This post is dedicated in gratitude to all of the wonderful women in my life. I feel so lucky to have known so many strong, intelligent, talented and truly beautiful women. Happy women’s day to you all!

I know it’s not Mother’s Day, but I feel the urge to thank my mom who sent me the info on the above film. She has an insatiable thirst for knowledge and I must owe my own to her…

Thanks to my grandmothers, whose hard work and dedication to family were remarkable.  They both went to law school well before it was a common thing for women to do.

Sometimes the contrast between women’s roles and lives in India and the US seems so stark, but then when I really think about it they both pretty much boil down to the same thing: well-being for the family and community. It’s just that in the US, we’ve gotten accustomed to the luxury of being able to think about ourselves, our desires and our independence.

But wherever we are, being a woman is a complicated affair. And being able to go through it gracefully with head held high, and make a contribution to people’s lives, is a commendable deed.

As I see my relatives and peers becoming mothers, I can’t help but wonder at the tremendous amount of patience and courage they have. What a gift they are giving of themselves.

Being a woman is the opposite of delicate; it demands fierceness and fortitude. A steadfast commitment to compassion. Just like the Devi, Linga Bhairavi…

The book, “Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage,” has made the New York Times Best-seller List.  Has she actually transcended the beauty business thanks to age and yoga?

“The thing about aging is that its got all these wonderful answers attached to it,” Welch said, adding that age alone should never define a person.

I’m holding together just fine, I’m not doing it with no effort, I’m doing my yoga everyday — an hour-and-a-half of that — but really guys, what is the point of starting to lie about your age?”

She expounds upon the difficultly of being known only as a sex symbol. “I felt that people really didn’t give a damn about me, they only cared about her…”  It’s ironic how she describes her persona with “an impossibly skinny little waist” as “formidable”–what’s empowering about emaciation?

Now that she’s aged, has she surmounted her insecurities?

Welch said the point of the book was to remind women that their fears and anxieties “were not special to them.” If her own travails, worries and insecurities, which were magnified by being in the public eye, were surmountable, so are theirs.

Many refer to it as ‘nature’s curse on women’. It’s commonly thought of as unclean. In some cultures, women are not even allowed to cook during those days of month. But, path-breaking new research could change the way people view the menstrual cycle. And it’s here in India, for the first time ever. The blood that uselessly leaks away from a woman’s body every month until she hits menopause is a good source of stem cells, which are still at an early stage of development and retain the potential to turn into many different types of cell.

Traditionally there is a huge taboo on menstruation here, but it’s nice to see this article turn that on its head.

Research is ongoing but if established as a success, it would be a huge advance for stem cell research. Stem cell therapy has become controversial in some parts of the world because scientists believe the most useful ones come from embryos. Adult stem cells are rare in mature tissue. But if they are sourced from hitherto-useless, “unclean” menstrual blood, it would redefine the woman’s role as life-giver.

The O-zone on Sunday covered the new trend among 20-30 something women, most of whom are still single, going all out for one-night stands and no strings attached.

Sexcapades of young women, their casual attitude towards flings and open declaration that sex is just a physical need like any other, lead one to wonder how this new-found sexual freedom affects society and in particular, matrimony.

A good enough opening, but the article actually emphasised women’s personal empowerment more than any larger social impact. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, there was little analysis of traditional gender roles. For example,

“I get a great sense of liberation from being able to just get up in the morning, put on my clothes and walk away without any emotional baggage or need for commitment.”

Sounds like a man, some would say. Yes, that’s exactly what seems to have happened. Women have joined the guys in their uninhibited, no-responsibility nocturnal romps. And, much to the delight of the men, they come to them without baggage — no clinging, no tears, no emotional breakdowns and above all, no demands to declare everlasting love and attachment. In fact, the new woman seems to run away as fast as any man from the ‘C’ word — commitment.

Even though some young women may still be having fun while they still can, there’s still an understanding that at the end of it all, they’ll eventually ‘settle down’ and become good wives.

The freedom brought about by stepping out of home (very often, small towns), financial independence and jobs that entail wide travel, is a heady one. Marriage, whatever said and done, does bring with it restrictions that girls wish to push off as far as possible. So these young girls are happy being in relationships that mean good fun and sex, but no settling down. That can come later, it seems. As a young IT professional from Mumbai confesses, “I have asked my parents to start looking for a match for me. I’ve had my fun, gone through lots of relationships and want to settle down now.”

The article briefly touched upon Indian ‘morality’, saying that those who talk about it

find themselves pretty marginalised today. There is a fairly widespread tolerance for, if not acceptance of, women’s need for fun. Moral strictures and codes of conduct sound not just outdated, but anachronistic. Enough that even those who mouth them question their validity!

This kind of sweeping generalisation gets to me. BJP (India’s conservative party), marginalised? Widespread tolerance for women’s fun needs? Yes, they may be anachronistic, but the strictures and codes are still very much the norm for the majority of women in India. It is the tiniest of minorities of women, in India’s biggest cities, that can even think of enjoying the kind of freedoms that this article claims to be the privilege of the many.

Nonetheless, this group of women may be rather numerically large, even if not a significant proportion of the greater population. And regardless, the mere fact of a shifting pattern of relationships among certain women must be cause for celebration, in that they are going against the tide and trying out different arrangements for themselves. That too, in a county where kissing in public is still taboo. (There was another article on “Unkissable Indians,” how foreigners doing business here have been warned to keep their cheeks to themselves.) I just hope they are using protection…

Interestingly, on the front page of the TimesLife! section was an article called “Casual Casanovas,” featuring the trend among men to take numerous lovers. Yet the articles seem to speak over one another.

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 a powerful male backlash has accompanied the women’s revolution, an upwelling of resentment that has expressed itself in sexual violence and harassment.

At the same time, however, the number of reported instances of domestic violence, rape and dowry killings is spiking in South Asian cities, according to women’s groups, demographers and sociologists.

Violence against women is the fastest-growing crime in India, a recent study concluded. Every 26 minutes a woman is molested, every 34 minutes a rape takes place, and every 43 minutes a woman is kidnapped, according to the Home Ministry’s National Crime Records Bureau.

Novellist and commentator Shobhaa De is quoted as saying:

“The latest statistics are terrifying. And it clearly points to male rage. Underneath our incredible social change, the Indian male is experiencing nothing short of a psychological frenzy.”

The article highlights the Smile Foundation for its attempts to address the issues through “self-respect and self-esteem sessions” and street theater.

It’s worth noting that while India ranks fifth highest in reported rapes, the United States ranks highest in the world. Yet I don’t think an article discussing gender dynamics in the US is likely to be covered by the WashPo in a similar manner.

According to TOI,

The exit of British television celebrity Jade Goody from the reality show Big Boss was a shocker. But what surprised most was the revelation of the fatal disease – cervical cancer that Goody was detected with. The word ‘Cervic Cancer’ since then has been googled infinite times (according to Google Trends) in the past one week thus revealing the immense curiosity, coupled with a lack of awareness about the cancer.

The growing risk of cervical cancer in women in India (aged 0-64 years) is 2.4% compared to 1.3% for the world.

Since I don’t really trust the TOI as a source of reliable information, especially when it comes to health, please click here for more information regarding prevention and treatment of this cancer.

I was amazed to read this:

Since the age of 16, Goody said she has had four smear tests to detect cervical cancer, which all showed up pre-cancerous cells in her womb.

She said she had had treatment three weeks ago following an abnormal smear test, after she collapsed at her home in Essex.

But she was given the all-clear and decided to go ahead with the India trip because she was being paid £100,000 and needed the money, she said.

Cervical cancer is entirely preventable when detected early, by smear tests and there are common techniques available to remove the pre-cancerous cells. Is it the fault of the NHS for not providing her this treatment? The Mail says:

Her publicist Max Clifford, who is paying for the tests, says her condition should have been diagnosed earlier.

He said: ‘What has happened to Jade is very wrong and very worrying.

‘According to the doctor I have put her in touch with this should have been diagnosed a long time ago.

‘Thankfully Jade is now with the best people there are, having thorough investigations and then the treatment she desperately needs.’

In the US, the HPV vaccine, Gardasil, has come under much scrutiny and huge debates have ensued (mostly among conservatives) over whether or not the mandatory vaccination of girls may promote sexual activity.

Apparently in the UK the ‘jab’ will be routinised amongst 12-13 year old girls next month, and The Telegraph reports that now older women may be eligible for it:

Professor Margaret Stanley, an adviser to the HPV sub-group of the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation, described the move as a “remarkable volte-face”.

“Vaccinating older girls and women who have active sexual lives will have an effect but it will be much less than immunising the virgins,” she said.

“There is the real anxiety that these older girls and women may think that they had had a magic bullet, are protected, don’t go for their smears and the cancers aren’t picked up at an early stage.”

Ministers at the Department of Health were said to have chosen the cheaper Cervarix vaccine over the more expensive Gardasil to avoid any extra expense.

A DoH spokeswoman confirmed ministers were considering a possible extension: “We are looking at the most effective uses for the vaccine and are currently assessing the strengths and weaknesses of offering it to over 18s, including cost effectiveness.”

But she added: “There is no evidence that extending the vaccination to over 18s would deter women from having smear tests. Receiving the vaccine could in fact provide an opportunity to remind women of the need for screening.”

A cell phone ring tone that sings “Condom, condom!” has been launched to promote safe sex in India, where condoms carry considerable social stigma and HIV and AIDS are growing problems, health experts said on Tuesday.

The a cappella ring tone features a professional singer chanting the word condom more than 50 times, a playful approach that public health activists hope will spark discussion and make condoms more socially acceptable.

“We’ve made a conscious effort to move the concept of the condom away from negative association, like HIV and sex work,” said Yvonne MacPherson, country director of BBC World Service Trust India. “Condoms are actually health products and if you have a condom and you use it, you are seen to be smart and responsible.”

More than 270 million people use mobile phones in India and ring tones, especially those featuring hit Bollywood songs, are extremely popular.

“A ring tone is a very public thing,” she said. “It’s a way to show you are a condom user and you don’t have any issues with it.”

The ring tone was launched on August 8 and has been downloaded 60,000 times, MacPherson said.

Wonder why it only hit the news today if it was launched 11 days ago.

More on the condom front: At the Mexico AIDS conference, Ramadoss (of legalize homosexuality fame) is set to promote the female condom. I’m glad to see this in the news again, as it has been almost a year since I’ve seen anything about it (see here).

National Aids Control Organisation is, therefore, seriously considering a proposal to make these condoms available across the country for just Rs 3. Union health minister A Ramadoss said at the International Aids Conference here that over 87% of the HIV infections in India are caused by unprotected sex.

“Around 38% of all new infections are occurring among women. The pilot phase where we distributed 5 lakh female condoms proved to be a huge success. We now plan to intensify our campaign for female condoms. In 2001, we had 900,000 general condom outlets. By 2010, we will have 3 million,” Ramadoss said.

The BBC has more information on the NACO female condom initiative:

So for the past few months, the women of Mohammadpur have been encouraged to use the female condom.

It is a move that initially raised eyebrows. This is, after all, a conservative part of the country, where women are rarely in control of their lives.

‘Life-changing’

But instead, I find them completely open about discussing the topic with me, an urban male – something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

“It’s completely changed our lives,” says another of the village women, Sarita.

“We’ve got a sense of freedom, of being liberated. We feel completely in control.”

The women say the female condom gives them a sense of freedom.

Another anti-AIDS initiative is the Red Ribbon Express:

On July 24 a specially designed train with seven cheery yellow coaches chugged in to the Bangalore railway station, carrying in it a motley group of cultural troupes, educational materials and giant models, one of which is of a pregnant mother with an automated voice of a child that regularly reminds her of precautionary measures during the pregnancy. With a salute to life and the inspiring slogan ‘Zindagi Zindabad’ (literally meaning ‘Long Live Life’), the Red Ribbon Express (RRE) started its year-long journey along the length and breadth of India carrying the critical messages associated with HIV/AIDS. That the Indian railways should be made the vehicle of this campaign is apt since it is the one government-run machinery that single-handedly connects and reaches out to the largest numbers in the country.

In partnership with various international, national, state and local organizations, the Indian Railways employed the colourful coaches of the train to convey, through innovative and interactive educational material, information on HIV specifically dealing with primary prevention services and enhancing people’s knowledge about such preventive measures, health habits, lifestyle and safe behavioral practices and developing a more unprejudiced understanding of the virus and consequently removing the associated stigma and discrimination against positive persons and their families.

Dr Meera Patodia, a gynaecologist of the Meera Hospital in the city has been charged with conducting an abortion without the consent of the mother in connivance with her in-laws.

The victim Renu Khediya in her complaint to the Mahila police station (East) on May 5 2006 had charged her husband Bhupendra Singh and in-laws Rahuraj Singh, Manohar Kaur and sister-in-law Anita of dowry harassment under Sections 498A and 406 of IPC for cruelty and dowry harassment. She said her in-laws took her to hospital surreptitiously and charged the doctor with conniving with her in-laws in carrying out the inhuman act.

In my own city of Jaipur, a case of forced abortion. I wonder how the procedure could have been performed though, without the patient being aware. I can hardly imagine what that would have been like. The article doesn’t mention it, but it must have been a case of sex-selective abortion (i.e. female foeticide). Rajasthan is notorious for women’s limited reproductive rights, and still has a very high rate of population growth.

The BBC has an in-depth piece on sex-selective abortion, and gender bias in India, with a short video clip from the film that shows tonight at 7:30pm.

What would you do if your husband’s family did not want you to have daughters – and insisted you took steps to make sure it did not happen?

Would you walk out or would you stay on and take a chance?

What if the bias against girls is reflected across society? Would that mean you could not make it on your own?

Vaijanti is an Indian woman who says she faces this dilemma.

Vaijanti has taken her husband to court, saying he and his family insisted that she have an abortion because a scan showed she was expecting a girl.

Having already had one daughter, she says the pressure to abort the second child was intense.

So Vaijanti moved out of the marital home and now lives apart from her husband – with her two girls.

As Vaijanti had never travelled beyond Agra, director Nupur Basu took her on a whistle-stop tour of India.

‘Grave situation’

We wanted to make this film after a leading development expert, Kevin Watkins, suggested India had a curiously ambivalent role in the globalisation debate.

Its booming economy is cause for hope, and the government is clearly concerned about both gender and economic inequality.

But if huge swathes of the populace do not share the increasing wealth, the whole Indian model of development may be called into question.

This is a quota that is unlikely to be embroiled in a debate about merit dilution and fairness. Kerala became the first Indian state on Tuesday to reserve a government job for HIV positive candidates, marking a new sensitivity for those afflicted with the killer virus.

The Kerala State Aids Control Society (KSACS) announced that it had reserved a vacancy in its office for HIV positive candidates with the hope that the presence of such a person will improve coordination and communication with groups at risk and ensure effective prevention.

Amazingly progressive. Front page news.

I slightly wonder if anyone will be brave enough to even step up an apply for the post…

Via TOI.