Gender News - Frontline

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It’s all about power and the entitlement to misuse it: actor Sreelekha Mitra

Actor speaks about rampant sexual harassment in Indian cinema, its normalisation across regional industries, and her personal encounters with abuse.

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

Bina Paul in Thiruvananthapuram in December 2016. Paul says that with the Hema Committee report, the sense that women exist in the film industry’s labour force and have to be acknowledged has become very important.

It cannot get dirtier, it can only get cleaner: Bina Paul

The National Award-winning editor believes that the feudal mindset existing in certain sections of the Malayalam film industry must go.

R.K. Radhakrishnan

Violence Against Women

Gang rape in Thanjavur exposes perpetrators’ impunity and flaws in criminal justice system

The survivor went to three police stations before her complaint was accepted, highlighting how the system remains stacked against women.

Ilangovan Rajasekaran

Trans persons in India fear sexual violence under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita

Replacing the legacy Indian Penal Code also removed legal safeguards to protect the trans community from sexual violence.

Women’s Safety

Delhi protests Kolkata doctor’s rape and murder

The medical community in Delhi took to the streets to call for systemic changes to protect healthcare workers.

Frontline News Desk

Violence Against Women

Just another day in India

A selection from Rachita Taneja’s comic strip “Sanitary Panels” on the patriarchal mindset that normalises rape in India.

Violence Against Women

Death penalty for rape: A counterproductive approach to justice

For effective rape law reforms, one must understand the majoritarian patriarchal order that the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita seeks to entrench.

More stories from Gender

The doctor and student protest soon spread like wildfire. A protest by engineering students on August 21.

One billion rising, again

West Bengal protests show gender justice can’t exist in a society plagued by corruption, authoritarianism, fundamentalism, and undemocratic practices.

Sanhati Banerjee

A mural in Ajmer, Rajasthan, protesting against the rape and murder of the doctor in Kolkata. There has been massive outrage across the country.

A nation scarred: How the rape and murder of Kolkata doctor jolted India’s conscience

The tragedy has also ignited a firestorm in West Bengal. But the larger question remains: how do we stop the violence against women?

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

Conservative societies vest the idea of “honour” solely in female bodies, thus deeply stigmatising rape victims, a sentiment then internalised by women, and in turn giving rise to the horrific idea that rape is a fate worse than death, thus completing the cycle of female devaluation.

Editor’s Note: Who will educate the boy child?

Stricter laws are not enough to address India’s rape culture—the real solution lies in dismantling patriarchy from the ground up.

The President of the IMA says the assault on medical professionals has been going on for the past two decades.

Every woman has the right to feel safe at the workplace: Dr R.V. Asokan

The IMA President calls for urgent action on workplace safety for women in healthcare.

T.K. Rajalakshmi

The much-awaited report of the Justice Hema Committee, the government-appointed panel in 2019 that studied issues faced by women in the Malayalam film industry, comprises explosive accounts of harassment, exploitation, and ill-treatment being faced by women.

Female actors face harassment in Malayalam film industry: Justice Hema Committee report

The commission says it was “shocked to hear the sexual harassment stories” revealed to it by women working in the industry.

Frontline News Desk

Local village women working at a factory in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh in September 2018. Women face deep-rooted and multifaceted systemic inequities and dismantling them requires robust and sustained investments across sectors.

India’s gender Budget swelled by 37 per cent, yet it accounts for a mere 4-6 per cent of the total

To unlock women’s potential, India must embed gender-responsive budgeting across all ministries, tackling barriers in education, healthcare, and jobs.

Sanghamitra Singh

Nilanjana Bhowmick urges women not to overlook their “moments of enlightenment” when they embark on a self-reflective journey, freeing their minds from the stress and anxiety of never-ending to-do lists.

Breaking free from the superwoman myth

Nilanjana Bhowmick’s latest work debunks the myth and serves as both a testament and an instruction manual on navigating a man’s world.

Globally, women make up only 42 per cent of the workforce and represent just 31.7 per cent of senior leadership positions.

World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report shows 134-year wait for parity

Global gender parity stands at 68.5 per cent, and at current rates, full parity is not expected until 2158. India ranks third-lowest in Southern Asia.

Women voters show their inked fingers after casting their votes in Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, on May 25.

How women voted

Even with more women registering to vote, female voter turnout declined in 2024 compared to 2019, widening the gender gap in political participation.

T.K. Rajalakshmi

Members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, led by Brinda Karat, stage a demonstration outside the Supreme Court against its ruling on striking government employees, in New Delhi, in August 2003.

Brinda Karat: Communist with a bindi

Characterised by a lack of self-indulgence, this memoir narrates a story that describes her mission to end exploitation in the world.

The effort in Heart Tantrums to look unflinchingly at issues that many women in the subcontinent face, makes it worth reading.

Violence, deception, and redemption: Portrait of a marriage in Heart Tantrums

Aisha Sarwari’s memoir is an uneven book which is still worth reading because of its unflinching honesty.

Ranjana Sengupta

Veteran politician and union leader Mrinal Gore addressing a women’s rally against rising prices. The late 1960s and early 1970s saw thousands of women take part in anti-price rise protests in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

How a women’s movement in the 1970s shaped India’s battle against inflation, gender inequality, and caste bias

Meet latnis—women whose rolling pins fought corruption and hunger. Their story offers insights into women’s relationship with money and the economy.

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