Namita Bhandare writes on gender and other social issues and has 25 years of experience in journalism. She has edited books and features in a documentary on sexual violence. She tweets as @namitabhandare
Articles by Namita Bhandare
The misguided debate over declining fertility
There is anxiety about the economic impact of dwindling numbers. But that cross cannot be borne by women alone.
Published on Dec 06, 2024 08:54 PM IST
General’s F grade for women commanding officers
Women have had to fight to serve in the Indian army. Now, a three-star general’s scathing letter indicting women commanding officers is causing a stir.
Published on Dec 01, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Understanding the law that criminalises sex based on a false promise to marry
The Supreme Court noted this week that every consensual relationship that doesn’t end in marriage cannot be criminalised.
Published on Nov 24, 2024 08:15 AM IST
A double whammy for women in informal sector
Apart from the health effects of breathing toxic, polluted air, women in the informal sector have to suffer income loss, too
Published on Nov 22, 2024 06:49 PM IST
Workers not volunteers says Gujarat high court about anganwadi workers
The Gujarat high court has ruled that anganwadi workers and helpers perform a vital task and can’t be treated as ‘volunteers’.
Updated on Nov 19, 2024 03:29 PM IST
What Donald Trump’s decisive win says about gender in America
In the end, it wasn’t a close contest as predicted, but a big bang decisive win for Trump, a convicted felon accused of sexual assault by over two dozen women.
Published on Nov 11, 2024 08:15 AM IST
The 1984 Anti-Sikh riots: India’s unhealed wound
“Are we not citizens of the country who deserve justice?” asks Darshan Kaur. “But society just forgot about us.”
Published on Nov 08, 2024 08:33 PM IST
Why 2024 is America’s most gendered election in history
Hours from now Americans will decide between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris as their next president.
Published on Nov 03, 2024 08:15 AM IST
The incredible courage of Sakshi Malik
In July 2016, Sakshi Malik got on to a 14-hour flight to New York City. From there she connected to another four-hour haul to Rio de Janeiro.
Published on Oct 27, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Fertility cross is not for women to carry
The solution is not to ask women to have more kids; a better idea might be just to accept an inevitable reality and prepare for it.
Published on Oct 25, 2024 08:35 PM IST
The government will not recognise marital rape as a crime
The government’s affidavit to the Supreme Court that “violating a wife’s consent” is wrong, but to call it rape is “excessive”
Published on Oct 06, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Supreme Court cracks down child pornography
Child pornography is illegal even if stored on your private device and watched in your personal space, rules the Supreme Court.
Published on Sep 29, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Gisele Pelicot is changing the way we talk about rape
By refusing to be anonymous, Gisele has taken control of the narrative of her life and is reminding the world that the shame of rape does not fall on her but on the men who raped her.
Published on Sep 27, 2024 09:14 PM IST
India’s resounding paralympic success must lead to a wider conversation
The euphoria of India’s spectacular performance at the Paralympics is still to die down, but beyond the medals, I've a simple question: Are we doing enough for people who live with disability?
Published on Sep 22, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Why Kamala Harris is the voice the world needs
Global woman icon? Hardly. Flawed? Definitely. And yet Kamala Harris might just be the voice the world needs right now.
Published on Sep 13, 2024 08:59 PM IST
The death penalty cannot fix India’s rape problem. Here’s why
By unanimous vote, the West Bengal assembly on Tuesday cleared a bill that makes the death penalty mandatory in cases involving rape and murder.
Published on Sep 08, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Neha Dixit on gender, the informal economy and the invisible work of women
I’ve been meaning to talk to Neha Dixit about her wonderful debut book, The Many Lives of Syeda X: The story of an unknown Indian
Published on Sep 01, 2024 08:15 AM IST
What after the Hema panel report? Answer lies with us
If the rot is systemic, the answer cannot be piecemeal — a resignation here, a committee there. We have to stop responding to sexual assault as disparate crimes and see it as part of a larger pattern of power imbalances stacked against women.
Published on Aug 30, 2024 09:26 PM IST
Women@Work: The Malayalam film industry’s dirty, not-so-little, secret
The Hema Committee report on the Malayalam film industry, released this week, is shocking in its account of the rampant sexual exploitation of women.
Published on Aug 25, 2024 08:15 AM IST
This ends now: How to fight rape culture
News of yet another horrific rape and murder, A 31-year-old doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata has led to massive protests.
Published on Aug 18, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Flawed responses to rape underpin Kolkata case
Beyond the details of this crime, there is a horrible sense of déjà vu. Already, they’re calling the 32-year-old postgraduate doctor the “second Nirbhaya” in a sort of lazy shorthand that reminds us that, 12 years later, we are hearing the same story.
Published on Aug 16, 2024 09:26 PM IST
At the most gender equal Olympics, the good, the bad and the downright hideous
As the Paris 2024 Olympics come to a close, our weekly column, Mind The Gap, reflects on the unforgettable moments through a gender lens.
Updated on Aug 12, 2024 11:38 AM IST
Pinned to the mat by rules, Phogat remains a champion
Vinesh Phogat returns to India as a winner. For demanding accountability from a corrupt system. For showing girls that remaining silent is never an option, and that speaking up comes at a price, but it’s a price worth paying.
Updated on Aug 07, 2024 09:22 PM IST
How Manu Bhaker found her groove—and Haryana became a crucible for women athlete
There is more than just one redemption story in Paris. Not just the utterly spell-binding Simone Biles but our very own Manu Bhaker.
Published on Aug 04, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Anti-conversion laws exude fear of independent women
Over seven decades after Independence, after gaining hard-won rights, women are still being infantilised and treated as gullible people incapable of making their own decisions in love and marriage
Published on Aug 02, 2024 09:19 PM IST
Brave new world: Skilling women for modern India
Aspirational India is beckoning a new generation of young women who want skills that go beyond papad and pickle making, tailoring & embroidery, beauty and healthcare.
Published on Jul 28, 2024 08:15 AM IST
At the most gender equal Olympics, women to watch
The most gender equal Olympics gets going in Paris five days from now. Not every woman will return home with a medal, but some through sheer grit are winners.
Published on Jul 21, 2024 08:15 AM IST
A lost opportunity for a forward-looking civil code
Perhaps Uttarakhand’s UCC greatest flaw, when it kicks in by October, is that it infantilises adult women and seeks to curb their independence.
Updated on Jul 19, 2024 09:02 PM IST
Of ghosts, Shah Bano, and the dignity of women
A Supreme Court judgment reaffirming the right of Muslim women to seek maintenance
Published on Jul 14, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Public vigilantism is alive and shockingly well in West Bengal—& other parts
A series of alarming incidents of public vigilantism—the instant meting out of justice to suspected criminals—is not limited to West Bengal.
Published on Jul 07, 2024 08:20 AM IST