– Gender issues – Page 3 – A Time To Reflect

Double couple plan and skewed gender ratio

Lack of women turns tables on suitable boys, says a rather optimistic report on yahoo news. [link through anthropology.net] The report says that young men wanting to get married (and their parents) face a problem in finding girls – not surprising since the gender ratio in many districts is 922 girls for every 1,000 boys,… Continue reading Double couple plan and skewed gender ratio

Romeo and Eve on blank noise

Blank Noise has the blog-a-thon 2006 going, inviting stories and thoughts from people about the problem of street harassment. People, because men need to speak out on this as much as women do. I was waiting to attend the Blank Noise meet in Bombay before I posted on this. Some thoughts from there. The idea… Continue reading Romeo and Eve on blank noise

Past her shelf life

Uma at Indianwriting has this posted an email she received from someone in the US… I found much in the mail objectionable but this sentence particularly got me thinking – The number of overage unmarried Indian girls in the US is quite large. And there is nothing the parents can do about it, which causes… Continue reading Past her shelf life

For want of a scooter, a life was lost

The gift of a daughter – is not enough – it is the gifts that the daughter carries to her husband’s home that matter… As I finish reading Subhadra Butalia’s book The gift of a daughter – ‘encounters with the victims of dowry’, my thoughts are with the countless married women who go through this… Continue reading For want of a scooter, a life was lost

Committed professional or mother?

I might be late to this party but I just read this interview on Ad Age with Neil French, the creative chief at WPP. In the interview, French shrugs his shoulders and tries hard to dismiss his decision to quit the company as just one of theose things that happen. (Link through adrants. The Ad… Continue reading Committed professional or mother?

Test post – debate on the sex ratio continues

This is a test post. Having problems posting / adding comments. Please check this and let me know. Update: This post works fine, so do all others except the earlier one on the gender ratio. Maybe some setting went wrong in that? In any case, if you have any thoughts on that one, please leave… Continue reading Test post – debate on the sex ratio continues

Sex ratio across rural and urban India

Just read Harini’s post on the 60 million missing children – how to name it? Readying myself for the enlightening and amusing comments containing the “ist” words – activist and feminist – I urge you to head there right now and read it. (And no, don’t even bother mentioning Hepatitis to me). And just today,… Continue reading Sex ratio across rural and urban India

Headed towards Mathrubhoomi

Yet another China v/s India story. And not so pleasant or exciting this time. It is believed that the Chinese kill over a million girls every year in order to have a boy. It is also believed that Indians are about to overtake the Chinese in a few years. And Even the world’s poorest countries,… Continue reading Headed towards Mathrubhoomi

Empowering Draupadi and Sita?

In the series on India Empowered in the Indian Express, Fali S Nariman writes on an ideal situation where women are empowered and equal – in the eyes of the law and society… He quotes this poem written by Kartikeya Sarabhai after after seeing the Mahabharata at Avignon. All rights belong to husbands so says… Continue reading Empowering Draupadi and Sita?

“Beauty and the bleach”

Remember my post All is fair in the fairness game ? Patricia had left a comment on it remarking on how the ‘ethnic look’ – Latina, Philippina, African American was popular in the United States. We have a friend who was born in India and grew up in the States wishing she had fairer skin.… Continue reading “Beauty and the bleach”