Articles by Namita Bhandare
Marital rape: The State must protect women
The National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5), released this past week, finds that when women are subject to sexual violence, husbands are the perpetrators in 82% of the cases. Yet 99.1% of sexual violence goes unreported when the perpetrator is the husband, found a 2018 analysis by Mint

Published on May 13, 2022 05:47 PM IST
Why women are missing out on jobs
India needs a focused fight that involves government, the private sector and civil society. The government can pass laws and policies such as expanding paternity leave and providing tax breaks for companies that promote inclusion

Updated on Apr 29, 2022 07:38 PM IST
Focus on the crime, not on the rape victim
It is our convenient, shifting attitudes to rape, our unrelenting focus on the victim, not the crime, that make us all complicit. That an elected head of a state is part of this mob makes it tragic

Updated on Apr 15, 2022 06:45 PM IST
It’s time for women to fight their own battles
For women who continue to fight for equal agency, there is something primitive about this modern version of throwing down the gauntlet

Updated on Apr 01, 2022 06:33 PM IST
On hijab, don't ignore the ground realities
If a mere headscarf can disrupt public order, then who is responsible: The student who wears it or the law enforcement agencies responsible for maintaining the peace?

Updated on Mar 19, 2022 04:51 PM IST
When school becomes a hostile place for students
- A boy is dead apparently because he did not fit social ideas of what is “normal”. His mother is fighting for justice. No parent should have to ever go through this again.

Updated on Mar 04, 2022 10:21 PM IST
Hijab row: It’s about control, not choice
If you want to save Muslim women, then educate them. It really is that simple. Instead, school administrations, headed by politicians, deny girls education because of a piece of cloth on their heads

Updated on Feb 18, 2022 07:51 PM IST
Rule of law remains an alien concept in India
This tribalist culture is reflected in ways in which the mob metes out what it sees as justice. It has the sanction of the crowd, whether it’s dealing with a pickpocket, suspected ‘beef eaters’ or ‘honour’ killings

Updated on Feb 04, 2022 07:27 PM IST
Why rape victims hesitate to speak up
G Gopakumar’s acquittal of Franco Mulakkal, a bishop of the Jalandhar diocese, is the latest in misogynist rape judgments and tells you why sexual assault survivors remain reluctant to speak up. In two words: Rape trials

Updated on Jan 21, 2022 08:39 PM IST
A petri dish of deep distrust and hatred
The online ‘auction’ of Muslim women exists in an ecosystem of hate. But the sexualised attack of Muslim women is not new. Over the past year, there have been at least three “auctions” — May 2020, Eid in July, and November on Clubhouse

Updated on Jan 07, 2022 09:36 PM IST
2021: A year of quite a few silver linings
A year of loss and devastation still managed to have its undeniable hurrahs. More women judges in the higher judiciary, and the Delhi High Court, set to welcome its first openly gay judge, were a win for wider representation

Updated on Dec 24, 2021 08:28 PM IST
Mind The Gap | The case for and against raising the marriage age for women
Hello and welcome to Mind the Gap, a newsletter that adds perspective to the gender developments of the week.

Updated on Dec 20, 2021 11:13 AM IST
Mind The Gap | No honour in these killings
Hello and welcome to Mind the Gap, a newsletter that adds perspective to the gender developments of the week.

Updated on Dec 12, 2021 07:37 PM IST
Women bus drivers: A ticket to greater freedom
Hiring women drivers and conductors will instill confidence and enable more women to use public transport

Published on Dec 10, 2021 08:12 PM IST
Mind The Gap | The Indian woman’s quest for autonomy
Hello and welcome to Mind the Gap, a newsletter that adds perspective to the gender developments of the week.

Updated on Dec 10, 2021 03:54 PM IST
Mind The Gap | Wooing the Indian woman voter
Hello and welcome to Mind the Gap, a newsletter that adds perspective to the gender developments of the week.

Updated on Nov 28, 2021 12:05 PM IST
The drastic rise in online child sexual abuse
Online child sexual abuse is worse than the pandemic that has resulted in its horrific rise. Increasing economic vulnerability and kids out of school have contributed to a 400% increase in the sexual exploitation of children in videos in 2020

Updated on Nov 26, 2021 07:37 PM IST
Mind The Gap | The Indian woman’s search for agency
Hello and welcome to Mind the Gap, a newsletter that adds perspective to the gender developments of the week.

Updated on Nov 21, 2021 02:37 PM IST
Mind The Gap | A corrosive crime that plays on loop
Hello and welcome to Mind the Gap, a newsletter that adds perspective to the gender developments of the week.

Updated on Nov 14, 2021 05:39 PM IST
Sensitise teachers on transgender issues
India’s laws and the highest court have provided the direction. The challenge is to get its institutions to fall in line with the law

Updated on Nov 12, 2021 04:33 PM IST
Mind the Gap | Coming out is not a ‘one-step process’
In India, there’s no one-size-fits-all coming out story. While some members of the LGBTQI community are lucky to have supportive families, others pay a heavy price

Updated on Nov 07, 2021 10:11 PM IST
Mind The Gap | Report card: What is it like for girls being back in school?
Hello and welcome to Mind the Gap, a newsletter that adds perspective to the gender developments of the week.

Updated on Oct 31, 2021 05:17 PM IST
Equal marriage rights for equal citizens
It’s time we celebrate love as the purest emotion between two individuals. It’s time we celebrate our Constitution for promising equality for all

Updated on Oct 29, 2021 06:31 PM IST
Mind The Gap | Women leaders of India and the world
Hello and welcome to Mind the Gap, a newsletter that adds perspective to the gender developments of the week.

Updated on Oct 24, 2021 08:31 PM IST
What it means to be a Dalit woman in India
Justice in one case does not signal the end of crimes against Dalit women. But it does signal one tiny step forward in a longer march against caste hierarchy.

Updated on Oct 15, 2021 04:21 PM IST
Mind The Gap | The cost of being a modern working woman
From regressive comments on modern women to an obvious — and widening — gulf between girls and boys, the gender divide at home and at work appears to be deepening in India and the world

Updated on Oct 14, 2021 07:27 PM IST
Mind The Gap | From child marriage to MeToo, legitimising oppressive practices
This week saw child marriage back in the news. This and the Bombay High Court's new guidelines on sexual harassment at the workplace are worrying developments.

Updated on Oct 07, 2021 07:16 PM IST
Mind The Gap | A week of triumphs, and trials, for women of the world
In India and parts of the world, women have had reason to celebrate this week. But systemic gender issues in a largely patriarchal society remain

Updated on Oct 01, 2021 07:05 PM IST
The MeToo movement’s demand: A new deal at work
MeToo has a powerful message for women too, that of solidarity and a continuum. Feminist organising goes back to the reform movements of the 19th century. It has not always been united but we have seen its effectiveness through the anti-rape and anti-dowry movements of the 1970s and 1980s to the anti-rape upsurge in 2012. We know that we are linked with the past. We know that we are not alone.

Updated on Oct 01, 2021 03:34 PM IST
A tale of Afghan women, music, and freedom
Music was an act of resistance for the girls in Afghanistan’s first all-women orchestra. Some managed to leave the country, but others lie low, their future uncertain, as they await clarity from the Taliban

Updated on Sep 17, 2021 05:52 PM IST