POLICY CENTRE AND GENDER LAB

Source- Unsplash By-Tim Mossholder “If the immutable character of sex is contested, perhaps this construct called ‘Sex’ is as culturally constructed as gender; indeed, perhaps it was always already gender, with the consequence that the distinction between sex and gender turns out to be no distinction at all.” - Judith Butler. The distinction between the terms ‘Gender’ and ‘Sex’ and we know them to be, in the world as we see it and the world we read about in our history books has always been vague and a concept that attracted various debates and criticisms from more than people one can count, which I must add, is still an ongoing process. The definition defines ‘Sex’ as a biological factor that differentiates a human based on an individual’s reproductive system, and secondary sex characteristics. The definition ‘Gender’, however, defines gender to be an aspect that refers to social roles based on the sex of a person or personal identification of one’s own gender based on an internal awa...

  What is Intersectionality? Very often, we do hear this term 'intersectionality', but what does this mean? According to Merriam Webster, it means the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect, especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups. The social aspects overlapping each other to produce conditions against a particular community is a connotation of intersectionality. Caste system and Women: A Historic Angle Historically, Indian society was characterized by a very draconian and distorted system of caste hierarchy and the suppression that it rendered, facets of which continue to remain in the Indian society. The caste system divided the entire Hindu lineage into primarily four categories- Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras. The main castes were further divided into about 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes, each based on their specific...

 Crime against women is an issue of national shame. Women are subjected to various forms of violence in all societies across the world. Among them, gender-selective violence is insidious. And unfortunately, female foeticide and infanticide are the two forms of gender-selective violence that are largely prevalent in developing countries like India.   Female infanticide in India has a history spanning centuries.  Poverty , the  dowry system , births to unmarried women, deformed infants, famine, lack of support services and maternal illnesses such as  postpartum depression  are among the causes that have been proposed to explain the phenomenon of  female infanticide  in India. Sex-selective abortions and an increase in the number of female infanticide cases have become a significant social phenomenon in several parts of India with the increased availability of modern sex determination techniques such as amniocentesis, ultrasound and trans vag...

Remember Urmila Bansal, sister-in-law of Badrinath Bansal from the Bollywood movie ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’? Yes, the accountant who was kept from doing the job she is good at because she was married off to a conservative family which still couldn’t catch the bus from 18th century to know that women cannot be restricted within the household! Such instances do not work of fiction but snippets taken from real life and real situations around us. Whether you are born in a first or a third world country, if you are a girl, voilà ! Your ambitions to work your way to economic independence are more likely to be doomed than the rest, though the way discrimination is faced may vary across oceans. The ‘three worlds’ model of geopolitics first arose in the mid-20 th century during the Cold War. Today, the powerful economies of the West continue to be often referred to as ‘First World’, but the term ‘Second World’ has become largely obsolete following the demise of the Soviet Union and the advan...

Poverty is a state or a condition, which articulates not only the lack of financial resources but other productive resources such as- food, water, education, health services etc, which manifests in the issues like hunger, malnutrition, illiteracy, marginalisation, social discrimination, and   severe health problems among the deprived groups. Poverty impacts women   disproportionately. For women, poverty does not only refer to economic disadvantages, but it   denies them   access to   education, food, water, literacy, political status, combined with gender discrimination. According to data published by the UN and WHO,70% of the total population which comes under poverty is constituted by women and not only that, in developing countries, the rate of poverty for women is higher by 17% than men. Hence, this article will be analysing women's health in the context of poverty. Impact on Reproductive Health According to WHO, women of reproductive age may need shor...

 The global resurgence of right-wing authoritarianism in the political arena alloyed with the continual disengagement of the masses with democratic political functioning has called to question the functionality of the so-called fourth estate of democracy- the delicate art of journalism and media. I argue that the complicity of modern-day media houses with larger capitalist structures of oppression has inhibited their ability to constructively act as a free forum of dissent and dialogue. To elucidate, I take the example of the Black Lives Matter protests in America that have exposed the racial fault lines of American polity and brought to the fore the problem of institutional and structural racism present in American society. Theoretically, I correlate this phenomenon with Gramscian hegemony rooted in the ideational power of journalists to legitimize or sanction a specific idea or narrative. On a corollary, Foucauldian governmentality is manifested in the contemporary paradigm, evid...

The recent case of police brutality against the black man - George Floyd in the US caused the entire world to stand up against the discriminatory act, recognizing their role as a part of the global  community. The Black Lives Matter Movement in support of the black community saw a rise in  momentum across the world. Though the physical manifestation was confined to the streets of the  US, the expressions of solidarity with the protestors and call for change was louder than ever on  the social media platforms all over the world, including India.  While it is excellent to see such show of solidarity by the international community, we seem to have forgotten or sidelined the cases of police brutality we regularly witness and normalize in our  own country. Discrimination against minorities runs rampant. And it remains an unfortunate fact  that these people, who suffer in the face of violent police repression and are unable to garner any  support for ...

Source: Unsplash By: Lasse Møller  I tied my dripping hair, in the afternoon sun when 1b colony's only radio announced regulations of THE NATIONWIDE LOCKDOWN.  Abbu whined for cheap liquor, my child gulped 2 dumplings in glee, after azaan when groups came rushing with  BAGS OF GOODS AND WOODS.  Before I could barely comprehend,  my family of 3 got back on roads,  to not lay gravels but walk for  MORE THAN A THOUSAND MILES. On a path occupied by rich people, driving giant 4 wheelers day and night, now walked segments of working ants, SEARCHING FOR FOOD, WATER AND YOU. Women like me carrying weights of family, of dejection, plunged by the 5 pillars of living, waiting for our grievances to penetrate into  YOUR THICK WALLS OF PRIVILEGE. Tears glistening in her eyes,  for the baby dying 6 weeks prior to sight the merry life, Crushed by train passing freight for cities  WE TOILED TO BUILD. To tell our lived experiences of migrants  as wo...