Human culture and religion largely revolve around our perception of gender and sex. It is therefore not surprising that virginity has found its own special niche in our traditions. But here, human anatomy is a disadvantage to women. The presence of a hymen, a thin membrane that partially covers the external vaginal opening and ruptures during a woman’s first sexual encounter, makes her particularly vulnerable to scrutiny by the moralistic eye of patriarchy, as she alone among the two sexes bears evidence to her virginity. Also, civilisation as we know it today had its cornerstones laid when the agrarian way of life had begun to replace the nomadic – when ownership of land had begun to signify a more luxurious and therefore, a more powerful way of life. Patriarchy, the rise of the male sex over the female is largely derived from that idea of ownership, and women like property, are owned by men. Almost automatically, a woman’s virginity becomes the property of that one man, who is meant to ‘own’ her and she is bound to ‘save herself’ for him, while he himself is bound by no such understanding.

A lot of women in Europe, India and West Asia have found their cultural identity in the folds of this robe-like garment. They choose to wear it because it gives them a sense of comfort and religious belonging. They are not forced and simply choose to dress this way.

Knowledge is based on experience and experience is never gender neutral. Hence it is imperative that any body of knowledge must be inclusive of the experiences of the entire human population. Looking at the experience of only one half of the human race leads to the generation of fractional knowledge. Economics is a victim, so [...]

Are trends in fashion a reflection of the changing demands of the society? Or is fashion transforming the mindset of the public? With increasing obsession with size-zero and ‘breakthroughs’ with regard to techniques to look skinny regardless of one’s voluptuous size, fashion is increasingly encroaching on every woman’s comfort level.

Leadership is often mistaken to have masculine connotations. I often see women around me believe that in order to be in power one must act like a man. A woman must take decisions like men would. Women should wear the same expression that a man in her place would. But I wonder how any of this leads to empowerment of a woman. I believe that such movements achieve quite the opposite. Instead of acknowledging women for who they are, they turn women into men and then provide them opportunities to lead.

I do not know whether to laugh or hit the wall in frustration when I read the specific circumstances where women think it’s ok to be beaten up. The most commonly cited offense is ‘being disrespectful to in-laws,’ followed by ‘neglect of house or children.’ The least stated reason is refusal to have sex. I guess the last is a silver lining of sorts?

Sometimes when I leave the office late and have to turn a dark corner, my heart skips a beat. The fact that i am wearing a “non-provocative and politically correct” salwar kurta with a properly pinned dupatta doesn’t seem to offer any sort of consolation.Yet every time harm comes a woman’s way, it is [...]

It goes without saying that we Indian women over-dress. Showing too much skin is not acceptable. What defines too much depends on your perspective. When I get tired of the aggravating dupattas and pallus that are forever falling off my uncooperatively narrow shoulders, I turn to my jeans with T-shirts and kurtis. But even there, the present fad is to wear that stole or shawl. Are these newest trends actually intended to be further ‘cover-ups’?

These websites, they have clever marketing executives now. The prettiest of pictures, cutesy stories of how Shalini met Hari on the site and found eternal love thereafter, thanks to very specific preferences you can set, the height, weight, complexion (first thing you would see), the caste, sub-caste and the dozen others I never seem to understand.

There’s no excuse for the insufficient coverage of a story like Sherbini’s. Why? In fact, details of the killing are not even easily available on the Internet. The UK’s Guardian was one of the few publications to publish a detailed story along with BBC that carried a short account of the incident.