Women Lead Resistance

Palash Biswas

(Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata -700110, India. Phone: 91-33-25659551)
Email: palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com

Both feminism and nationalism in India emerged from the social reform movement of the C19th, it is widely believed. But fact is that tribal women enjoyed equality from the beginning and it is not the feminism advocted by the Ruling Brahmins in India. Even before Renaissance, Dalit Women of Bengal had the awakening as they were directly involved with the production system!

Women of Nandigram fought and led the fight from Front as they happen to be associated with indegineus production system. We may remember the fight of Mother India, fight of Dhania in `Godan, if we like.

The social reform movement originated within the Indian intelligentsia and spread to sections of the middle classes. But the peasant women were socially much more conscious from the beginning.

Mind you, Midnapur happens to be the Home of Matangini Hazra!

During the quit india movement, the people of Medinipur planned an attack to capture the Thana, court and other government offices. Matangini, who was then 72 years old, led the procession. The police opened fire. A bullet hit her arm. Undaunted she went on appealing to the police not to shoot at their own brethren. Another bullet pierced her forehead. She fell down dead, a symbol of the anti-colonial movement, holding the flag of freedom in her hand.
What Nandigram has seen, hence, it is nothing new for Bengal!

In fact, Indian Women have come in front to lead the Great Indian Resistance against Post Modern manusmriti, Neo Libetral Globalisation in form of eviction of the masses from the roots!

It is not only coincidence that Brahminical Hindutva considers all Women SHUDRA! Islam also says that women are unsacred! Varnshram never helped women!

Because all women are shudra, the women Mahashweta devi, Medha Patkar, Arundhati Ray, Aparna Sen, Nabaneeta Dev sen, Shaonli Mitra, Anuradha Talwar, Joya Mitra and all women from Singur and Nandigram shows us well how to Resist State Power!

We have seen it often in Manipur!

These ladies deny to be show piece fair commodity meant for the open market!

As Nandigram in West Bengal became a lightning rod for criticism of economic reforms, candidates in Dadri, home to more than 200 villages, are wooing farmers with a promise that they will not allow the forcible acquisition of land to set up industries or plush residential enclaves.
Farmers to whom the lands belong complain that they have been caught unaware by the acquisition process.

Political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and former prime minister V P Singh's Jan Morcha, have demanded that the Samajwadi Party government make the entire land acquisition process transparent so that the farmers' right to just compensation is not affected.

"The compensation awarded to farmers is nowhere near the market price of land. There is no transparent move to uphold in full the rights of those who have been displaced because of this land acquisition," BJP legislator Nawab Singh Nagar, seeking to retain his seat on the same plank, said as he walked into a dusty village of the constituency for his campaign.

Last year, V P Singh and Communist Party of India general secretary A B Bardhan were arrested by police as they headed to Dadri for a protest against alleged inadequate compensation to villagers whose land was acquired for a mega power project of Reliance.

"There have been similar protests and demonstrations in Dadri since Noida and Greater Noida came into being. But farmers continue to suffer. Nobody is genuinely concerned about their welfare," said Congress candidate Raghuraj Singh.

Hazra, Matangini (1870-1942) a famous Gandhian leader and a humanitarian. Matangini Hazra (Matangini Hazra) was born at a village named Hogla under Tamluk Thana of Medinipur in West Bengal. Daughter of a poor peasant, she had no access to education at her father's house. Given in marriage at an early age, Matangini became widowed at eighteen without having any children. She played an active role in the struggle for independence from colonial rule and followed Mahatma Gandhi's creed of non-violence.

In 1932, Matangini participated in Gandhi's civil disobedience movement (Salt Satyagraha), manufactured salt at Alinan salt centre and was arrested for violating the salt act. After her arrest she was made to walk a long distance as punishment. She also participated in the 'Chowkidari Tax Bandha' (abolition of chowkidari tax) movement and while marching towards the court building chanting slogan to protest against the illegal constitution of a court by the governor to punish those who participated in the movement, Matangini was arrested again. She was sentenced to six months imprisonment and sent to Baharampur jail.

After her release Matangini got actively involved with the activities of the indian national congress. She took to spinning thread and Khaddar (coarse cloth) like a true follower of Gandhi. In 1933 she joined the 'Mahakuma Congress Conference' at serampore where police resorted to baton charge on the protesters. Always engaged in humanitarian causes, she worked among affected men, women and children when small pox in epidemic form broke out in the region. People lovingly called her 'Gandhi Buri'.

The Left Front's most recent record in ushering in capitalism in the state of West Bengal is shameful, but there isn't even a muted response to the Pakistan judiciary reeling under the boots of a military dictator.

However, let's stick to India alone. Even though the Left allows the UPA government to survive on its oxygen, it misses no opportunity to bare the Manmohan Singh government's capitalists tendencies. And in its own bastions of West Bengal and Kerala, it's not just rolling out red carpet to woo foreign investment but is shameless in suppressing popular revolt.

The contradictions are clear. Coming from the CPI(M), lofty ideas, talks of power to the people and human rights appear hollow. The emperor has no clothes. Scores of artists and intellectuals across the country have showed their resentment in no uncertain terms.

Also, West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi has hardly ever courted political controversy. He is known to be a man of scholarship, integrity and composure. When he criticises the government, it contains the credulity of honesty.

The state government thought it would get away this time, too. It thought that a nexus of party, police and a highly politicised establishment would again suppress opposition. It forgot, however, that communication technology and a vibrant media not only had gathered more strength in recent times but also spread the reach. Mamata Banerjee just fitted the bill.

The support of Jamiat-e-Ulema against the state government is again reflective of the withering away of its Muslim vote bank. So, did Nandigram happen due to CPI (M)'s overconfidence? Partly. More so, due to the bourgeois attitude that has crept into the leadership.

Nandigram, quite naturally, generated much political heat in both the Houses. The NDA and the ruling almost came to blows. It was only expected. But the sheer ruffian behaviour of the Kolkattan Left forced Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to offer his resignation for the nth time. No, the Communists did not attack any member from the Opposition benches but a Cabinet minister belonging to DMK, a fellow ally in UPA.

In accordance with written history, Faminism appeared first in Bengal - Ram Mohan Roy founded Atmiya Sabha in Bengal in 1815. 1828 Brahmo Samaj also formed in Bengal.It was partly inspired by Hindu revivalism and partly by liberal ideas.

Talwar (1990) points out that the movement for the uplift of women initiated by men in the early C19th – e.g. Raja Ram Mohun Roy – and included education, widow remarriage, abolition of purdah, and agitation against child marriage.
The author argues that social reform movements arose out of conflict between the older feudal joint family system and material needs of the developing urban middle class.
The urban m/c family was no longer a productive unit but a place of emotional fulfilment. The reform movement of the C19th was generally limited to urban areas.

'As an Indian bourgeois society developed under western domination, this class sought to reform itself, initiating campaigns against caste, polytheissm, idolatry, animism, purdah, child marriage, sati and more, seeing them as elements of a pre-modern or primitive identity' (Kumar 1993).
http://pers-www.wlv.ac.uk/~le1810/hs10157.htm

A Dalit Bibliography - Elsewhere in India: Women
Desai, N. & Patel, V. Indian Women. Change and Challenge in the International Decade. ... V.T. Lifestyle as resistance: the case of the courtesans ...www.gla.ac.uk/sociology/units/anthrop/dalit/iwom.htm - 17k - Cached - More pages from this site
Women Warriors Throughout History, 20th Century, battles, tournaments, soldier, revolutionary, war, pirate, duel...
The Indian National Army (INA) had an all women regiment called the Rani of ... Alma Allen, a Danish resistance fighter led men and women in WW2 ...www.lothene.demon.co.uk/others/women20.html - 21k - Cached - More pages from this site
Feminism, Imperialism and Orientalism: the challenge of the Indian woman' (PDF)
representation aroused amongst Indian women who were engaged in the ... the resistance of Indian, Chinese and African women. Another way in which ...warwick.ac.uk/fac/.../feminismimperialism_/femiimperialoriental.pdf - 105k - View as html - More pages from this site
Class, Caste and Gender – Women in Parliament in India (PDF)
... to an increasing need to analyze the role that women play in Indian politics. ... a second factor for the resistance to implementation of gender-sensitive ...www.onlinewomeninpolitics.org/india/CS_India.pdf - 176k - View as html - More pages from this site
Sunita Williams speaks from space

April 03, 2007

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams was conferred the India Abroad Publisher's Award for Excellence for 2006 in New York City on March 23.

Person of the Year 2006
It was tough for Suni -- as she is known -- to be there in person to accept her trophy from Publisher Ajit Balakrishnan considering that she is floating 250 miles above us in the International Space Station. But Suni wanted to be part of the proceedings nevertheless.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/apr/03video1.htm
Pope decries world 'suffering' in Easter message
New Straits Times
Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday decried "natural calamities and human tragedies" around the world, dwelling on the plight of many Africans and Iraqis, while saying that faith in Jesus carries "hope of a better future.

PM sends out strong message to judiciary
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday cautioned the judiciary against 'overreaching' itself while also stressing the need for better understanding between it and the two other wings of the state - the legislature and the executive.

In his inaugural address to a conference of chief ministers and chief justices of high courts here, the prime minister expressed concern over mounting backlog of court cases and endorsed the idea of having multiple shifts in courts to reduce the backlog.
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/india/news/article_1288698.php/PM_cautions_against_judicial_overreach

Cautioning judiciary against overreaching itself, Singh said, 'The dividing line between judicial activism and judicial overreach is a thin one...A takeover of the functions of another organ may, at times, become a case of overreach.'

Pranab's condition stable
External Affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, who was injured in a car accident late Saturday night, is now stable and out of danger. ...more

Naxals attack train in Bihar
In a daring strike, naxalites of the banned CPI (Maoists) attacked a passenger train in Bihar's Jamui district on Sunday. ...more

Guwahati: Blast kills 1, injures 14
One person was killed and 14 others were injured on Sunday when a bomb carried by two ULFA militants exploded in the Kumarpara area in Guwahati. ...more

Less than 20 km from gleaming industrial parks, fragmented protests over the years against the acquisition of farm land to stimulate development have coalesced into a key election campaign issue in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh.As elections in Uttar Pradesh are often linked to casteist politics, almost all political parties in the fray have fielded candidates from the Gujjar community, which makes up a majority of Dadri's population of more than 700,000.

There are some 15 candidates, including several independents, in the fray. Elections to the Dadri constituency are scheduled in the second phase of polling due on April 13.

Poor power supplies and roads in Dadri are issues that contestants opposed to incumbent Nagar are using in their attempt to unseat the former state minister, who has been a legislator for two successive terms.

"Ten years have passed since he became a legislator and there is no railway bridge in Dadri. Commuters are stuck when the main railway gate is down. Roads are too poor to pass, they are deplorable," said a supporter of BSP candidate Satbir Singh.

People also complain about rising prices of food staples.

"Prices have sky-rocketed and nobody seems to be bothered," said Raj Kumar, a farmer in a Dadri village.

Some say the Central and state governments have paid no attention to this area and regard glittering Noida as no longer part of Uttar Pradesh.

"Farming has been a traditional occupation, but it is in jeopardy because of land acquisition. And jobs in Noida are meant for highly educated professionals and not farmers," said Kishan Tripathy, a Jan Morcha supporter.

Third World Women Bibliography/Webliography: Women in Development
A page from a much larger site by Anacaona Makandal, this page is mostly bibliography with only a few webliography entries.

United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women
The Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) is responsible for servicing the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the main UN policy-making body for women. It also services the Committeeon the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, a human rights treaty for women.

WIDNET (Femmes & Développement-Women & Development)
Updated daily. Directories of WID resources, databases, regional information, WIDNet magazines, statistics, various documents.

Women in Development: IBADS
A gopher site for the Information Bank on African Development Studies that provides summaries of projects concerning women's legal status, financial and enterprise development among the women of Africa, and a policy framework paper on gender development planning.

Women's Environment & Development Organization [WEDO]
Their stated purpose: To foster women's leadership and advocacy skills to transform women's concerns about the environment, development, population and gender equity into actions, programs and policies in countries around the world, with women as active and equal participants in decision-making in both the governmental and non-governmental arena -- from the community to the international level.

Women of Africa Resources
Information, bibliography, syllabi, links and other resources on African women compiled by Candice Bradley, Lawrence University.

URL: http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu

Human trafficking is a billion dollar business

KOLKATA: Afsana Khatun, a 15-year-old Muslim girl from Kolkata’s Kidderpore area, has never met 13-year-old Rakesh who works for 18 hours in a Punjab village like a slave after he was trafficked from his native village in Bihar.
But today, Afsana will march with thousands of others from Kolkata so that Rakesh and other boys and girls of his age who are trafficked every day are not enslaved in a stone quarry or a red light area forever.
“I will walk because of other children of my age who are forced into hard labour or prostitution. Even in my area I work to stop trafficking. I will raise my voice against this evil,” said Afsana, who works with Apne Aap Women’s Worldwide here.
“Trafficking is a $32bn business worldwide, especially of women forced into prostitution. Of this about $12 to $14bn is a turnover from child trafficking,” said Kailash Satyarthi, chairperson of Global March Against Child Labour and founder of the BBA (Bachpan Bachao Andolan), organisers of the South Asian March Against Child Trafficking.
Organised by BBA and a host of other non-government organisations, the march will end in New Delhi March 22 after nearly a 25-day-long campaign to sensitise people about child trafficking, especially of girls who are forced into prostitution.
The march involves mostly people from India, besides Nepal and Bangladesh. It kicks off from the city.
“The march is important because as we live smug in our own world boys and girls are being trafficked. There has to be a mental and attitudinal shift in all of us about the issue of trafficking. My public domain may be acting but that is only one-third of me. We all have to chip in with our bit by either writing or talking about it or stopping in our homes,” said actor and social activist Nandita Das.
“It is an extremely connected issue. I was watching a news report on TV the other day where a small girl was being forced to marry while the media person was filming the whole thing. I was shocked. We cannot live in islands and have to think about these and do something,” Nandita said.
“I express my solidarity with this movement. Though I have to leave for Pakistan for a film shooting, I am very much with the movement,” she said.
Approximately a billion marchers, nearly half of whom are children and youth who were themselves victims of trafficking, will criss-cross cities, villages and hamlets and cover 100 km every day during the march.
At least two mass public meetings would be held everyday in schools, colleges and academic institutions while local mosques, temples, churches and gurdwaras would be encouraged to host the core marchers at every place, said Satyarthi.
The march will span 2,500 km for 20 to 25 days, he said telling people the need for a law to prevent human trafficking.
“A new law is needed to curb and prosecute the traffickers. There is a law for trafficking only for commercial sexual exploitation and not for other as serious aspects of trafficking like forced labour, etc,” Satyarthi said.
“The objective of this march is to build a mass movement against child trafficking and forced labour. There is no regional protocol to prohibit trafficking. We would march to make the government answerable and people aware,” he said.
“To start the march from Kolkata is significant and appropriate since West Bengal is both a transit point for trafficking as well as a source state,” said Indrani Sinha of Sanlaap.
Organisations like Women’s Interlink Foundation, Apne Aap, Sanlaap and UN agencies like the UN Development Fund for Women, among others, are taking part in the march. – IANS

'Even when we talk here, some child or woman somewhere is being trafficked and physically abused. We cannot afford to just remain lost in our small world. We have to find ways to talk about it and prevent it,' said actor and activist Nandita Das at a press conference here Friday.

'I may be an actor but I fully express my solidarity with this issue,' she added.

The march will span 2,500 km for 20 to 25 days with a billion protesters.

Kailash Satyarthi, chairperson of Global March Against Child Labour and founder of the BBA, said a new law was needed to curb and prosecute the traffickers.

'The objective of this march is to build a mass movement against child trafficking and forced labour. There is no regional protocol to prohibit trafficking. We would march to make the government answerable and people aware,' he said.

Organisations like Women's Interlink Foundation, Apne Aap, Sanlaap and UN agencies like the UN Development Fund for Women, among others, are taking part of the march.

Sex workers' meet ends with demand for new identity
Updated: 03-05-2007 By andhracafe
Kolkata, March 4 (IANS) Are sex workers 'entertainment workers'? At the end of a seven-day all-India conference of sex workers, this is what women who refuse to accept old tags are asking.

'For more than a decade we have been striving for our rights as entertainment workers. We work hard to entertain our clients as everyone does. We do it in our own way and at the end of the day we earn our livelihood,' said Mira Malik, a Sonagachi-based sex worker here.

The All India Conference of Entertainment Workers 2007, which kicked off Feb 25, concluded March 3 - the International Sex workers' Day - with the sex workers demanding a specific identification for themselves.

'If any other entertainment worker - like singer, dancer, magician, actor - can get social recognition, why not the sex workers? We also entertain people and we think it's the highest form of pleasure,' Mira said.

The representatives from the sex workers community of Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh attended the conference to voice their demands.

There are 70 'red light areas' in West Bengal with 14 in Kolkata alone, and the conference provided sex workers, both male and female, with a common platform while they rubbed shoulders with actors, dancers, singers and others.

'Thousands of participating sex workers - both organised and individuals - from across India met here to press their demands for the same labour rights, social assistance and recognition,' said Smrajit Jana, chief advisor of the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) (The Committee for Indomitable Women), an apex body of about 65,000 sex workers that organised the meet.

'On behalf of DMSC we are preparing a list which will include our demands like new labour law and a self regulatory board for the sex workers,' Bharati Dey, the programme director of DMSC, told IANS.

She said the list was being prepared on the basis of the discussions and problems of all sex workers who participated in the conference.

'We have started a signature campaign for setting up a cultural academy in Kolkata. We will give this proposal to the union government and to the ministry of social welfare of the West Bengal government for the betterment of our community,' Bharati said.

DMSC had started off in 1992 with only 12 sex workers and got registered in 1995. It has also expanded outside West Bengal to bring the sex workers under a single forum and help them to fight for their own rights.

It has also ventured into other welfare activities like formation of Usha Multi Purpose Co-operative Society Ltd - the largest co-operative society for the sex workers in Asia with annual transactions worth over Rs.900 million.

Festival of Pleasure, Entertainment in Development, Mehboob Ki Mehendi (Colours of Love), Sexual Rights and Relationship, Entertainment in Revolution, Rang De Basanti (Coloured with Spring) were the various sessions of the meet in which the sex workers gathered in a sprawling park beside Sonagachi in north Kolkata.

Tax from sex workers? No thanks: West BengalPublished: Saturday, 3 March, 2007

KOLKATA: West Bengal rejected a proposal by prostitutes to pay tax to the government in return for stopping police raids on brothels and checks on soliciting clients.
Officials said since prostitution was illegal, the government could not tax sex workers.
“Tomorrow, criminals will say we will pay taxes so don’t catch us,” Raj Kanojia, a top state police officer, said. On Thursday, the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) - an umbrella group of 65,000 sex workers in West Bengal - announced that prostitutes would charge clients extra to help them pay tax. “Even if we collect one rupee from each client it would boost the exchequer,” Smarajit Jana, DMSC’s chief adviser, said.
“Let the government collect taxes legally, as prostitutes in any case pay the police hefty amounts to get away.” About four million clients visit red light areas under the control of DMSC every month in West Bengal. Sex workers say they are harassed by police and picked up from brothels, hotels and night clubs and jailed.
They often have to pay bribes to officers to continue working. Under Indian law, sex workers cannot solicit customers in public. Authorities tolerate brothels in some areas although police often raid them to rescue minors or to prevent women from being forced into the profession. Notoriously poor and overpopulated, Kolkata would seem especially vulnerable to infectious diseases, but the red light district there has the lowest Aids rate of any in the country.
This is due to the efforts of people like Putul Singh, who was sold into prostitution by her husband eight years ago at the age of 20. She now works full-time for the Sonagachi Project, the model Aids prevention group in the country.
The Sonagachi Project works with men as well as women to explain the necessity of condoms. Putul attends a meeting of some of the area’s pimps and regular clients, locally called babus.
Another group meeting, of the sex workers’ union in Kolkata, is more encouraging. Even though prostitution is also illegal in Kolkata, the union is recognized by the state of West Bengal, which has been run by a communist government for 25 years.
Union president Rama Debnath explains to union members that when they’re confronted by the police, they need to stand up to them and have courage. “What’s your rank? Where’s the charge?” she tells them to ask.
It turns out that the combination of the sex workers’ union and the Sonagachi Project is making a difference.
But even in Kolkata, a monumental challenge still remains: reaching the thousands of young girls sold into the sex trade. Rama says one way to do it is to legalize prostitution, so there would be regulations. “In the same way other industries don’t employ children,” she says, “This industry wouldn’t employ children either.”
Putual asks the girls back at the Sanlaap Shelter if they’ve heard of the sex workers’ union. “Nobody came to talk to us,” one girl says.
Although haunted by their memories, the Sanlaap girls are at least now far from the red-light districts from which they were rescued.
Most of their families won’t take them back after they’ve worked as prostitutes, but Sanlaap attempts to give them hope for some sort of a future.
But these girls are the fortunate ones. Thousands of other young girls are left behind. And what happens to them in many ways will determine the future of Aids in India. – Agencies

Child labour in India borders on slavery

Karuna Mondal, left, thought she was doing good for her daughter Soma, right, by sending her to work as a housemaid.

The Telegraph
February 15, 2007

THE CASE OF BORO CHUPRIA'S TOMBOY
Chandrima S. Bhattacharya meets the girl who was
publicly stripped, beaten and photographed in a
Bengal village for being "like a boy"

Boro Chupria is a small village about 25 km from
Krishnagar. It is a pretty village, with its huts
of mud, brick and darma, and its grounds are
clean. Things look peaceful - and unspoilt. There
are no blatant signs of the world outside: only a
large haath chhap, the Congress symbol, is drawn
on the outside of a hut. Yet this prosperous
jute-producing village sends a large section of
its men to the Gulf countries.

On December 25, newspapers had reported an
incident concerning a young woman from Boro
Chupria. She was dragged to Gyanrapota, the
village across the main road, stripped, beaten,
tonsured and photographed naked because she
behaved "like a boy". The reports suggested that
the villagers thought of her as a lesbian. But
since spoken Bengali has no equivalent for the
English word - samakami not being used in
everyday speech - being "like a boy" was perhaps
the phrase being used to denote lesbianism.

Mamata Biswas (name changed) was beaten up for
allegedly "preying on" another young, but
married, girl, who lived in a nearby village.
Mamata lived in a run-down brick hut, which stood
out from the rest of the houses. As we, a team of
reporters, approached her house a week after the
incident, an assertive woman in her late 30s came
out. She was Mamata's mother. Mamata, a small,
thin girl, dark and very hirsute, with a tonsured
head, came out too. She looked stunned by what
had happened. She was wearing just a kurta
without the salwar. Her mother said she was 16,
but she looked about 12. She looked like a boy in
girls' clothes, and stood stiffly, with her head
bowed. But her jaws were set when she looked up.
She spoke with deliberation.

She said that five days ago, on December 22,
Ramakrishna Moitra, a resident of Gyanrapota
village, descended on her house and forcibly took
her to his house in Gyanrapota. There he, his
mother-in-law Kusum and another person called
Tarak beat her, tonsured her, stripped her and
then photographed her naked, to show the world
that biologically "she was not a girl". Tarak,
the alleged photographer, did not develop the
film, presumably because he was disappointed.
Next day, Ramakrishna was arrested after Mamata's
mother lodged a complaint against him, Tarak and
Kusum at Hanskhali police station. However,
Mamata, who had stated before the magistrate
after the incident that Tarak had photographed
her, has told the investigating officer that she
cannot identify the man who photographed her.
Ramakrishna has not been granted bail.

Mamata said that she was not "like a boy in any
way". She said the girl with whom she was
allegedly having an affair was just a friend, who
was being tortured by her in-laws and would ask
Mamata to visit her. Her mother said the same and
removed Mamata's kurta to show her badly bruised
back. "How will I get such a scarred girl
married?" she asked angrily. At this point,
Mamata lost her self-control and broke into sobs.
"Aamar life-tai noshto kore diyechhe ora [They
have just destroyed my life]," she cried between
sobs and ran inside her house. By this time, a
crowd of villagers had collected around the
house. "Yes, she looks like a boy," an old man
said. "She had short hair and wore pants. She
also rides a bicycle and most of her friends are
boys. But we all know she is a girl." We asked
her if she had offended any one with her
behaviour previously. At this, the man made a
most startling statement: "There was no such
incident before, but she was arrested on a murder
charge," said the old man. "A boy from the
village was killed three years ago and she was
accused of the murder."

We went back to Mamata's house. Her mother was
reluctant to speak, but said that Mamata had been
picked up by the police after a neighbour's
ten-year-son was killed. She added that Mamata
had served two terms at the Behrampore and Liluah
correction homes for women and children, but was
later released on bail. She said she didn't know
why her daughter was picked up for the murder,
but said Mamata was friendly with the dead boy's
sister.

We met Mamata again. She said she was innocent of
the murder and of any liaison with the other
girl, whose father had beaten her up. But when we
asked her if the other girl also thought of her
as another girl, Mamata said her friend had
written her a letter "as a boy", to which, she
replied "as a boy". "But I want to marry now. It
is the duty of every girl to marry."

This time, too, a crowd had collected. "You can't
leave without speaking to us," a man said. He
made us sit in the courtyard of a nearby house
and asked a couple, an old, frail man and his
middle-aged wife, to come forward. The woman was
holding a framed photograph to her breast, which
showed the couple with a good-looking boy. "See
this photograph! That girl, Murderer Mamata,
killed this boy!" screamed one man. "She is a
'homo-sex'!" shouted another. The girl, who was
assumed to have been victimized because of her
deviant sexuality, was being charged with murder.

The parents of the dead boy began to tell their
story. The woman could barely speak: "Tanmoy was
our only son, born after four daughters," said
Santosh Dhali, the village homeopath, "Mamata
killed him because she had a physical relation
with my youngest daughter."

Dhali said he was sleeping outside his house one
night, but was woken by a noise. Mamata was
staying over, as she often did,

Fair Commodity: Empowered With Inherent Loss

Palash Biswas

(Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata -700110, India. Phone: 91-33-25659551)

Email: palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com

In Reality, woman the declared Shudra by Hindu religion and Napak in Islam is no more Fair Sex. She is the fare commodity with the marketable tag of Inherent slavery! We read taslima Nasreen and other woman writer while they elaborate their individual experiences of Sex with great entertain ment, but the same we never support their cause of liberation. Thus, the Left in Bengal is all against Taslima Nasren! The government of India has denied so many timesthe plea for citizenshipby exiled writerBangladeshi Taslima Nasreen.Taslima recently made an impassioned plea to her "second home" India to grant her citizenship and blamed the government of West Bengal, her current residence in exile, for delaying the process.
Nasreen had to flee Bangladesh after her book Lajja was published in 1994.

"We have seen news reports saying we have decided against giving citizenship to Taslima Nasreen. We have received her request for citizenship but no final decision has been taken in this regard," always said any close aide of the Home Minister Shivraj Patil.

What is woman`s identity in India?
The answer would be an emphatic YES for a large majority and may be a whispering no for a miniscule few. In most homes she would continue to eat last and least; continue to work longer hours doing more arduous, but largely unrecognised, work than her male counterpart and continue to be paid less.

WHAT do women want? Or, what are they even thinking, you ask?

She would continue to be a victim of rape, domestic violence and continue being denied basic human rights envisaging gender equality — rights which were officially endorsed by the UN way back in 1945 as part of an international agreement in Sanfrancisco.
Purple, Green and Gold are the present official colours of IWD. Purple stands for justice, dignity and self respect; green for hope and new life; gold for a new dawn.

Laudable words indeed. But for the average Indian woman these are dreams which she dare not dream, let alone realize. The patriarchal Indian society has always being characterised by its indifference towards the sufferings of the oppressed — whether it be a Harijan, a tonga pony or a woman. Even the official statistics is scary, to say the least (the real scenario is far worse). Of the 15 million girls born every year in India,about 25% percent before their 15th birthday.

Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreensays that she is being persecuted for fighting for the rights of humanity. Nasreen says, she did not want to shut her mouth on injustices against women. She also wanted India, the country she adopted, to follow a uniform civil code.

As a writer,she felt very safe in India .Taslima said her only fault was that she had fought fo secularism and equality. Taslima said she would continue the fight for rights of women.

Would You support Taslima?

We are very fond of Woman writers like Shobha Dey, Taslima Nasreen, Amrita Pritam, Tilottama Majumdar, Krishna sobati! Why? Are we really that concered with the issues related to woman? Or It is really an eternal Entertainment?
What do women writers talk about? If the South Asian Women Writers’ Colloquium held in New Delhi recently is anything to go by, the answer is: everything. The subjects discussed at the 21-23 February meet included revolution and relationships, politics and pain, gender and genocide, markets and mothers, caste and creativity, language and loneliness, form and family, success and struggle, poverty and privilege, roots and rootless-ness.

The colloquium brought together over 40 writers of fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction, as well as journalism and academic writing, in at least 13 languages, from five countries of the region and farther afield. The hybrid event, dubbed “The Power of the Word”, addressed concerns about literature and society, globalisation and culture, censorship and human rights. Its main aim was to explore the diverse forms of censorship faced by writers in general, and women writers in particular.

Discussions at the colloquium, organised by Women’s World India, moved between the intellectual and the emotional, as writers addressed both the personal and the political. The dialogue revolved around four intersecting themes. The first, ‘Writing in a time of siege’, raised questions about writers’ responsibility towards society, especially in times of conflict, war, displacement and dislocation. The second, ‘Closing spaces in an open market’, enabled participants to scrutinise the so-called openness of the apparently globalised literary market. In the third session, titled ‘Exclusionary practices’, writers examined the impact of caste, class, sexuality, ethnicity and other markers of difference – in addition to gender – on literary acceptability. The final session, ‘The guarded tongue’, highlighted the role of family, community and other affiliations in the determination of literary content.
http://www.himalmag.com/2007/april/report_5.htm

Every 6th infant death is due to gender discrimination and it is estimated that the death of young girls exceeds that of boys by about 300,000 annually. This has led to a really skewed up female-male sex ratio of 93:100 where as in most other countries it is 105:100.

Woman suppression is rooted in Indian society — in tradition, in religious practice and in social norms, all of which favour the dominance of the male. The new millennium may have arguably seen a sea change in thoughts about women equality but the ingrained complexity of patriarchy in India is well known. And so though middle class elite fathers may show off their daughter's education and income with pride, they prefer to maintain the status quo in matters of social norms and expect her to do likewise.

Even for the glamorous woman achiever from a metro city, (what to talk about the illiterate village damsel) her choice and manner should be in deference to the male — be it her father, brother, husband or any other man in her life. Female rebellion is uncouth and bad mannered and hence a big NO-NO for women of decent (?)upbringing. So despite her professional degrees and her well groomed looks she continues to be brainwashed into accepting male dominance. She gives up her property/ inheritance rights in favour of her brothers.

Millions of Indians must have been relieved to hear that Taslima Nasreen's visa which was due to expire in a week has been extended to her life-time so that she can become a citizen of India. A fatwa pronounced by some Bangladeshi bigots — for her turning a free thinker — has put her life in jeopardy in Bangladesh. Thousands of Bangladeshis have been illegally sneaking in from their country to India, finding means of livelihood, getting ration cards and voting rights.
We have not been able to do anything about them. Here we have a case of an eminent novelist who came to India legally and is threatened with expulsion. Her only crime is that in her novel Lajja she exposed rampant corruption and religious skulduggery in her homeland and reneged from her faith. She has every right to do so. Mullahs pronounced the sentence of death on her. It is our sacred duty to protect her from harm.

Nasreen, however,have been granted periodicle multiple visa by the government that allows her to stay in Kolkata.According to media watchers, the government has been keeping Nasreen's request pending to put pressure on the Bangladesh government to hand over United Liberation Front of Asom general secretary Anup Chetia.Bangladesh denies that it has Chetia in their custody. to me, it is not the case at all. It is not diplomacy, but it is the general attitude towards woman in this subcontinent which alienate Taslima for so long!

In an article published in The Outlook, Taslima exhorted Muslim women to "burn their burqas". It created an uproar in orthodox Muslim circles. The Koran and the Hadith were quoted in support of as well as against women wearing burqas. It is assumed that it is a matter which concerns Muslims only. This is not so: it concerns all of us because Muslims are an integral part of our society. Non-Muslims would like to be closer to Muslims, their families visit Muslim homes and receive them in theirs. This is not possible if bigoted Muslims persist in segregating women folk and bullying them to wear burqas when they step out. Segregating women is a relic of the medieval past and should be discarded in the interests of the Muslim community.

This is a case study while the ganeral attitude is best reflected by the parliamentary procedure in New delhi while Cutting across political affiliations, women members in the Lok Sabha have been demanding reservation for them in Parliament and Assemblies, responding to which the government always said it was committed to bring a bill in this regard.It has not to happen to cut the male supremacy to size, it won`t be!

Woman is empowered as a fare commodity to fix the pace of Global Blue revolution in India. India is opening up all doors for Sex Tourism. Luxury is incoplete without F..ing! The woman is meant for that , nothing else. We are habitual to reject the identity of woman. Not only this, we the slaves of World Bank sponsored Neo Liberal Manusmriti, also deny the traditional respect for Biological Motherhood!

On the occasion of International Women's Day, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee suspended the Question Hour for some time to make a statement on the issue and allowed lady members to share their views.

"On this solemn day, we should reaffirm our commitment to improve the condition of women, specially those who are in vulnerable position and empower them to take their rightful place in society," Chatterjee said.

Man and Woman

The honest truth is that both man and woman are each a savage without the other. Both are only halves of an integrated human personality. Neither would be human or humane without the other. They belong to the same species and do not belong either to two different classes or two separate castes. The distinguishing characteristic of a class is that it can be changed. A person belonging to one class today may go over to another class tomorrow. Caste is distinguished by the fact that one cannot change one's caste. One is born in a particular caste. In the case of woman and man, however, they can belong to the same caste. And yet, normally they cannot change their sex. This distinguishes the subject of the relation of the sexes from all other Social questions. It cannot, therefore, be compared with any other Social Problem. It is neither ethically desirable nor possible to determine which of the two sexes is superior.
http://www.mkgandhi.org/dharma/h.htm
Fashion Vs Indian Women

Like it happens in any developing economy, in India, there’s been an apparent growth in aspirations of the people. Today, people aspire to be someone famous. And, to become ‘that someone’, they’re willing to pay a premium for quality, design and exclusivity. Be it the contemporary housewife, a sophisticated or the next generation of working class, they all want the best in life. "Today people, in one word, want Glamour. Anything written on celebrity, fashion and social revelry etc. is received with great delight. By giving the readers’ what they want media whets their appetite for it. Then follows the vicious circle of desiring more and more. So media goes on providing the same.
http://www.boloji.com/women/0061.htm

Indian women face widening wealth gap - By : ibrar mirza
Nirmala Shetty, New Socialist Alternative (CWI, India)

In the recent period India is attracting attention for its high growth. Economic analysts roll out development figures unabated. But the objective reality is that India has a back-log in terms of unfulfilled ‘democratic’ social tasks. A cursory glance of how the women in India live gives ample evidence that all is not well in the so-called booming country.
On August 2002, 17-year-old Shruthi was on her daily routine of going to her school. As she was getting down from her school bus, Shruthi’s acquaintance, Rajesh, suddenly attacked her with a splash of acid on her head. Because of this attack one of Shruthi’s eyes and half of her body are charred beyond recognition. Shruthi has not seen school since that day. With about 20 surgical treatments she is still in an unrecovered state. Such ghastly experiences not only physically shake you, but could even kill your spirit to struggle to survive.
The crime of acid attacks against women in India is becoming more and more common. In the last decade, the state of Karnataka alone has seen 37 such cases; many more have gone unreported. Many a time it is the threat to life made by the attackers that means these cases are suppressed. An acid attack speaks volumes of the injustice and inequality meted out against women in India. Such cruelty depicts the criminal mind at work, which not only wants the victim to suffer the grievous possible harm but also forces her not to enjoy her life in the future. Acid attacks hold a mirror as to how the capitalist and the landlordist system treats women in society.
In the aftermath of the attack even the judiciary treats the victim as a culprit and is judgemental on the character and conduct of the victim herself.
http://www.paktribune.com/pforums/posts.php?t=3583&start=1

Mother India to Ms. India
Geeta Doctor

Looking back, the 20th century will be seen as the century of the woman. Sex is no longer destiny. It is a career choice. Like the many armed goddesses of the past, the modern woman can choose to be anything that she likes. The worst fears of the patriarchy have been unleashed. The female force is finally in the ascendant. Centuries of conditioning about the "Second Sex", the weaker sex, the delicate sex, the fair sex, that is alternately venerated and violated only to be kept in a state of passive subjugation, so as to protect the genetic agenda to reproduce and nurture the future generation, have been erased by the power of the Pill.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/folio/fo9909/99090240.htm

What happens to be the crude Reality?
"Indian Women and Violence" - A Bibliography
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/Ideas/womvio.html
Racism and capitalism have trampled the potential of black people in this country and thwarted their self-determination. Initially the physical characteristics of those of African descent were used to fit blacks into the lowest niche in the capitalist hierarchy - that of maintenance. Therefore, black women and men of today do not encourage division by extending physical characteristics to serve as a criterion for a social hierarchy. If the potential of the black woman is seen mainly as a supportive role for the black man, then the black woman becomes an object to be utilized by another human being. Her potential stagnates and she cannot begin to think in terms of self-determination for herself and all black people. It is not right that her existence should be validated only by the existence of the black man.
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/wlm/blkmanif/
The Gender War: Truce or Consequences
The signs of a new gender order are already evident. Will the new millennium usher in a truce in the longest-running feud in human history: the battle of the sexes? Adite Chatterjee looks for an answer.

What would the mother of all modern feminists Simone de Beauvoir have made of feminism as it has come to be in the '90s? The author of the path-breaking The Second Sex, which created feminist history in 1953, would have had a tough time analysing the post-modern world of Monica Lewinskys, Linda Tripps, Lorena Bobbitts and Anita Hills. Women, who by no stretch of imagination can be deemed stereotypical "victims'', who need to be liberated from their male oppressors.

Feminism my no longer be radically chic, but that is no great news for the male species. The hysteria has abated somewhat, but male-bashing is still very much in fashion. Women's Lib has given way to feel-good feminism.

Feminism may no longer be radically chic, but that is no great news for the male animal. The hysteria may have abated somewhat, but male-bashing is still very much in fashion. Women's Lib has given way to feel-good feminism. Just switch on your television sets and take a look at today's self-appointed crusaders still fighting their feminist battles--from Purush Kshetra, the Kiran Joneja Show, to the Priya Tendulkar Show. You will find plenty of women throwing privacy to the winds and strutting their aggressive feminist stuff for television cameras. Or pick up a Shobha De best-seller Surviving Men if you want to indulge in some feel-good feminism (read male-bashing).
http://www.india-today.com/iplus/1999_1/gender.html
The Price Of Being A Woman:
Slavery In Modern Iindia

By Justin Huggler

04 April 2006
The Independent

The desire for sons has created a severe shortage of marriageable young women. As their value rises, unscrupulous men are trading them around the subcontinent and beyond as if they were a mere commodity

Tripla's parents sold her for £170 to a man who had come looking for a wife. He took her away with him, hundreds of miles across India, to the villages outside Delhi. It was the last time she would see her home. For six months, she lived with him in the village, although there was never any formal marriage. Then, two weeks ago, her husband, Ajmer Singh, ordered her to sleep with his brother, who could not find a wife. When Tripla refused, he took her into the fields and beheaded her with a sickle.
http://www.countercurrents.org/gen-huggler040406.htm

What Taslima says, please read!

"I have been banished from my country and am living away from home for the last 12 years. I don't want to live in Europe any more," Taslima, who flew to Delhi on Sunday night from London to attend a publishers' convention, told PTI.

"India is my second home. I have been granted a six-month visa, but citizenship is being repeatedly refused to me," the author of works that have created controversies in Bangladesh and India said.

She blamed the West Bengal government for "coming in the way of the Centre granting her citizenship status.

"I need a recommendation letter from the West Bengal government before the Centre can consider my request for citizenship. They (WB government) are not granting me the much-needed recommendation before I can call this country my home," said the women's rights activist who fled her country after fundamentalists, outraged at her progressive views, issued a fatwa against her.

"If I can't live in my own country, and if I have to stay close to home, where I can speak my mother tongue, write in my own language? India is the second option. Where else will I go?" asked Taslima. The writer said she will soon make a fresh application to the Centre for citizenship.

Taslima believes that the "Muslim vote bank politics could be the reason behind the West Bengal government's refusal to recommend her to the Centre for citizenship rights."

"Ideally, the Left government should not have any ideological differences with me. I write for secular forces, for upliftment of human rights and rights of women and the downtrodden wherever I am. I see no clash of views with the Left there," she said.

Once a qualified medical practitioner in Bangladesh who had to give up her career in medicine "for refusing to tow the government line", Taslima said she will continue her fight against religious extremism, fundamentalism and censorship of books.

She saw no hope of ever returning to Bangladesh, which is on the brink of a political change.

"Be it Awami League, or Bangladesh Nationalist Party, they are all the same. During poll campaigning they all apparently promised fundamentalist election partners that they would be granted rights to issue fatwas once in power," she said.

"Whoever comes to power, it will not make a difference in Bangladesh where violence against women is on the rise," Taslima said.

Not the one to closely follow Bangladeshi politics, Taslima said what the country needs is a "secular and tolerant leader" before she can even dream of coming back to her home country.

"But there is hope. I get a lot of e-mails from young people in Bangladesh who write in to tell me that things may be changing slowly," she said.

Accusing the Bangladesh government of not renewing her passport for the last two years, Taslima said she has been running from pillar to post to get this done during her exile abroad.
No decision on Taslima citizenship yet.

HC adjourns case against Taslima Nasreen

08 March, 2007

Madras High Court has adjourned to next week the hearing on a petition seeking to register a case against controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen for her alleged defamatory and blasphemous statements on Islam.

When the petition filed by Tamil Nadu Muslim Makkal Katchi President S M Pasha came for hearing before Justice K N Basha, Additional Public Prosecutor Kumaresan sought time for getting instructions from the Commissioner of Police, Chennai.

Following this, the judge adjourned the hearing by a week.

In his petition, Mr Pasha referred to an article titled 'Let's Burn the Burqa' written by Ms Nasreen and published by a magazine dated January 22, 2007.

In her article, Ms Nasreen said women should not use purdah, hador, hijab, burqa or headscarf as they were instruments of disrespect.

'These are the symbols of women's oppression,' she had claimed.

The petitioner said this call was against Allah's command and the preaching of the Holy Prophet.

Her statement not only degraded Prophet Mohammed but also the whole religious belief of Islam. This statement was an instigation to act against Islamic customs and beliefs, he claimed.

The petitioner claimed Ms Nasrin, the editor, publisher and printer of the magazine had committed offences under section 153-B, 295-A and 505 (2) of the IPC.

Hence he gave a complaint on February 1, 2007 to the Commissioner of Police for taking action against them. But so far, no action was taken. Hence, the present petition, he added.

From Sonia to Sania and Sharmila to Shilpa, these divas from utterly disparate backgrounds represent the new India.Today's women balance home and office straining their body system. Here are a few tips to manage stress.

It's no more a male bastion! Corporate boardrooms are now feeling the heat of women power.
9 women featured in RGV's creations who made thinking out of the box as commonplace as bread and butter.

Women's rights activist GloriaSteinem says that women do a great deal of unpaid work and that needs to be valued.
Does she consider herself an Indian, what with her long stay here now? "I am from the Indian subcontinent, and whenever somebody calls me a foreigner – I'm shocked. Officially, I may not be Indian, but I feel at home here and so I'm Indian. I have a right to choose my country, and this is it," she says, before venturing into the issue of government censorship. "I'm against censorship but the government acts for its own interests. Freedom of expression is important," adds Taslima. She has lost track of the number of her banned works. "What is the number?" she asks, adding that she stopped counting after seven!

"I use words to make people conscious," says the writer. Her own inspiration to start writing was drawn from daily life. In her words, "As a child I learnt that everybody should protest. When a dog was beaten in a street, everyone raised their eyebrows and threw up their hands in disgust, saying 'how unfair, the poor thing can't even speak'. But when a woman was beaten in her home, the same people said, 'she's her husband's property' before abandoning her to be stoned to death. What has a woman done to be owned by her father, husband and son as a daughter, wife and mother respectively? I wanted the freedom to say 'No' and my words helped me do that."

Driven by a strong urge "to change mindsets", Taslima believes that freedom is ultimate. "No mob, no hooligan should decide for anyone. A reader, viewer, thinker, and most importantly, a human being should be given the liberty to decide for himself. This freedom is second to none," says Taslima.

It’s worth celebrating our actresses who have delighted us with these challenging performances.
The newcomers of the 1990s--Karisma Kapoor (Zubeidaa, Fiza), Raveena Tandon (Daman, Satta), Tabu (Astitva, Chandni Bar), Urmila Matondkar (Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya, Ek Haseena Thi) and Manisha Koirala (Khamoshi, Agnisakshi) have done enough memorable roles to do their resume proud.

When is enough really enough? Ash has done an excellent work to portary the protagonist surrounded by domestic violence in `PROVOKED’. May we ever clear our Ivory Tower of Memory filled with the images of Mother India played by Nargis Dutta?

In love, never. In abuse, immediately.

Domestic violence evokes a sense of unrestrained anger within. One's instant reaction is, 'How dare he?' or 'Why doesn't she leave him?'

Provoked: A True Story compels you to think about this ugly issue prevalent in both modern and traditional societies.
Adapted from the autobiography Circle of Light (by Rahila Gupta and Kiranjit Ahluwalia), it is primarily the story of Kiranjit's trauma. Though the film doesn't give a detailed account of the psyche or conditioning of its victim and offender, it gives you some insight of a woman's incredible tale of abuse and acquittal.

nterview: Kiranjit, the woman behind Provoked

The opening shot (with solid backing from A R Rahman's soulful background score and Madhu Ambat's expressive photography) is exceptionally dramatic. Held by an unknown figure, a candle burns and spreads its dim light across the darkness of the living room. As it moves, the flames' reflection falls on the wall displacing framed memories from happier times. Oblivious to what it's about to do, the candle ascends in the direction of its victim. It surreptitiously reaches its inebriated victim and is let loose to make its fatal move.

The unknown figure is now revealed. It's a nervously shaking Kiranjit (played by Aishwarya Rai). The man going up in flames is her husband, Deepak (Naveen Andrews, playing the bad guy so effectively you want to strangle him).

A series of recurring flashbacks enlighten us about what really happened.

Originally from Punjab, Kiranjit comes to England after marrying Deepak. Docile and submissive, Kiranjit meekly puts up with the increasing atrocities of her alcoholic other half. The vile man beats, cheats, mistreats and abuses his wife physically, sexually and verbally.

In an interview, the real Ahluwalia stated her husband was often nice but suffered from a 'split personality'. In the film, this trait is never communicated. Deepak comes across as a you-know-what of the first order from start to finish.

In the film, the year is 1989. And Kiranjit is put behind bars for suspected murder. The trial fails to establish a prolonged background of domestic violence and the jury declares her guilty. Sentenced to life imprisonment, Kiranjit gears up for life in the cell, where she finds a protective sympathetic in her feisty and affluent inmate, Veronica Scott (a delightful, effortlessly endearing Miranda Richardson). Booked for stabbing her husband, Veronica is shown to have remarkable influence in and outside prison.

Meanwhile, non-profit organisation Southall Black Sisters, headed by Radha (Nandita Das in a spiffy, vibrant turn) takes up Kiranjit's cause, vowing to bring her justice.

Together these women prove to be a driving force in her life. While she brushes up her English speaking skills, Radha and her team create an awareness of Kiranjit's case by posting banners and flyers asking for support. Veronica uses her contacts to help Kiranjit file an appeal. In 1992, the judiciary system in what came to be known as the breakthrough 'Regina vs Ahluvalia' trial acquits Kiranjit.

Provoked is an important story which definitely needs to be told. What is disheartening is the way it is. Sure, the treatment is realistic, production values are good, and the acting is mostly commendable -- but the screenplay (Paul Austin, Rahila Gupta) is shockingly superficial.

It is too subjective to understand what makes a woman stay in a bad marriage, or with a bad husband. Issues like incompatibility, for some even infidelity, are negotiable. But how does one adjust to getting beaten up by a man who has publicly promised to love and respect you in an elaborate wedding ceremony?

Even so, scores of women tolerate harassment at the hands of beastly husbands in order to protect the institution's so-called honour. Some are just uncomfortable exposing the truth, while others are too scared to even try. There are women who actually die getting beaten up.

In Western countries, women are educated, they are treated equally, they have access to jobs. In these conditions, their participation in politics has a meaning.
Education, a secular feminist movement, and leaders–both men and women–committed to equality and justice. This is what it will take to change the dire conditions which too many women still face today. It will take a very long time, but we are here to work towards that end.

If you`re a woman who loves to shop, recognising your spending triggers is essential to staying out of debt!

New girls on the block
Yet to pass out of teenage, they are being pushed by lifestyle demands into high-end prostitution
Please raed the Full Story:
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070401/asp/calcutta/story_7359586.asp

Indian women face peril of HIV
By Madeleine Morris
BBC News, Andhra Pradesh
At the Vasavya Mahila Mandali home for vulnerable women and children in the city of Vijayavada in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, 23-year-old Nagmani clutches her five-year-old daughter in her lap
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4260314.stm

Indian Women as Sex Objects
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/princess.htm

Pl browsethese sites also!

African Women Global Network (AWOGNet)
is based in the Center for African Studies at Ohio State. Its goal is to link individuals, institutions, and nongovernmental organizations involved in improving living conditions of women and children in Africa. AWOGNet's primary focus is on educational support, but it will also encourage agricultural projects, services for refugees and orphans, and professional development programs for women.

Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL)
The Center's goals are to: Build internationl linkages among women in local leadership that enhance their effectiveness, expand their global consciousness and develop coordinated strategies for action; Promote visibility of women and feminist perspectives in public deliberation and policy-making globally; and Increase participation of women in national and international governing bodies and processes.

Feminism and Globalization: The Impact of the Global Economy on Women and Feminist Theory
Indiana University's Global Legal Studies Journal, a bi-annual "peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal focusing on the intersections of global and domestic legal regimes,markets, politics, technologies, and cultures," is highlighted by a symposium issue each fall. This symposium concerns feminism and globalization of market forces, and contains seven articles (full text).

International Gender, Science and Technology Information Map
Many WID resources at this site "developed by Sophia Huyer of the Women in Global Science and Technology Network
(WIGSAT) at the International Federation of Institutes for Advanced Study (IFIAS). WIGSAT facilitates policy research and collaboration on issues in gender, science and technology policy, at national, regional, and international levels."

Live Chat on Sinai Bedouin Women with Ann Gardner
A transcript from a Scholar's Hall Conference, a "live" chat on AOL. The guest is Ann Gardner who is a specialist in Sinai Bedouin women.

Reproduction Crisis:
Women and Structural Adjustment in the Caribbean an interview with Peggy Antrobus."...wherever structural adjustment has been implemented it has led to greater polarization between rich and poor and an increasing burden of labour being placed on women in particular..."

Reflections on Sinai Bedouin Women
Ann Gardner is a social anthropologist working in the Middle East. You will find links to various women in development sites here as well as occassional postings from her upcoming book