Becky Blab

For my dissertation at LSE, I wrote about a UNICEF project for girl’s education and questioned its assumption that education was automatically empowering. A contact of mine currently at the LSE, Layla, has posted some very interesting research–conducted by the LSE, no less–that again brings these questions to my mind:  Cleverest women are the heaviest [...]

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One in eight people in the World already don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water. The UN projects that 35% of the global population in 2025 will be affected by water stress or scarcity. India as a whole is expected to be seriously affected impacting agriculture, food security and the whole economy, negating most efforts at poverty eradication. Experts [...]

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From TOI: The UPA has chosen to ride on the memories of India’s first woman prime minister in declaring January 24 as the girl child day. Indira Gandhi had first taken over as PM on January 24, 1966. Women and child development joint secretary Kiran Chadha said the decision was taken by the Union Cabinet [...]

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I just saw the Mira Nair film ‘Salaam Bombay!’ Though it was made twenty years ago, it is still a poignant reminder of the challenges facing India. For the Hindi speakers, this shows three clips from the film: Some of the film’s proceeds went towards the founding of the Salaam Baalak Trust, which has since [...]

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The Washington Post had an in-depth piece on Indian women’s status. It starts off discussing ‘eve-teasing’, i.e. harrassment, but then delves into the whole range of issues from dowry to sex-selective abortion: For India’s middle-class urban women, the past decade has brought unprecedented opportunities to advance in a social order long dominated by men. But [...]

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