has an opinion)

growth spurts mean being let into adult-rated movies at 14
leaning in to look at the show timings
the man at the box office looks down my shirt through a plastic counter

iv.
growing up means being terrified of newspapers
because every day is a new atrocity
growing up is feeling the country beat around me
pulse, silently, with ever-growing anger at people who look
like me, share so much of mine except my luck

(we learn to laugh it off, of course
my friends and I enjoy the film just fine and I don’t think of the man again
when asked, I just say I have no time for the news)

when I am 15, I’m at a school fair in line for some food
a man my father’s age comes up behind me in line
I don’t think anything of it until he
presses his body to mine and I can feel more than I ever have before
through my jeans, through his terrycot trousers

of course I don’t say anything
(this is delhi and I have fear constantly lurking under the bravado)

I wait and I wait and I take my burgers and run back to my friends
they think I am imagining everything, of course
they think it wasn’t on purpose, of course
they think I am thinking ill of a poor old man
and I turn around and see him staring at me, licking his lips

v.
fear waits
around dark corners
when the sun’s long gone down
fear persists
no matter how many people you surround yourself with
despite how loudly feminist you are
(because of how loudly feminist you are)
fear manifests
fear remains

fear waits for a single misstep

to come up behind you and hold you close
and suffocate you and strangle you and leave you in the dark
gasping for breath grateful you’re safe now
but you’ll never really be safe again
and nothing ever happens until it does

fear lurks behind every closed door
fear lurks in me
it comes to me as natural as breathing

fear rises in me and meets the moon every night

fear would have me believe that inside every person is a werewolf
and the lunar cycles dictate when he loses his humanity and ravages the town
the world would have me believe in man’s cursed lycanthropy
the world would have me sympathise with men who do not have men in them any more
the world would have me blame my skirt my behaviour my volume my inebriation me
for a poor man’s loss of control

but there is nothing poor about a man and the moon
there is nothing pure about the cold sinister rage that lurks behind the surface
there is nothing pure about the way an entire country watched me grow up

just beyond my field of vision
they wait for me to f*** up
they wait for a single slip in my vigilance

all it takes is a single careless moment.

Shloka Ramachandran is a poet and an English and Creative Writing graduate of the University of London, currently based in Mumbai.

Featured image credit: Massimo Vergilio/Unsplash

Have Your Cake, But Do Not Eat it – Feminism and Indian Society

It’s up to us to create a new culture where we don’t have to fight just to be ourselves. Where individuality is welcomed and our identity does not stem only from our gender.

I spent 14 years of my life in an all-girls school.

Nuns and misogynistic women were in charge of making sure we were sufficiently repressed. However, we, as a collective student body, thrived on shaking off their ridiculous rules and being the most independent, free versions of ourselves we could be.

In that environment, we we used to have lengthy debates about sexism, religion, caste, education, law and everything else under the sun. We were as loud and opinionated as we wanted to be. We idolised Malala Yousafzai and Nangeli and Kamala Das.

In a sheltered environment, we were a community of girls who encouraged each other to have original thoughts, aspire to be good leaders and have ambitions – no matter how crazy they sounded.

When I was in Class 10, a career counsellor came to our school. After a lengthy session, he prompted questions from the audience. When I asked what a psychiatrist’s life might look like, he rudely said that psychiatry was not a profession suited for women.

With all the fury my 15-year-old self could muster, I politely educated him about gross generalisations and sexist stereotyping. Later, my friends and I laughed about it over lunch.

That was the only such incident over 14 years of schooling.

‘You’re such a feminist’

Now, five years later, I wake up every day expecting the world to crush my spirit.

I wonder who will ask me to keep my mouth shut when I get passionate about an issue, or who will make a snide comment about my make-up. I wonder who will be next in the line to say that I care too much about political correctness, or that I’m too emotional. I wonder which college lecture will be interrupted by a throwaway comment about how my career isn’t as important as that of the man I will marry someday.

I wonder whose mouth will turn down in contempt as they look at me and say: “You’re such a feminist” – just the way one would toss a slur.

I always have to be mindful of my thoughts, so that I don’t get pulled into a completely one-sided lecture about the wonders of marriage and childbirth.

Self-censorship has become a norm.

Until I am in the safe company of a few like-minded female friends, it feels like I am holding my breath. It feels like I have created a version of myself which is more social, more pleasant, less sarcastic and scathing, less honest and less real. I have created a robot that will not offend the delicate sensibilities of sexist, benevolent and hostile people I now encounter on a daily basis.

Also read: I’ve Had Enough of My School’s Moral Policing

Indeed, the suffragettes – and all the women of today’s world – have fought to let me claim my right to education at respectable institutions, unchallenged. But I feel many expect us to be happy and grateful that we have these opportunities in the first place.

We are, therefore, expected to put up with whatever – good or bad – that comes our way.

We can’t even call out sexist stereotyping or objectification of women at workplaces and elsewhere. Society seems to believe that since it has painstakingly made room for us, it has every right to set the parameters that we must follow.

Sexism: insidious, hostile and benevolent

Sometimes, sexism is insidious: it sneaks up on you in the guise of society trying to protect you from the evils of the world. For instance, we get an earlier curfew in comparison to the men because, as they say, we cannot handle ourselves in this cruel world.

Sometimes, it’s overt – like when you get on a bus, there is a 50% chance that someone will grope or sexually harass you.

Sometimes, it’s swift and unexpected. For example, you tell a close male friend about a bad incident that you had to endure and they don’t believe you saying “you are blowing things out of proportion”.

Sometimes, it’s small and seemingly insignificant – like a waiter speaking only to your male friend and expecting nothing from you.

Each time, it feel like a kick to the gut.

Hostile sexism is the one we’re all familiar with. This encompasses misogyny and the belief that women are incompetent, less intelligent, manipulative, and so on.

Mostly, these days, these beliefs come out either in close gatherings or on the internet. They come out, shock you, but stay hidden under the surface.

Also read: Why Do Women Always Serve Guests While Men Relax?

Benevolent sexism, on the other hand, is ubiquitous, and we all face it on a daily basis. Such a person will write poems revering women for being a mother, a wife and a daughter. For them, women need to be protected by men and they believe that the traditional gender roles should be idealised. And both men and women try to enforce these beliefs in the name of cultural and social norms.

And if anyone tries to rock the boat, he or she is put back in their place.

Some of my female friends have been lulled into such a false sense of security that they have stopped calling themselves feminists. They accept the varied ways the society wrongs them and they are grateful for the small signs of acceptance they get.

Benevolent and hostile sexism are not mutually exclusive, merely different heads of the same millennia-old monster.

Every time a new movie releases with a female protagonist, or an all-female cast, outrage is sparked in all the nooks and crannies of social media.

“A blatant attempt at political correctness that is not worth watching” will be the overwhelming chorus. Or something like: “A female superhero? Save your money.”

For every movie that favours inclusion and equality, there are a hundred others that harp on the same old stereotypes, portraying women only as a love interest whom the audience objectifies.

What to do?

Little girls need role models to look up to, just as much as little boys do.

They need to be able to grow up seeing themselves on screen – real women, who have ambitions, hopes and dreams, not just waiting to get married. They need to believe that they can be anything they want to be, if they work towards it.

Our media reflects our culture and if it does not, it attempts to change and ameliorate our culture.

Hence, it is so important that more films, with women playing the lead, are made.

People will scoff at these films and perhaps will call them a “publicity stunt” but there will be someone out there who will look at the screen and see a hero, who looks just like her. And that will make all the difference.

Also, not everyone will understand or even be willing to listen to what you are going through. Many will try to devalue your everyday struggle.

This is what makes it all the more imperative that you speak up and make all the noise you can. Make it known that if they intend to put you in a box, they are going to have to drag you there, kicking and screaming.

Maybe you will be mocked for it, but you have the ability to make a change.

It’s up to us to create a new culture where we don’t have to fight just to be ourselves. Where individuality is welcomed and our identity does not stem only from our gender.

Ashwita is a 20-year-old medical student with loud opinions about everything, and even louder anxiety.

Featured image credit: Pariplab Chakraborty

My Internal Conflicts in a Conservative Family Setting

‘I want to express my opinions and be heard but at least I can do that and be laughed at’

The poem is a sneak peek inside the heart of a young Indian girl belonging to a conservatively modern family, who studied social science at the London School of Economics and now struggles to keep up with the beliefs and expectations of her family – but loves them deeply.

I study about agency and voice
But at least they gave me a chance to educate myself.

We discuss about solutions to crimes against women, in our class
But at least they let me wear things that are respectful

I debate my classmates about feminism
But at least I have the chance to make my career in a year.

I discuss my passion to fight for human rights
But at least I have the luxury of having a ‘practical’ career outside home.

I study about identity and representations
But at least I get to have some say about who I want to marry within our religion.

I share articles about menstruation myths
But at least I can interact with my father when I am on my period.

I talk about the right to free speech
But at least I am able to secretly write about what bothers me

I listen to podcasts about finding your purpose in life
But at least having kids is already on top of the chart

I fantasise about sharing life with an understanding partner
But at least he will be able to give me everything I need – economically

I want to travel the world alone
But at least I can do that when I have a partner

I share my desire to study more
But at least I can do that, if my in-laws give me the permission

I want to express my opinions and be heard
But at least I can do that and be laughed at

I tear up see my sister go through the same
But at least she has it slightly better then me, as they say

I do not want to feel guilty for feeling this way
For at least I have loving parents, no?

I just want to have a simple happy life
But at least I am a good daughter, no?

Yashi Jain is a 22-year-old masters student in Development in Media at the London School of Economics.

Featured image credit: Unsplash

How Social Media Drove and Repressed an Election Boycott in UP’s Chitrakoot

Untouched by even basic human development interventions, the reach of social media in spreading information across every household and making matters heard has been transformative in Bilari.

Bilari (Chitrakoot, UP): “Since independence, many netas have come and gone with promises left unfulfilled. Promises to attend to even our basic needs like roads, electricity, water, health facilities. After the voting season, they are never to be seen.” This is how we met Dharmendra, who was spearheading an agitation to boycott Lok Sabha elections in Bilari village, Rampur Gram Panchayat, Chitrakoot, UP.

When Khabar Lahariya’s Digital Head Kavita travelled to meet the villagers last month, the call for rejecting another apathetic MP was unanimous. The words ‘Chunav Bahishkaar’, or ‘Vote Ban’ had been painted on the walls of almost all the kuccha houses in this village of around 950 people.

Led by Dharmendra Bhaskar and Ramkesh Yadav, members of a politically active group called the Aabhas Mahasangh, what the residents of this remote village had perhaps not anticipated was the drama that would follow their call for boycott.

What prompted them to take a stand and make themselves heard after such a long period of indifference from their elected representatives?

According to Ramesh, another local, “Our major demands have always been for the construction of a road and compensation for our lands that get flooded during the monsoons every year. We have sat on many protests and hunger strikes since 2014 for the same demands. Several officials like the A.D.M Indraprakash and the D.O. had given us assurances, but to absolutely no avail.”

The road that exists right upto the nearby dam becomes non-existent until one begins to come down from it to the village. Needless to say, this has led to huge inconveniences, especially during emergencies like when women go into labour and others need emergency medical care. Many have died enroute, we learnt.

Apart from the mood of betrayal that lingers in Bilari, a sense of despondency was palpable too, reflected in the words of Shakuntala Devi: “Our lives will end here, drowned in the same problems. But I worry about my children – their future, their education, job prospects. At the local school, only two or three teachers come occasionally, putting in minimal effort, serving substandard khichdi for meals and then they leave the children on their own. These and other basic things like an aganwadi, a nurse, a health centre are needs that can surely be easily met.” But Bilari, she insisted, has been bereft of them.

When we spoke to Priyanka, a young college student, about the state of education facilities, she said: “When it floods, we cannot go to college for months on end. Why can’t there be a college nearby?” She was adamant about the call for a vote boycott, “If no one does anything for us, why should I vote?” This would have otherwise been her first vote.

Also read: In UP’s Chitrakoot, a Young Woman Will Contest Against Patriarchy and Casteism

Floods lead to other problems as well. Sushma Devi summed it up: “Our stoves won’t work; the water reaches knee-high levels, and insects and snake bites are rampant.”

We reached out to a few officials available for comment, including Pankaj Tiwari, son of the village Pradhan and hence his spokesman. He had an ambiguous response, “The sand acquisition process for the construction of the road has been done. A budget of Rs 8 lakh had been sanctioned and we have spent around Rs 3,90,000. After that, the officials closed the account. We are waiting to receive measurement details from the NREGA department as of now.”

Besides the road, when asked about the absence of built toilets and pucca houses, despite household level schemes for the same, the Black Development Officer (B.D.O.) Asharam Sinha had this to say: “One bathroom has already been built this year. The rest are in line for construction. As for the road, a two-kilometre road cannot be built at the Gram Panchayat level. The elected MLA or MP should get it done.” Tiwari, on the other hand, said, “Most households here have already been allocated funds by cheque for toilet construction but just have not built it yet.”

Despite everything, the strong belief in the influence of a local news channel to make their voices heard yielded results. Once our video report was published, it became a local phenomenon. Widely viewed, shared and commented on, the video became a hot button topic for discussion through several local WhatsApp groups, Facebook and YouTube.

Practically untouched by even the most basic human development interventions through the years, the reach of social media in spreading information across every household and making matters heard, has been transformative for Bilari. The YouTube video, which went live on April 26, garnered more than 75,000 views and generated a range of responses. While local viewers openly supported the boycott, the local officials took notice and made last-ditch efforts to suppress the stir.

Also read: In UP’s Chitrakoot, a New Attraction Reveals Govt’s Strong Push for Religious Tourism

Dharmendra, along with Ramkesh, was arrested on the night of April 30, only to be released the next day, on further protests. When voting day finally arrived on May 6, Bilari villagers refused to vote at the first ever exclusive polling booth set up for the village. They stood their ground until around 1 pm, which was when the Rampur pradhan arrived on the scene, in tow with the tehsildar to “settle” the matter. The process involved further coercion, a fair amount of intimidation and reassurances for swift action on meeting their needs.

Finally, Bilari gave in and voted, adding to the phase five polling statistic of UP that sit at 57.9%.

Was this just another one of the many defeats and betrayals Bilari will be subjected to?

For now, the question looms thick in the air and is summarised best by Shakuntala Devi: “When this government is apparently providing every imaginable facility everywhere else, why hasn’t it reached this village?”

That’s what Bilari wants to know.

Khabar Lahariya is a rural, video-first digital news organisation with an all-women network of reporters in eight districts of Uttar Pradesh.

In UP’s Chitrakoot, a Young Woman Will Contest Against Patriarchy and Casteism

A lawyer by profession, Meera Bharti – the Swatantra Janta Party candidate from Banda-Chitrakoot – rose up the ranks through her social activism and advocacy for Dalit rights and gender equality.

One strong mid-week highlight of a high-powered Lok Sabha election season, besides a highly publicised non-political interview that was anything but, was the news about BJP MP Udit Raj quitting his party and joining the Congress. A vocal critic of the recent caste-centred decisions, such as the Supreme Court’s dilution of the SC/ST Act, Raj is also the chairman of the All India Confederation of Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribe organisations. After his move to the Congress, he has labelled the BJP “anti-Dalit”.

Far away from Delhi, the resident BJP MP from the Banda-Chitrakoot seat of Uttar Pradesh, Bhairon Prasad Mishra, is still frothing at the mouth over being denied a ticket to contest the polls – his main contention being his caste status – upper. The BJP has chosen to field R.K. Patel, who belongs to an OBC community – a fact that Mishra is simply unable to fathom. “Ab yahi toh nahi samajh mein aa raha ki unhone aisa kyon kiya (That’s what I’m unable to comprehend, why they did this),” he told us after a night of hunger strike in Delhi, demanding that senior leaders meet him and explain.

While the math around caste politics might be complex, what is simpler to understand is the gender imbalance. Data from the last general election in India shows that, for 543 seats, 640 women candidates ran for election (that’s 8% of the total 8,208 candidates). Of these, only 12% won (61). Only 12.6% of MPs are women, against the international average of 24.3%. This places India 149th on the list (out of 193 countries), ranked for its percentage of women representatives in parliament – behind Bangladesh, Pakistan and even Saudi Arabia.

Also Read: UP’s Kol Adivasis to Boycott Polls Until Scheduled Tribe Status Demand Is Met

In 2019, from the data available thus far, the percentage of women candidates still stands at around 8%. This is despite two prominent parties, Odisha’s Biju Janata Dal and West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress, announcing over 30% reservations in party tickets for women. In interior UP, Bundelkhand has only had 11 women MPs since Independence, with Uma Bharti being the most prominent among them.

It is this world that Meera Bharti steps into. A woman, a Dalit, contesting the election from her home – the constituency of Banda-Chitrakoot. Calling the village of Khanch in Chitrakoot her home, Meera is being fielded by the Swatantra Janta Party, a lesser known political outfit that finds itself on local Hindi newsfeeds only.

Having risen through the ranks with her social activism, mobilising and advocating for the rights of Dalits and other marginalised communities, Meera has tread a self-taught path. A lawyer by profession, Meera is often found at the local district court, hustling for cases centred around violence against women, or caste-based discrimination. “I learnt early on that you need to know the law to make anything work for you”, she says, when we finally perch ourselves underneath a tree, its shade protecting us from the unrelenting heat and sun.

Her offline mobilisation is also deftly complemented by her online presence. On Facebook, Meera is very active locally with regular ‘Jai Bhim’ updates and is sure to voice her opinions around episodes of caste-based discrimination and violence.

Petite of frame and still in her mid-twenties, the local expectations around Meera’s political ambitions have been gaining ground for quite some time. Most assumed that she would contest the 2019 elections, but as an independent candidate. She speaks of the support she has garnered, “I had also thought that I would contest as an independent. But when this party approached me, I realised it’s a good option. They are also invested in speaking on behalf of the marginalised, which is so crucial in the current political climate.” She is astute when she affirms, “It is good to have the muscle power of a party behind you.”

Speaking of muscle, Meera is no novice at what it takes to bag a nomination and then to campaign, let alone win a seat. “I know that only powerful people make it to this fray,” she says, referring to her rivals in the polls, “manjhe hue khiladi (highly experienced)” all – businessman Shyam Charan Gupta of the alliance, local MLA R.K. Patel of the BJP, and ex-SP honcho Bal Kumar Patel, more popularly known as “Daku Dadua ka bhai” (dacoit’s brother).

Also Read: In Rural UP, Lack of Toilets is Forcing New Mothers to Squat in the Open

Meera Bharti on the campaign trail. Credit: meera.bharti.583/Facebook

“These are all men who travel in cars, and big cars. I am someone who walks to work, walks to protests, walks everywhere”, she says, and adds, “But I think the voice of the powerless is strong this time. People cannot be fooled anymore and they have a deep awareness of everything that’s at stake this time.” This is the wave she’s hoping to ride, she says, “We have to snatch our rights, our freedoms back. There’s no other way this is going to change.” In true neta & UP style, she illustrates with an aphorism, “Even a mother doesn’t feed her child until she cries.”

The daughter of daily wage labourers Babadeen and Malti, both of whom she lost at a few years ago, Meera brings up her economic status as a possible campaign pitch, “I think the poor have an instinctive understanding of being powerless. I hope to appeal to that.”

She also plans to keep her gender identity in focus. She has been vocal around sexual harassment in the past and she plans to take head-on patriarchal mores, “This is drilled into women right from birth. You are a girl, learn how to make rotis. If you step out for anything other than your marriage, your parents are questioned. ‘How come you’re letting her work?’, they ask. This has to stop.”

With Meera fighting the crucial general elections in an all-male space, under a big tree in Chitrakoot, feeling cool, we allow ourselves to dream, even if only for a moment.

Khabar Lahariya is a rural, video-first digital news organisation with an all-women network of reporters in eight districts of Uttar Pradesh.

It’s High Time MPs Around the World Stand up for Rights of Women and Minorities

At a recent UN conference, representatives from several nations spoke up for the rights of women and marginalised groups. But how much of the rhetoric will translate into action?

Every few weeks we are subjected to some elected representative holding forth on the reproductive and sexual evils of one browbeaten group or the other. While Giriraj Singh or Sakshi Maharaj grab every opportunity to castigate Indian Muslims for their high fertility, Rajnath Singh metaphorises the #MeToo movement in a supposed joke about the opposition. Just as bad as these individual utterances is the absence of publicly voiced disagreement by their peers or even those in political opposition to them.

It was thus refreshing to be in Ottawa for the 7th International Parliamentarians Conference on the Implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development agenda (are better known as IPCI-ICPD). Parliamentarians from 72 countries were to come up with a consensus document to push their governments to implement what in 1994 was a radical way of thinking about population and development.

That 1994 UN Cairo conference, wisely hijacked by women’s rights activists, urged countries to stop thinking about population as a question of numbers and growth rates. Instead, it asked them to view it as a question of individual rights, especially the rights of women and minorities to reproductive health – the right to make their own reproductive decisions, and to have access to information and services to act on these decisions.

As I observed the proceedings and made my own presentation, I noticed some glaring omissions and commissions.

India was the only South Asian country represented. There were two Indian MPs, one from Ahmedabad and one from Himachal Pradesh. I sharply felt the absence of Bangladesh, which has made impressive progress on gender equality indicators and could have added much to the discussions – at the 6th IPCI in Stockholm in 2014, there were two articulate Bangladeshi MPs.

Bangladesh has made impressive progress on gender equality indicators. But its representatives were missing from the conference. Credit: WorldFish/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Less surprising was the absence of two big players, China and the United States. I was unsure if they were missing because they were on the defensive on other counts – China for its poor human rights record on population-related policy, and the US for discouraging defunding of family planning work if there is a whiff of abortion attached to it (and also for its president’s mocking of the #MeToo movement, refugees and migrants.)

India was physically present but still absent from any of the discussions. This was a pity because we have a rich and old history of action and activism on reproductive health.

Mexico and Ireland

I had expected parliamentarians to be trumpet blowers, and many were honest about all that remains to be done 24 years after the Cairo accord. The remarkable Mexican MP, Martha Lucia Micher of the Morena party regretfully revealed the sharp rise in adolescent pregnancies and births in her country. She also reminded us that Mexico City has recently legalised abortion without conditions. Mexico now has 50% women in its parliament – by comparison, the global representation of women in parliaments only reached 23% in 2018.

Martha Lucia Micher. Credit: Reuters

The MP from Ireland, Catherine Noone, described the recent referendum on abortion and it showed for legalising abortion in the Catholic country. This followed the referendum to legalise gay marriage in 2015 and has now been followed by a referendum to oust anti-blasphemy laws in mid-October. Noone emphasised that the pro-abortion movement made appeals to empathy, rather than to the moral high ground.

The Irish experience has an Indian connection – the tipping point in public opinion was probably the death of Savita Halappanavar, the Indian-origin woman who died in 2012 after a hospital refused her an abortion even when her life was in danger. Noone also mentioned the horrifying threats and abuse she receives online each day.

Also read: Ireland Has Finally Granted Its Women the Right to Choose

Another Indian connection – two of the MPs, one from Peru and the other from Mexico, have the first name Indira. Both had parents who admired Indira Gandhi.

We met Robhi Samwelly, a survivor of female genital mutilation in Tanzania, who has channelled her trauma into opening ‘safe houses’ for young girls trying to escape the terrifying surgery. A recent feature film on her work, In the Name of Your Daughter has been gathering several awards, but what I was more struck by was her quiet but firm demeanour.

Reproductive health in humanitarian settings

There was politics too. One of the MPs from Spain had written ‘BASQUE COUNTRY’ in bold letters on his name and desk cards. The MPs from Jordan and Palestine made emotional speeches on the costs to reproductive health due to the perpetual conflict in their region, especially by the Occupation in Palestine.

Indeed, the session on reproductive health in humanitarian settings was the most harrowing of all. Jordan is drowning under 1.4 million Syrian refugees (20% of its population), Lebanon has over a million Syrian refugees (25% of its population), there are 60 births each day in Rohingya camps in Bangladesh, thanks to the strategic use of rape to terrorise and facilitate ethnic cleansing in Myanmar – this is an ironic strategy because it ends up increasing, not decreasing the size of the Rohingya. All these countries are struggling to support hundreds of thousands of refugees and should shame other countries that deny shelter to even the few thousands that seek it.

Also read: With Data, an Attempt to Lift the Veil of Secrecy Around Female Genital Mutilation

UNFPA is doing heroic work in these camps, trying to give women and girls pregnancy and maternal care, contraception, education, psychosocial counselling and protection from further violence. But it is never enough.

A pregnant Syrian woman carries her child at a compound housing Syrian refugees in Sidon. Credit: Reuters

Growing threats to sexual and reproductive health

Another interesting session was on the growing threats to sexual and reproductive rights by authoritarian states, religious fundamentalists and, most disheartening of all, civil society configurations. They still police private behaviour, even as their societies make progress on the rights of sexual minorities and of fluid gender identities, universal access to abortion, and against sexual harassment. Maybe it is the very success of these little strides that has raised tensions. The worst dangers are to the sexual and reproductive rights of sexual minorities.

Also read: Cheat Sheet to the Handbook of Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace

The only serious polarisation at the conference was on the question of mentioning the LGBTQ+ community in the consensus document. Many otherwise liberal MPs seemed worried that it would increase the probability of even the non-controversial parts of the document being dismissed in their home countries. I am proud that after its recent Supreme Court judgement, India can now join the better side of this debate.

A participant holds a rainbow umbrella at a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Pride Parade in Hong Kong, November 8, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

All in all, it was a progressive and inspiring conference. Until I stopped to think of what would follow. How many of these MPs would actually speak up, back home, the next time their colleagues attacked the rights of adolescents to sex education, of refugees to healthcare, or abused women to legal redress?

Do I really believe that the next time a Giriraj Singh or a Sangeet Som or Sakshi Maharaj brings up Muslim growth rates, or ‘love jihad’ or internment camps for ‘illegal’ migrants, one or both of the Indian MPs at this meeting would raise their voice to protest?

If the answer to these questions is a disappointing ‘no’, one must conclude that this international conference was just one more junket that elected representatives with the right connections regularly get to attend.

Alaka Basu is a social demographer working on reproductive health and family planning and Professor in the Department of Development Sociology, Cornell University, as well as currently Senior Fellow in the United Nations Foundation, Washington DC.

NYT Report Reveals Trump Administration’s Attempt to Define Transgender Out of Existence

A draft of the Trump administration memo says gender should be determined “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable,” the memo says.

New Delhi: The government of US President Donald Trump is attempting to strip transgender people of official recognition by creating a narrow definition of gender as being only male or female and unchangeable once it is determined at birth, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

The Department of Health and Human Services has undertaken an effort across several government departments to establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that bans discrimination on the basis of sex, the Times said, citing a government memo that it obtained.

That definition would be as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals a person is born with, the Times reported.

Such an interpretation would reverse the expansion of transgender rights that took place under the previous administration of President Barack Obama.

It would also set back aspirations for tolerance and equality among the estimated 0.7% of the population that identifies as transgender. Most transgender people live with a profound sense that the gender assigned to them at birth was wrong and transition to the opposite sex, while others live a non-binary or gender fluid life.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declined to comment on what she called “allegedly leaked documents” but cited a ruling by a conservative US district judge as a guide to transgender policy.

Ruling on a challenge to one aspect of the Affordable Care Act, US district judge Reed O’Connor in Texas found in 2016 that there was no protection against discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

A leading transgender advocate called the government’s reported action a “super aggressive, dismissive, dangerous move.”

“They are saying we don’t exist,” said Mara Keisling, director of the National Center for Transgender Rights, in an interview.

The Obama administration enacted regulations and followed court rulings that protected transgender people from discrimination, upsetting religious conservatives.

The Trump administration has sought to ban transgender people from military service and rescinded guidance to public schools recommending that transgender students be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice.

A draft of the Trump administration memo says gender should be determined “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable,” the memo says, according to the Times.

Medical science seeking to explain what makes people transgender is in its infancy.

Psychiatrists no longer consider being transgender a disorder and several US courts have found the Obama interpretation of protecting transgender people against discrimination as sound. But the Trump administration has chosen to abide by the ruling of O’Connor, the Times said.

“The court order remains in full force and effect today and HHS is abiding by it as we continue to review the issue,” Roger Severino, the director of the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement.

(Reuters)