What Sexual Harassment Means To The Average Delhi Girl
Honestly, I’m one of the lucky few in Delhi who’s never been eve-teased or targeted in any way. But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t experienced these things in my surroundings. And it would be useless to deny that they’re a huge part of my life. Because they are, just as they are for any [...]
On the Right to Wear Shorts
It’s not about what this season’s style gurus tell us to wear, it’s not about defying an existing social order. It’s about freedom. The freedom to wear what we want without fear of the consequences. It’s about social justice. We live in a society where men are perfectly comfortable urinating on the side of a [...]
UNICEF report 2012: Child marriage, early motherhood and domestic violence plague India
Kounteya Sinha, TNN NEW DELHI: Modern India continues to be plagued by social and health ills like child marriage, early motherhood and domestic violence. Latest data in the “State of the World’s Children report 2012″ released by Unicef on Wednesday shows that almost 22% women in India, who are now aged between 20 and 24 years gave [...]
Feeling the “Power Cuts” in Delhi
Who am I? It’s a question I find myself asking more and more these days. Am I British? An “Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)?” A “trailing spouse?” Perhaps I should explain: I was born and brought up in England, the daughter of Punjabi parents who emigrated to the UK in the 1960s. I moved to [...]
Wall Street Journal’s India Journal: Rethinking Safety in Delhi
By Veronica Weis Something has gone fundamentally awry in the fabric of a city when reoccurring headlines of “rape,” “dowry killing” and other gender-based violence are treated as banalities, acknowledged with cursory glances. It’s no surprise, then, that when you broach the topic of public safety with a woman in Delhi, she will likely launch [...]
Women’s Empowerment Starts with YOU!
I’ve worked at Breakthrough for four months now and the most important lesson that I’ve learned to date is the meaning of the word ‘empowerment’. Being an ordinary citizen of this country, I knew that I was never going to be someone who would start a revolution or some movement to make myself feel empowered. [...]
Is Ignorance Really Bliss? A Female Perspective on Sexual Education in India
My decision to conduct a research study on HIV and female sex workers (FSWs) for my dissertation in Delhi two years ago provided me with some unforgettable experiences. These experiences taught me so much about ignorance, not just others but also my own. Having completed my MA degree in social work, I got the [...]
Making Delhi Sweet Again
I’ve lived in Delhi my whole life. And it’s here that I have always heard myself say, “home sweet home.” Now, 24 years later, I only say “home.” So the word sweet is gone. Why? What has changed? It’s not that I don’t want to call my home sweet anymore but the scars and unpleasant [...]
And the doodle award goes to…
This month, Youth Ki Awaaz and Bell Bajao held a doodle making contest based on the theme “gender abuse and domestic violence” and we received dozens of inspiring and beautiful entries. A BIG thank you to everyone who submitted for sharing their artistic talents with us! Without further delay, here is the winner of a Lecoanet [...]
Invisible Among the Uncounted
By Nilanjana S. Roy NEW DELHI — Officially, Chandni doesn’t exist, nor is there any space for her in Delhi. Unofficially, the 14-year-old has grown up in the national capital, on its streets, one of the thousands of uncounted homeless women and girls in a city that has little time or empathy for her. “This [...]
