Women during the Lockdown.

This blog post was published on Women's Web on 24th April , 2020 as a Featured Post.

India nah, the world is under lock down .And it has affected   in  myriad ways.And therefore it has obviously influenced  kids  and especially  women as well.

Since everybody has to stay safe by staying indoors at homes, the women of the hose is constantly on her toes.She cleans, cooks, cares, washes, etal. Yes, men do chip in and  help .And that is the bare minimum and  that too when asked specifically to do so.The kids in the house are no better and yet that's expected .Because, when they see their father and the men in the house laze around, they are going to follow the laid back attitude of the men.

Men seem to believe that while they slogged in offices during pre shutdown days, their wives would snap a finger and  housework would get done by itself. Yes, in the pre lockdown days, maids did a part of the housework  yet the lady of the house did have to do the remaining part . Men are therefore shocked that women physically do housework  ! That is ladies cook, clean, care, wash, etc with their hands , not by snapping fingers ! And since men are at home, they are expected to chip in too .As men pretend to be busy doing nothing, they have to be specially requested to do at least some task around the house. And then , the men do it in such a manner /s  that they are never ever asked again to help. A survey regarding the type and  quantity of housework done by Indian men is quite revealing . Just that this survey makes  it official ! More that 25% women feel that men do not do enough work at the home during shutdown. It follows that post shutdown, they will do no work around the house .And nearly 70% men did admit that housework is tougher than they believed it to be ! Corona lockdown  has led to enlightenment  ! Not that this enlightenment is going to reduce the burden of housework for ladies in any which way.

And in the midst of the lockdown , there are reports of increased domestic violence. Women are bearing the brunt of this violence followed by children. Many women have nowhere to go  and  no income of their own. Hence, they are forced to put up with the violent partners . And this lockdown has made it tougher. The men take out all their frustration on their partners as all are at home all the twenty four hours , day in and  day out.The National Commission for Women has been flooded with more than twice the number of complaints during the lockdown  as compared to those  filed before the shutdown.


The victims of domestic violence have been using email and  whatsapp texts or text messages to complain about domestic violence as talking on phone gets difficult if not impossible with the abuser being in close proximity. This is  different from the pre lockdown period when a majority of the complaints were through the phone calls.

The government has issued a warning  that domestic violence will be strictly handled.And yet,  with the police being overworked in handling lockdown, it may be difficult  for the police to deal with domestic violence. The NGOs working with the police can intervene in matters of domestic violence & ease the lives of women away from domestic violence.

Another downside of this stay at home has been a spike in the number of cases being filed for divorces. Rising divorces are mainly due to domestic violence as also economic downturn which has got aggravated since the lockdown has been en forced to deal with the pandemic. Some couples are consulting lawyers through  audio and  video calls while others are turning to psychotherapists . Lack of communication and  being out of sync is coming to the fore, during the lockdown. Maybe ,counselling can help and  if the lockdown continues for some more days, more couples would firm up on separation. In India, women have to fight for their maintenance even after divorce . Divorces begin new problems of more harassment.

Child porn has risen by 100% as per  India Child Protection Fund ( ICPF) which works for protection of children & against child trafficking. And many are looking for  child porn with violent content. Majority of porn viewers  are on Virtual Private Network ( VPN ) to escape Indian government ban on  Child Porn .And so, this makes it, extremely difficult to deal with such individuals .For this, more Cyber Crime cells need to be added and  more personnel trained to deal with Cyber Crimes.The fact that kids are victims of Porn means that women are more stressed as they need to be more vigilant about their kids .And this is further adding to their woes in this lockdown.

There is some upside for women in this pandemic time. Corona seems to be affecting men more than it infects women. More men are falling prey to Covid 19 than women.Maybe, women are better at handling infections just like they are good  in dealing with  everything. Maybe, because women have stronger genetic makeup which fights infections in a better manner. Male gender is at risk by Corona and  yet, science has always studied the male body.Drug trials and vaccine tests are done keeping the male body as reference .This can later lead to many of the drugs and  vaccines being withdrawn because they were never tested to see how they would affect the female bodies. Science needs to treat women fairly so that effective medicines can be made, which will help the whole of the human race not just the male gender.After all , this is the minimum that science can do as a tribute to the discoverer of Corona virus, the scientific pioneer,Ms. June Almeida, a woman  who is being acknowledged now, for her iconic work in virology, way back in 1964.

The world over, female heads of State have been able to control the pandemic better than the male heads of state. Taiwan, headed by President Tsai Ing-wen    is exporting face masks to other nations .

The Taiwanese President had ordered inspections of all the flights which landed in Taiwan from Wuhan , China when she heard about the virus that was still unknown in December, 2019. A unit was set up to monitor the epidemic and  production of personal protection equipment was scaled up .The control was so effective, that USA has asked that Taiwan be given observer status at WHO. Angela Merkel of Germany handled the Corona virus spread so well that Germany had the least number of fatalities in Europe .Similarly, New Zealand's PM, Jacinda Ardern ordered a four week lockdown from March 23.There was  large scale testing which limited the number of deaths to nine. And this she did, by banning all tourists though tourism is the biggest revenue generator for her country.

Likewise PMs of Finland, Iceland, Sint Maarten  ( all are women ) have taken firm steps of widespread testing and  quarantining to control the spread .And they are winning  ! It may be argued that these small countries are easy to govern .And yet, small steps lead to bigger things !

And  this means, that women need to lead , so that the world is better managed .And more women are needed to make the world healthier and  better !

Women & the four pillars of Justice.

This blog post was published as a featured post on Women's Web. Featured Posts are a careful selection of highly relevant and interesting posts picked by  editors @Women's Web .each day


The Times of India dated 7th of November, 2019 published a study  " Litigants lose nearly ₹ 50,000 crore annually in  India " .The report went on to say that all states & Union Territories s spend less than 1% of GDP on judiciary .Delhi is the only state which spends 1.9 % of GDP on judiciary. The average for India works out  to 0.8% of GDP on judiciary. The score by the states on the four pillars of justice namely legal aid, judiciary, police & prison is equally pathetic.

The represenation of women in judiciary is slightly more than one fourth, at 26.5 % whereas in the police it is merely 7 % & for prisons, it is slightly better at 10 % .Because the number of women lawyers is less, the empanelment of women is even lesser. Only  Tamil Nadu ,which had a good number of women in the judiciary & police,  came out on top in diversity. Diversity helps the cause of justice. 

The India Justice Report , 2019  says that vacancies in police, prison & judiciary is the main cause of delay in justice. And denial of justice over long periods  leads to economic  loss & may lead to social unrest & instability . Prisons are overcrowded except jails for women. Legal aid looks like a cruel joke  as it is pegged at only 75 paise on a per capita basis every year.

Women are caregivers & caretakers .So its better to utilise them in areas such as prison reforms & even in police & the judiciary.Women are the sensitised lot & are more responsive  than men in cases of rapes of women, children, etc.Even today , the POSCO act is rarely invoked to punish the accused in the cases of child rapes. This would change ,if women are in charge . So, the need of the times, is more women in the workforce. A beginning ,can be made by increasing the number of women in the lower strata of the police, prisons & the judiciary. Over time, these ladies from the lowest ranks can move to higher ranks in the respective fields . Since women are less in the work force , appointing them at the higher levels without relevant experience would seem unfair & may be unworkable. 

The percentage of women in the workforce is less than 25 %.There are many reasons .One is patriarchy as women are supposed to manage home & hearth. Safety is another factor .And because, there are few women in work force , there is lot of gender disparity in  wages, in both informal  as also the formal workforce. 

Hence ,more women need to be brought into the work force. And they need to do paid work not housework. This will increase India's GDP by 20 % as per one estimate .

In another study by two Harvard students, it was found ,that more women in workplace would lead to a rise of nearly 27 % in the GDP of India. There is lot of discrimination which happens during hiring ,over qualifications, experience, etc. So the need is to increase gender diversity, to get more women into doing paid  work.

Unfortunately, in India, the women are leaving paid work & sitting at home taking care of family & housework. This ,in spite of higher GDP & higher employment .As women  get better educated & get married into higher income families, they give up paid work because of socio cultural reasons. The Government wants women to take an increased role in the armed forces & yet ,there's lot of resistance. A silver lining has been the commissioning of flight commander S. Dhami as Flight Commander in the officer cadre .Lieutenant Commander Karabi Gogoi has been selected as the Assistant Naval Attache at Russia. She is a naval engineer & at present is posted at Karwar naval base, Karnataka.Lets trust, this the beginning ,of a long line of female officers in the Armed  Forces. 

Similarly, government should enforce that more women are at work in the police, prisons & the judiciary  .Though private companies can do their bit in hiring more women , government can set the finest example, by making it easy, to hire women.  Women in correctional services & law & order services would lead to better safety environment for all ,especially for women, children & the elderly. And hence ,better law & order promoting peace. As the number of women increase in the judiciary, the police &  the prisons, legal aid  will get utilised to help the underdogs . This will lead to amore equitable society.  This will lead to stability, in which India can prosper faster, leading to better living conditions for all .

Since vacancies in judiciary are more at lower rungs,as high as 52 % in Mizoram  it would suffice if women are employed on contactual terms initially .This would ease burden on the exchequer .Because shortly & surely, women would  set up such a high bar that there they would earn their place/ s in the aforesaid services .And the number of judges at subordinate courts need to rise too .In India, there is one judge for 50,000 people. This needs to improve. So more judges are needed at subordinate courts .And the courts need to work in shifts ,as there are lakhs of cases pending in courts .This shift working will help clear the backlog of pending cases. This will help in employing more women as well.

.Just like in the local self governments, there is reservations for women , even at lower rungs in judiciary, police & prisons, 50 percent  or more jobs  can be reserved for women .This is allowed by Indian constitution under Fundamental Rights.Article 15 ( 3 ) of the Constitution allows reservation in favour of women.Moreover, India is a signatory to the Convention for Elimination of Dicrimination Against  Women . India has also signed the International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights .

The women need to have a bachelor's degree in law .With this basic degree , they can dispense justice at lower rungs with some basic training thrown in. A similar plan can be drawn up to employ more women  in the police & prison services. The best among the women so employed, must be given chances to rise up in the services. Soon, there will be more & more women breaking the glass ceilings. Obviously, the percentage rise in India's GDP will the cream on the cake !

And as more women participate in the labour market by doing paid work, gender parity in wages will become better & better. And  gender equality will lead to better family life, less stress, better health & a society that has does not judge on masculanity.In short, better living conditions for all ! 

Reservations are necessary for equality.

This post was published on 27th May, 2019 on Women's Web as a  Featured Post. Featured Posts are a careful selection of highly relevant and interesting posts picked by  editors each day.


This week, a lady doctor who was doing post graduation in gynecology committed suicide by hanging in her hostel room in the civic run , BYL Nair Hospital, Mumbai.

It is alleged by the victim's parents, that she was harassed over her origins as she belonged to scheduled tribe.The victim had verbally complained to the unit head & the department head about the casteist remarks & harassment & no action was taken. The victims' parents came to Mumbai & case has been filed against three senior doctors ( all ladies ) who allegedly harassed the victim. The case is for abetment of suicide & under sections of the SC/ ST Atrocities act, Anti  Ragging act,etal.The victim was not allowed to have meals by her seniors & she was not allowed to meet her mother who was undergoing cancer treatment. The victim was taunted on a whatsapp group for doctors by her seniors.

This case is a repeat of what happened to Rohit Vemula , a PhD student at the University of Hyderabad.He committed suicide after facing extreme harassment. There were many protests .An enquiry was launched to determine Rohit Vemula's caste .It was reveled that Rohit belonged to backward class & not dalit. And so, the matter ended there.It makes no difference that a youth commits suicide .Because, what is, of utmost importance is the caste. This is what has remained unchanged, since our society started harping on the caste system through  pre independence times.

And that's why the concept of reservation  was introduced through the Indian Constitution .This was done to bring the oppressed communities  namely the scheduled castes & tribes to a level that they can be equated to some extent with the non oppressed castes or the higher castes. This is because under Article 14 which is a Fundamental Right under the Indian Constitution states " The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. "

And reservation is an affirmative action that is positive action through policies which give the disadvantaged communities easier access to education & employment. This is so because Article 15 , another Fundamental Right under the Indian Constitution states that the State can make special provisions for classes of people who are socially & educationally backward or the scheduled castes & scheduled tribes. And  towards this end, the State has reserved some seats in educational institutes & even in government jobs.

And though this affirmative action was thought to be initially sufficient for a short period .Indian society has yet to accept the backward classes as an equal partner .And hence, the State has to continue affirmative action year after year ,through the years . The higher castes feel discriminated by    seventy year old reservations ( as the reservations were brought in,  after India got independence) . What  the higher castes seem to forget is  that the scheduled castes & tribes have been oppressed & suppressed for millions of years since the time of vedas. And the repression continues .

Even today, there are news reports of honor killings wherein the couple's parents & relatives & sometimes entire villages have ensured that the couples are killed because the boy and girl  dared to marry outside their caste .

And in educational institutes, when, the members of disadvantaged classes take admissions, they are treated with scorn & hate. They are made to recall their roots are lower in the social cadre.This affects their confidence levels & many of them are unable to complete their education. This seems to have happened in the case of Rohit Vemula as also in the aforesaid case of the lady doctor who committed suicide by hanging.Similar cases happen at the workplaces wherein members of suppressed classes get jobs.They are ridiculed & treated with contempt  by others & mocked repeatedly. All such instances point to our ghetto mentality .We are biased to the core & its going to be a long winding path before our mindsets change.

Our political leaders have wreaked havoc with reservations by introducing them to communities other than scheduled castes & tribes as this is an excellent source to get votes without doing much ! Though the courts have stepped in & sought to limit the reservations for backward classes ( other than scheduled castes & tribes ) by introducing the concept of creamy layer .

By way of the 124th Constitutional Amendment bill, 2019, the government made a 10 % reservation for economically weaker students among the unreserved category of students. The eligibility condition for 10 % reservation is that annual income must be less than 8 lakhs or those who own less than five cares of land. Ajit Ranade, eminent Indian economist says that the Government's own data by the National Sample Survey states that almost 99% households will be eligible for 10% reservation. As per an analysis by Business Today magazine , this 10 % reservation  will cover 100% of the Indian population as per income criteria. This is already being challenged in courts for obvious reasons .The   concept of  "  economically challenged " does not exist under the Indian Constitution.Moreover economic status keeps changing unlike social criteria suffered by SC& ST since generations.

Those who say that merit should get precedence have no idea what constitutes merit.  Author & law professor Marc Galanter states that three types of resources are needed to get that competitive advantage which is called merit. One is economic resources ( education, training, materials etal ), second is  social & cultural resources ( social contacts, guidance, advice, etal ) & last intrinsic ability & hard work. And obviously the disadvantaged neither have the economic nor the social and cultural resources to win the competition only based on their hard work.This idea of merit by Marc Galanter was quoted by the SC while it upheld the Karnataka law in May, 2019.

The government's own National Sample Survey Organisation ( NSSO ) data shows that Scheduled castes & Scheduled tribes are highly backward compared to  other castes in terms of education.Even in top government posts, SCs & STs corner only 5% of the posts.Another study has shown that efficiency has not been compromised by reservations for SCs , STs in railways. In fact, diversity has led to increased efficiency.

And that's why, the Supreme Court in May, 2019 upheld the Karnataka law which has made reservations SCs & STs for promotions of .This is because , Karnataka was able to show data which proved  backwardness of  SCs & STs  .

Lets remember, just as we have to pay off the debts of our forefathers , so also, this reservation  is an atonement for the wrongs wrecked on the SC & ST communities for centuries ! As we march onwards , lets make the SC & ST our equal partners. And then , surely, reservations will be on their way out.