News / Columns / Namita Bhandare

Namita Bhandare

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

Mind the Gap | Coming out is not a ‘one-step process’

In India, there’s no one-size-fits-all coming out story. While some members of the LGBTQI community are lucky to have supportive families, others pay a heavy price

In a society where the Indian Psychiatric Association clarified only as recently as 2018 that homosexuality is not a mental illness, where there is as yet no explicit ban on unscientific “conversion” therapies and families can force LGBTQ children into an array of quack treatments, coming out can be daunting and, worse, downright dangerous. (HTPHOTO)

opinion

Updated on Nov 07, 2021 10:11 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

Mind The Gap | Report card: What is it like for girls being back in school?

Hello and welcome to Mind the Gap, a newsletter that adds perspective to the gender developments of the week.

As schools tentatively return to physical classes, the big questions are: How much learning has been lost? (HT PHOTO)

analysis

Updated on Oct 31, 2021 05:17 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

Equal marriage rights for equal citizens

It’s time we celebrate love as the purest emotion between two individuals. It’s time we celebrate our Constitution for promising equality for all

At its core lies a clash between constitutional guarantees and societal morality (Amal KS/HT PHOTO)

opinion

Updated on Oct 29, 2021 06:31 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

Mind The Gap | Women leaders of India and the world

Hello and welcome to Mind the Gap, a newsletter that adds perspective to the gender developments of the week.

Only 268 of 2,839 Congress candidates — just 9.4% — who have contested a state election since 2017 were women (ANI)

analysis

Updated on Oct 24, 2021 08:31 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

What it means to be a Dalit woman in India

Justice in one case does not signal the end of crimes against Dalit women. But it does signal one tiny step forward in a longer march against caste hierarchy.

Dalit women face sexual abuse daily, said Manjula Pradeep, convenor, National Council of Women Leaders. When rape survivors try to file police complaints, they are accused of filing false cases. “They don’t see us as human beings. The impunity is widespread,” she said. (PTI)

opinion

Updated on Oct 15, 2021 04:21 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

Mind The Gap | The cost of being a modern working woman

From regressive comments on modern women to an obvious — and widening — gulf between girls and boys, the gender divide at home and at work appears to be deepening in India and the world

India is home to the world’s largest number of single women, but this is not a homogeneous group (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

analysis

Updated on Oct 14, 2021 07:27 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

Mind The Gap | From child marriage to MeToo, legitimising oppressive practices

This week saw child marriage back in the news. This and the Bombay High Court's new guidelines on sexual harassment at the workplace are worrying developments.

Child marriage is India’s enduring shame and we are home to the largest number of child brides in the world, with 1.5 million girls under 18 married every year, according to Unicef. Representative Image. (Manoj Kumar/Hindustan Times)

analysis

Updated on Oct 07, 2021 07:16 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

Mind The Gap | A week of triumphs, and trials, for women of the world

In India and parts of the world, women have had reason to celebrate this week. But systemic gender issues in a largely patriarchal society remain

As of January 2019, women make up 3.8% of the Indian Army, billed as the second-largest in the world. (Hindustan Times)

analysis

Updated on Oct 01, 2021 07:05 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

The MeToo movement’s demand: A new deal at work

MeToo has a powerful message for women too, that of solidarity and a continuum. Feminist organising goes back to the reform movements of the 19th century. It has not always been united but we have seen its effectiveness through the anti-rape and anti-dowry movements of the 1970s and 1980s to the anti-rape upsurge in 2012. We know that we are linked with the past. We know that we are not alone.

Was the movement flawed? Indeed, it was. In a country where over 90% of employed women work in the informal sector, where were the voices of the factory workers, caregivers, farm labour, women on construction sites and brick kilns? Where were the LGBTQ+ voices? The Dalit voices? Moreover, despite #BelieveAllWomen, not every accusation fell under the rubric of workplace harassment. (AP)

opinion

Updated on Oct 01, 2021 03:34 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

A tale of Afghan women, music, and freedom

Music was an act of resistance for the girls in Afghanistan’s first all-women orchestra. Some managed to leave the country, but others lie low, their future uncertain, as they await clarity from the Taliban

Zohra, Afghan women’s orchestra, performs during the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi, in 2017. (HT Archive)

opinion

Updated on Sep 17, 2021 05:52 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

In the Supreme Court, representation matters

A world that comprises diverse human beings across religion, caste, gender, class, geography, ideology, cannot be governed by a singular set of upper class, dominant caste, majority religion men

The photograph also acknowledges a new generation of women who are aspirational, driven and, given the opportunity, as likely to succeed as men. We have just seen it in sport where women have returned from Tokyo with medals. (PTI)

opinion

Updated on Sep 03, 2021 06:26 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

When women pay the price for State failure

When the State plans laws to punish parents who cross the two-child limit, let’s be clear about who pays the highest price. It’s women, the poorest and most marginalised

Representational image. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

opinion

Updated on Aug 20, 2021 06:21 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

Women athletes and their journeys of grit

Behind the glitter of the medals lies a story of personal grit. Poverty and marginalisation cut across gender, but women face special discrimination that ranges from fighting to be born to being allowed to play a sport

Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu arrives at the airport in New Delhi, on July 26. (File photo)

opinion

Updated on Aug 06, 2021 05:18 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

Young girls everywhere: Just say no

Simone Biles might have just made it that much easier for young women everywhere. Her decision to pull out of the Olympics tells girls that they matter, their voices are important, and that it’s okay to put themselves first

Biles’s decision to pull out of the Olympics does more than shine a welcome spotlight on mental health (AP)

opinion

Updated on Aug 02, 2021 08:25 AM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

Ensure justice, in the courts and beyond

The Pegasus revelation must be probed to reassure half this country’s citizens that justice is our constitutional right; that there is zero tolerance for the abuse of power; that we are not wrong to repose our faith in our highest court

opinion

Updated on Jul 23, 2021 03:45 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

Dowry: The persistence of a social evil

An examination of 40,000 marriages in rural India between 1960 and 2008 by a World Bank report finds that dowry’s taint has spread amongst Sikhs and Christians who now have higher average dowries than Hindus and Muslims

opinion

Published on Jul 09, 2021 05:48 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

Challenging patriarchy in religion

When the pujari (priest) at the Durga temple in Madurai fell ill and could no longer perform the ritual pujas, his only child, a daughter, Pinniyakkal, stepped up. Two years later, when he died in 2006, she staked her claim to be the full-time pujari, a hereditary position at that temple

opinion

Published on Jun 25, 2021 06:35 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

When our children are left vulnerable

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights says 3,621 children have been orphaned since the start of the pandemic. With over 360,000 deaths so far, this is likely an underestimation

opinion

Updated on Jun 11, 2021 03:32 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

The regressive mindset behind the Tarun Tejpal judgment

The Tejpal judgment could have stopped with an acquittal on reasonable doubt due to lack of police evidence. Instead, there are insinuations about the woman’s credibility, including the fact that she admittedly had no physical injuries after the assault

opinion

Updated on May 28, 2021 02:24 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

Amma and the women who enable women

A widowed, unlettered refugee from Bangladesh who remained unsure about her age, she had come to Delhi with two young sons, acquiring employment, a bank account and a property in what was then called the East Pakistan Displaced Persons Society, now Chittaranjan Park

opinion

Updated on May 14, 2021 05:18 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

The Great Indian Kitchen raises the right questions

Much has been written about Jeo Baby’s The Great Indian Kitchen, streaming on Amazon Prime. Its truth prevails across the globe. Leisure is a male pursuit while the women chop, clean, sweep, fry, wash, simmer, serve

A screengrab from The Great Indian Kitchen.

opinion

Updated on Apr 16, 2021 03:55 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

On the gender test, India fails — yet again

A wake-up call to first set up a national-level task force to study the pandemic’s impact on gender and, next, to suggest possible remedies. The blunt truth is India cannot afford to mutely witness any further erosion in gender rights.

India’s fall in ranking stems largely from an old crisis: The exit of women from paid work. Since 2011-12, 25 million women, roughly Shanghai’s population, have quit the workforce. If you go back to 2004-05, it’s 47 million. (ANI)

opinion

Published on Apr 02, 2021 07:43 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

The core issue is representation

Who can quarrel with free washing machines, except to point out that it reiterates a belief in what male-dominated parties hold to be woman’s true place? Someone should tell them, it’s not behind the spin cycle. It’s in the House. And it’s time women voters delivered that message.

The demand for 33% reservation of seats in the assemblies and in Parliament gets a great deal of lip service in party manifestos. This humbug is both tired and dated. When we are half the population, why settle for anything less in the legislature? (PTI)

opinion

Published on Mar 19, 2021 09:03 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

Dowry remains India’s abiding shame

In the run-up to the International Women’s Day, it’s good to celebrate the undeniable gains on our road to gender equality. But it’s also worth remembering just how far we have to go — and how little has changed.

Six decades after the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961, the continuing prevalence of dowry remains India’s national shame. The 2019 National Crime Records Bureau data tells us that a woman is subject to cruelty by her husband and in-laws every four minutes. (Reuters)

opinion

Updated on Mar 05, 2021 05:47 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

Shake power structures to give women dignity

The MeToo Movement undoubtedly gave a few women a voice and a platform, but it left out the vast majority of India’s working women, women employed as domestic workers, in brick kilns, as farm labourers, in garment factories. Dalit, tribal, trans and marginalised voices were never heard.

Despite new laws passed in the aftermath of the December 2012 gang rape, India’s women continue to fight a battle of endemic sexual violence. (AP)

opinion

Updated on Feb 19, 2021 06:17 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

The trinity of patriarchy, poverty and the pandemic

There is a clear link between keeping girls in school and delaying marriage. Raising the minimum age of marriage for girls to 21 is not a solution

We are in danger of losing this gain due to the pandemic. As this newspaper reported, 166,000 students, girls and boys, in Delhi government and municipal schools have fallen off the grid as a result of education moving online. One can only speculate on how many will eventually return to school, and whether some have already joined the labour force or been married off. (Santosh Kumar/HT)

opinion

Updated on Feb 06, 2021 06:40 AM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

To protect women, challenge patriarchy

Seldom has the State’s concern to protect one half of its citizens been so high

So many laws, still no solution. Perhaps because there’s a contradiction here. The contradiction in wanting to protect women but within the decorous folds of patriarchy (Hindustan Times)

opinion

Published on Jan 22, 2021 10:42 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

The conversation India refuses to have

In the past few years, India has broken traditional silences on sexual abuse, on consent, and on the rights of sexual minorities. It’s time to break another traditional silence

It takes courage to push a conversation that evokes almost zero public sympathy in an audience that is inclined to believe that consent has no place on the marital bed(Shutterstock)

columns

Updated on Jan 08, 2021 08:01 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

India’s 2020 Gender Report Card

The end of a year is a good time to take stock – just how much we’ve achieved, how much more must be done and, this year in particular, how much is in danger of being lost

We do know that the pandemic’s economic impact has been higher on women. At the end of the year, 13% fewer women (2% fewer men) than the previous year were employed, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.(HTPHOTO)

columns

Updated on Dec 25, 2020 05:36 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

Covid-19: A distressing spike in violence

To stop gender-based violence, target attitudinal change through interventions in education, ad campaigns and other behaviour change communication

A study of violence during the lockdown by Saravana Ravindran and Manisha Shah published on(AP)

columns

Updated on Dec 11, 2020 07:46 PM IST

ByNamita Bhandare

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Namita Bhandare

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

In India, there’s no one-size-fits-all coming out story. While some members of the LGBTQI community are lucky to have supportive families, others pay a heavy price

Hello and welcome to Mind the Gap, a newsletter that adds perspective to the gender developments of the week.

It’s time we celebrate love as the purest emotion between two individuals. It’s time we celebrate our Constitution for promising equality for all

Hello and welcome to Mind the Gap, a newsletter that adds perspective to the gender developments of the week.

Justice in one case does not signal the end of crimes against Dalit women. But it does signal one tiny step forward in a longer march against caste hierarchy.

From regressive comments on modern women to an obvious — and widening — gulf between girls and boys, the gender divide at home and at work appears to be deepening in India and the world

This week saw child marriage back in the news. This and the Bombay High Court's new guidelines on sexual harassment at the workplace are worrying developments.

In India and parts of the world, women have had reason to celebrate this week. But systemic gender issues in a largely patriarchal society remain

Music was an act of resistance for the girls in Afghanistan’s first all-women orchestra. Some managed to leave the country, but others lie low, their future uncertain, as they await clarity from the Taliban

A world that comprises diverse human beings across religion, caste, gender, class, geography, ideology, cannot be governed by a singular set of upper class, dominant caste, majority religion men

When the State plans laws to punish parents who cross the two-child limit, let’s be clear about who pays the highest price. It’s women, the poorest and most marginalised

Behind the glitter of the medals lies a story of personal grit. Poverty and marginalisation cut across gender, but women face special discrimination that ranges from fighting to be born to being allowed to play a sport

Simone Biles might have just made it that much easier for young women everywhere. Her decision to pull out of the Olympics tells girls that they matter, their voices are important, and that it’s okay to put themselves first

The Pegasus revelation must be probed to reassure half this country’s citizens that justice is our constitutional right; that there is zero tolerance for the abuse of power; that we are not wrong to repose our faith in our highest court

An examination of 40,000 marriages in rural India between 1960 and 2008 by a World Bank report finds that dowry’s taint has spread amongst Sikhs and Christians who now have higher average dowries than Hindus and Muslims

When the pujari (priest) at the Durga temple in Madurai fell ill and could no longer perform the ritual pujas, his only child, a daughter, Pinniyakkal, stepped up. Two years later, when he died in 2006, she staked her claim to be the full-time pujari, a hereditary position at that temple

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights says 3,621 children have been orphaned since the start of the pandemic. With over 360,000 deaths so far, this is likely an underestimation

The Tejpal judgment could have stopped with an acquittal on reasonable doubt due to lack of police evidence. Instead, there are insinuations about the woman’s credibility, including the fact that she admittedly had no physical injuries after the assault

A widowed, unlettered refugee from Bangladesh who remained unsure about her age, she had come to Delhi with two young sons, acquiring employment, a bank account and a property in what was then called the East Pakistan Displaced Persons Society, now Chittaranjan Park

Much has been written about Jeo Baby’s The Great Indian Kitchen, streaming on Amazon Prime. Its truth prevails across the globe. Leisure is a male pursuit while the women chop, clean, sweep, fry, wash, simmer, serve

A wake-up call to first set up a national-level task force to study the pandemic’s impact on gender and, next, to suggest possible remedies. The blunt truth is India cannot afford to mutely witness any further erosion in gender rights.

Who can quarrel with free washing machines, except to point out that it reiterates a belief in what male-dominated parties hold to be woman’s true place? Someone should tell them, it’s not behind the spin cycle. It’s in the House. And it’s time women voters delivered that message.

In the run-up to the International Women’s Day, it’s good to celebrate the undeniable gains on our road to gender equality. But it’s also worth remembering just how far we have to go — and how little has changed.

The MeToo Movement undoubtedly gave a few women a voice and a platform, but it left out the vast majority of India’s working women, women employed as domestic workers, in brick kilns, as farm labourers, in garment factories. Dalit, tribal, trans and marginalised voices were never heard.

There is a clear link between keeping girls in school and delaying marriage. Raising the minimum age of marriage for girls to 21 is not a solution

Seldom has the State’s concern to protect one half of its citizens been so high

In the past few years, India has broken traditional silences on sexual abuse, on consent, and on the rights of sexual minorities. It’s time to break another traditional silence

The end of a year is a good time to take stock – just how much we’ve achieved, how much more must be done and, this year in particular, how much is in danger of being lost

To stop gender-based violence, target attitudinal change through interventions in education, ad campaigns and other behaviour change communication

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