Mayuravarshini Mohana
@mayura
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::June 19, 2021 at 8:20 pm #32629
Coding or scripting is the creation of a set of instructions for a computer application, browser or a robot to perform a particular task. Without coding, even the most basic of digital actions would be impossible to execute. It goes without saying that coding has become fundamental to digital literacy. Ever since the onset of digital revolution, every aspect of our lives has become intricately woven with technology. From heavy duty tasks such as large-scale management to quotidian activities such as reading or shopping, the digital revolution has percolated our lives. The increasingly pervasive presence of technology provides enough proof for the expanding scope of coding. The World Economic Forum states that nearly 30% of us have to learn new skills in order to get better jobs and coding is unarguably one among them.
Why learn Coding?
The importance of coding has been recognised across the job positions of Information Technology (IT) worker, Data Analysts, Artists and Designers, Engineers and Scientists. In a country like India where start-ups are booming, it is considered economically unwise to hire employees exclusively for coding. So regardless of which of these fields you work in, adding coding to your list of skills will make you stand out from the crowd.It is expected that the next decade will witness a decrease in the number of computer science graduates qualified for coding positions. So it becomes all the more important to learn coding and learn it right. Here are a few organization offering courses that are popular among coding learners.
Girls Who Code- This organisation has dedicated itself to closing the gender gap in tech fields. Guided by the values of bravery, sisterhood and activism the organisation has an inclusive policy that incorporates diversity, equity and inclusion in its mission. With a pan-India presence, their clubs, college loops and summer immersion programmes are worth exploring.
SkillCrush provides online classes on coding and it is estimated that women make up a majority of their student population. Since it is online, it allows self-paced learning and a lot of flexibility. The courses are project-based and mentor led so that learning happens through hands on experience.
upGrad is a popular higher education platform that provides intensive courses on coding. Teamed with world class faculty, the courses offered are industry–relevant and provide a comprehensive learning experience.
BridgeLabz focuses on experiential learning with a unique 1:10 mentorship ratio. They boast of a hands-on learning experience with successful placement of 2500+ engineers.
::June 19, 2021 at 5:16 pm #32622If you’re a woman, chances are that mansplaining needs no introduction. For those unaware, it is the almost regular, casual event where a man assumes ignorance on a woman’s part and generously explains things to her. She might as well be an expert on the topic, but that becomes irrelevant. In fact, some women have had the pleasure of mansplaining mansplained.
To put it as succinctly as possible, mansplaining has become a part of female experience. This highly condescending behaviour exhibits deep rooted male assertiveness and authority over women. What makes it different from any other innocent act of explanation is that a man interrupts or talks over a woman to explain things she already knows a ton about. In her essay ‘Men Explain Things to Me’, Rebecca Solnit recounts an incident at a party where a man explained the contents of a book to her- a book that she had authored.
In some cases mansplaining takes on a whole new degree of condescension that it becomes flabbergasting. In one instance, a woman posted on twitter that a man had told her that she spells her name wrong. Cis women report that it is not uncommon for cis men to explain the female body to them. In fact, being mansplained is such a common experience for women that it often becomes prime content for a lot of casual discussion. The popular tumblr page named ‘Academic Men Explain Things to Me’ is proof enough.
With digitisation taking over our lives, mansplaining adopts a whole new avatar. Erica Dhawan, author of ‘Digital Body Language’ finds that digital mansplaining is more than just interrupting. It is also when a person espouses a dominant and unassailable style of conversation.
Mansplaining makes women feel undervalued and unappreciated. It disrupts a sense of belonging and makes women feel out of place. This could also ultimately affect their productivity. However, when women return the favour they are condemned as being bossy and aggressive. Besides, mansplaining does take a toll on women’s career growth. Being often interrupted makes a woman appear less knowledgeable. This becomes even more problematic in fields such as the STEMs where men drastically outnumber women. It heavily reinforces the stereotype that women aren’t cut-out for the ‘heavier’ subjects of the STEMs. The habit also translates to more grave feminist issues. Erica Dhawan in her essay ‘How to Spot Digital Mansplaining—and Stop It in Its Tracks’ points towards a study which found that ‘credit-taking mansplaining’ reaffirms the gender pay gap and strengthens the glass ceiling.
It is obvious now that mansplaining is no light issue. Its effect on women’s self-confidence and career track is hardly a matter to be ignored. In the pandemic where workspaces have largely migrated online, the chances of mansplaining also increase drastically. Counteracting can be a difficult task. In cases where men, who are open-minded, don’t realise their crime, it is best to explain it to them. All said, mansplaining must never go unchallenged. It comes down to following former VP of Twitter Nandini Ramani’s advice,
“Speak up, even when it’s hard.”::June 18, 2021 at 5:16 pm #32588Toys are perhaps our first introduction to gender. There are particular toys for boys and certain others for girls. Boys are given trucks, robots and miniature cars while girls are taught to enjoy play tea sets and dolls. Every experience in the world is culturally categorised as masculine and feminine and children are nudged to take up appropriated paths from a young age.
No discussion on toys could move ahead without touching upon the Barbie doll. For ages these petite dolls have been accused of propagating looks over values. It is said that if Barbie were a real human, she would weigh around 54 kilograms with a waist smaller by 20 centimetres than that of a group of anorexic patients. Girls as young as five years have expressed concern over their food habits. Such dolls in addition to defining ‘femininity’ have set impossible and unrealistic standards for the same. Exposure to such standards instils negative body images and poor self-perception in young girls which could potentially lead to depression and eating disorders.
It is well known that toys are pivotal to gender socialisation. They educate children on various gender roles and promote stereotypes. They even go a step ahead in determining educational pathways of children. Early research showed that children are steered towards certain kinds of toys based on their gender. This provided the opportunity for girls to develop emotional skills while boys were encouraged to pursue technical skills.
Over time children learn that some toys are for boys while others are for girls. This delineation becomes even more rigid as toy companies produce gendered and sexualised toys which ultimately define one’s gender on behalf of the child. The child is therefore left with no room to observe and explore one’s own gender expression, but is streamlined into normative masculinity or femininity. This also becomes a nipping of non-binary gender expressions in the bud. A study conducted among 324 Austrian parents of three- to six-year-old children exposed a pattern in parental toy selection. Parents preferred same-gendered and gender-neutral toys over cross-gendered toys. What became apparent through the study was not a desire for the chosen toys but an aversion towards cross-gendered toys. Gender fluidity still remains a stigma in many communities worldwide. The result has parents forcing a particular gender identity on to their children.
Like light at the end of a tunnel, gender neutral parenting is gaining momentum in India. Many parents are setting precedent by not interfering with their child’s gender expression and letting them be who they are. One such parent told the Hindustan Times that her 12 year old daughter wanted tuxedos instead of dresses for school events and that she didn’t stop her. Some parents even christen their children with gender neutral names. This is a promising start towards gender inclusive society, and gender neutral toys will have a pivotal role in conducing it.
::June 18, 2021 at 5:14 pm #32587Gender equality has plagued our society for aeons and the arena of sports is no different. From body shaming to misogyny, women’s sports is rigged with profound sexism. Women are seen as physically weaker than men and hence are callously brushed aside. This attitude along with male dominance pervades the global sports community and women find it hard to gain equal footing with men. The ever present glass ceiling ensures that they go no more beyond a certain height, irrespective of their skills and achievements.
It goes without saying that sports is a male dominated field, in participation as well as governing ideas. Mithali Raj is named ‘Lady Tendulkar of Indian Women’s cricket’. Her impeccable sports performance is drawn parallel to that of a male cricketer and this merely reveals the male centredness and authority of sports. Women’s sports are just not taken seriously and are often treated just as a means to silence feminist voices.
A BBC Survey in India pointed out a common opinion that women’s sports weren’t as interesting as men’s. Nearly 42% of the respondents had felt so. Moreover, only 29% women said they played sports as opposed to a striking 42% among men. Even a simple experiment as asking ourselves to fire out names of 3 sportspersons will reveal the underlying sexism. Chances are, all three of them are male. Young girls growing up in such restrictive environments will never consider, with conviction, sports as a possible career. We close the doors for them beforehand.
As anticipated there is a striking gender gap in sports. Fewer women participate in sports when compared to men. The International Olympics Committee had felt that the gender inequality in sports owed not to low women participation but to the dearth of women in leadership roles. To substantiate, it is estimated that women make up only 18% of qualified coaches and 9% of senior coaches.
There is also the skewed assorting of masculine and feminine games. A lot of girls showing promise in boxing, wrestling or kabbadi are discouraged stating that these games are unsuitable for women. Instead, they are veered towards more ‘female friendly’ sports such as badminton and indoor games. It is merely a surfacing of our internalised conditioning that aggression and passion exhibited in sports do not cohere with normative femininity. The gender bias begins as early as in the screening process.
A recent study suggested that the coverage of women’s sports have become increasingly sexist over the last four years. Women sportspersons who have greater media visibility are expected to appeal to conventional standards of beauty which largely caters to the male gaze. The prowess and achievements of the sportsperson becomes only secondary. For instance, Jessica Ennis Hill an accomplished heptathlete is celebrated by media as a ‘golden girl’ exclusively for her modelling, looks and relationships. Even the field of sports is not exempt from women objectification.
Also, there is the omnipresent issue of gender pay gap. In India women cricketers earn only 7% of that of their male counterparts. Grade C male cricketers earn Rs. 1 crore annually while Grade A women players earn only Rs. 50 lakh. The average male professional football player earns around Rs. 65 lakhs while a female player is paid somewhere between Rs. 5 and 10 lakh. The difference in payment is more a chasm than a gap and is utterly disheartening.
Sports has been widely acknowledged as an activity that unites people across differences. Nelson Mandela said, “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.” Moreover, he added “It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.” Sexism in sports brings shame to its glorious ability to expunge differences. It is its antithesis. Women in sports deserve much better and it is time to take affirmative action towards it.
::June 17, 2021 at 7:37 pm #32549Accredited Social Health Activists or ASHAs as popularly called are community health workers who are integral to India’s National Rural Health Mission rolled out in 2005. The aim of this project was to achieve ‘an ASHA in every village’. ASHAs are females chosen from within a locality, who are then trained towards promoting overall health and hygiene in their village. It is estimated that each ASHA looks after nearly a thousand families in her assigned unit. They are honorary volunteers who are entitled to monetary compensation.
The primary responsibility of an ASHA is micro-level care-giving. Her role includes bridging the gap between villagers and health services, raising awareness about health schemes and entitlements especially among the poor and the marginalised and promoting hygienic practices. It is every ASHA’s responsibility to mobilise collective action towards wellness. They are the interface of their assigned unit to our country’s health care system. ASHAs are also the localised facilitators of any health scheme introduced by governing bodies. They even facilitate vaccination, immunisation, access to contraceptive methods and child care programmes.
The primary challenge faced by many ASHAs today is untimely payment and inadequate wages. To worsen things, they suffer a pay cut if they take more than 10 days off. At present they receive RS 75 for immunisation, Rs.300 for escorting women to hospitals for child birth and Rs.1000 over the period of successful TB vaccination. During the Covid-19 pandemic, they are offered an additional Rs.1000. The roles of ASHAs have become manifold since the onset of the pandemic. Now they are additionally charged with screening, vaccination and spreading awareness of preventive measures such as masking and social distancing. They form an integral part of the frontline force whose tireless efforts and contribution are not appropriately compensated.
The absence of a proper transport system makes travelling difficult. ASHAs have to travel long distances to discharge their regular duties and the inconvenience causes wastage of time and human effort. ASHAs work only part-time and the allocation of duties should not impinge on their regular livelihood. But such inconveniences as improper infrastructure and uncooperative Panchayat bodies protract their volunteer hours to nearly full time.
It is irrefutable that ASHAs form the backbone of our rural health system. With the second wave of the pandemic ravaging rural India, these health workers risk their life as they battle Covid-19 on behalf of the government. They deserve much more than the current wages received. Moreover, the Code on Social Security, 2020 and The Code on Wages have failed to include ASHAs, denying them a guaranteed minimum wage. It is disheartening that these front line warriors, despite their mammoth contribution in the war against corona, are not recognised and duly compensated.
::June 17, 2021 at 7:36 pm #32548Almost 17 countries in the world have implemented or are considering the implementation of paid menstrual leave. In Japan, the policy was introduced in 1947. Yet the stigma around menstruation discourages women from availing it as it would require informing their managers, most of whom are male. In 2020, Zomato introduced a paid menstrual leave policy which sparked a debate around the subject in India.
At the outset it must be acknowledged that menstrual leave is a class specific notion. It only applies to women who hold white collar jobs. Women working in informal and unorganised sectors, who receive wages on a daily basis, cannot afford a day off. Period leave policy, being blind to intersectionality, is discriminatory and hence fundamentally unfeminist.
But for the sake of argument, let us proceed further.
In the present capitalist work culture, efficiency and productivity are hallowed values. In such an ethos, women having the option to take off for a few days every month would be considered a liability. Employees might adopt covert sexism during recruitment by absorbing more males along with a few token female candidates. Even today, a majority of work environments espouse sexist discrimination in promotion, salary and allocation of assignments. Women have to work twice as hard and yet have claim only to substandard entitlements. The presence of a menstrual leave policy will only accentuate the rift. ‘The moment we gender our leave policies, we gender our assignments’, says journalist Barkha Dutt in a discussion with The Hindu.
With feminist activism and discourse converging towards gender equal workspaces, the notion of menstrual leave sits on the polar opposite. Introducing a gendered leave policy to the workplace runs against workspace parity. When a similar argument challenged maternity leave, the emphasis turned towards an inclusive ‘parental leave’ which extended to parents irrespective of gender. For obvious reasons, menstruation cannot be accorded the same flexibility. It is also important to note that every woman’s period experience differs. A menstrual leave would force a woman undergoing only mild or no pain to take an unnecessary day off. Moreover, doesn’t it affirm a stereotype that menstruating women are weak and inefficient?
The fundamental problem does lie in the nature of our workspaces. Our ultimate aim should be to create inclusive and diverse offices that do not discriminate against differences in body functions. Just as workspaces and work culture incorporate disabled friendly architecture and facilities, they must be genial to the unique necessities of women as well. Unless that is achieved, facilitating menstrual leave will only be detrimental and counterintuitive to feminist purpose of gender equality.
::June 16, 2021 at 7:52 pm #32473For ages women have been handed the responsibility of ‘maintaining the house’ which involves cleaning, organising and care-giving. Even today, it is largely a woman’s task irrespective of whether she has a career. What separates domestic chores from any other work is their seemingly unending nature. Beauvoir gives a succinct rendition of household work. She compares the housewife’s ordeal to that of Sisyphus who is condemned to roll a rock up a mountain only for it to roll back down each time. In The Second Sex, Beauvoir writes, ‘…the clean becomes soiled, the soiled is made clean, over and over, day after day. The housewife wears herself out marking time: she makes nothing, simply perpetuates the present…’ The tedium of domestic chores is often uninspiring and dull. Yet, women do it every day.
The value of this herculean task is, in most households, so easily discounted and ungratefully brushed aside by family members. Children whose mothers are homemakers often describe them to be ‘staying at home’ unlike their fathers who ‘go to work’. UN Women states that unpaid care and domestic work is valued to be 10 and 39 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product and that it can contribute more to economies than manufacturing or transport sectors.
While paying women for housework brings recognition, at least on a basic level, arriving at a close enough monetary value is problematic. How exactly are we to evaluate the worth of care-giving? Imputing based on prevalent market values is a possible method but that discounts the emotional investment of women. Nevertheless, any amount of monetary compensation would not be sufficient and would only demean the intent of care-giving. Besides, the nature and amount of household work varies across social class. There also remains the problem of working hours. Unlike formal working conditions, women do not have specific working hours for which wages can be accorded.
Perhaps the greatest risk of paying women wages is solidifying household work as a woman’s job. The provision of wages will only increase the ingratitude meted towards the work and women would be taxed physically and emotionally. The excessive time invested here would hamper women’s chances of having a proper career. The concept of sharing household chores would become redundant.
The only way to recognise as well as alleviate the burden of household work is to promote sharing. While providing wages is seen as bestowing financial independence to homemakers, sharing chores would enable them to have a salaried career that suits their unique skills and talent.
::June 16, 2021 at 7:50 pm #32472Conversion therapy is pseudo-scientific process that attempts to convert homosexuals and transgenders to heterosexual cisgenders. The alleged ‘therapy’ includes talks, prayers and even adopts exorcism, physical violence and food deprivation. It inflicts severe harm to the mental health of victims, such as depression, engaging in high risk sexual activity, social withdrawal, hopelessness and increased substance abuse, while also increasing suicidal tendency.
The most horrendous and inhuman among such practices is ‘corrective rape’. It is a hate crime perpetrated against homosexuals and transgenders in a bid to correct them. In India, many homosexuals are forced to endure this cold-hearted treatment which is often perpetrated by family members themselves. Vyjayanti Mogli, a member of crisis intervention team of the LGBT Collective in Telangana, in conversation with TOI, says that families take it up as a disciplining project to ‘correct’ and ‘cure’ homosexuals. The victims are so traumatised that they try to delete it from their memory. This is why such crimes often go unreported. Hyderabad based filmmaker Deepthi Tadanki’s ‘Satyavati’ is a film that portrays the grim details of such practices in India. It is a much needed initiative as there is little to no societal awareness of this barbaric practice.
The term ‘conversion’ is proof enough of our society’s blinkered understanding of sexuality and gender expression. Even worse is the term ‘reparative therapy’ which connotes that anything other than heterosexual cisgender expression is an abnormality. The idea that homosexuality and varied gender expressions are ‘unnatural’ or ‘abnormal’ is collectively held with such conviction that it has become a corner stone of our culture. People often justify their homophobic stance by claiming that homosexuality is a western phenomenon alien to our culture. The Indian style of upbringing often doesn’t allow individuals to explore and understand their sexuality. In a heteronormative society, such an upbringing would only make heterosexuality seem a majority.
Through family, schools and media we internalise the idea that heterosexuality is our default nature. It is disconcerting that homosexuals are often prodded with the question, ‘When did you realise it?’ Why is this never asked of heterosexuals? This tendency stems from our heteronormative conditioning that otherises any other expression of sexuality and gender. It sees homosexuality as a deviance, a ‘preference’ as if one’s expression of sexuality was a matter of choice. Moreover, homosexual relationships are often perceived as purely sexual in nature. Love and companionship are not acknowledged. These attitudes are the seeds of discriminative and oppressive practices such as conversion therapy.
Justice Anand Venkatesh of The Madras High Court, who recently banned conversion therapy, stated that his upbringing treated homosexuality, gay and lesbians as ‘anathema’. This holds true to the majority of the population. To bring about this landmark judgement, he even underwent psycho-educative sessions with professionals to discard his pre-conceived notions. The judge set a precedent by making efforts to understand the LGBT+ community instead of treating its members as an anomaly.
The problem lies nowhere else but with the society. It is a mark of uncivilised behaviour to persecute any one for being their true selves within the limits of personal liberty. It is high time we discard jaundiced stigmas and move towards an inclusive society. That, is true progress.
::June 15, 2021 at 7:02 pm #32422The pandemic is a testing time for global leadership and disaster management. While heads of several countries still grapple with the issue, women continue to make dynamic contributions towards controlling the crisis at global, national and local levels. At this juncture we see the world finally noticing the true potential of women as leaders. A study by Garikipati and Kambhampati found that countries led by women exhibited better Covid management and produced systemically better outcomes. These include countries like Denmark, Iceland, Finland, New Zealand, Slovakia and Germany where women are head of state. Wittenberg-Cox, CEO of 20-first, a consultancy service on global gender balance, notices a common thread of trust, tech, love and decisiveness among women leaders during Covid management. Their authenticity and inclusive approach worked magic in reining in the Covid mayhem.
Apart from the administrative sector, the pandemic also saw women take charge at the grassroots. The tireless contribution of workers like aagewans and Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) has been recognised globally. They have played a crucial role in propagating awareness and controlling the spread of the virus at the rural level.
While focus largely remains on healthcare and sanitation, many women professionals and entrepreneurs have taken affirmative action in addressing concomitant issues that arise out of a global crisis as the pandemic. Sharon Mathew, an environmental lawyer, found people losing access to healthcare and other resources owing to a lack of awareness of legal rights. A colleague’s landlord had lost his life since a hospital wouldn’t provide timely treatment without a positive RC-PTR report. The landlord was unaware of his essential right to medical assistance. So she started COVIDRights, a website where people can reach out to lawyers for pro-bono advice. Over the course of time, the website has helped assist people with a wide range of pandemic-sprung legal issues such as compelled payment of tuition fee.
The pandemic has clearly proved that the active involvement of women will catalyse holistic betterment of societies. Mckinsey Global Institute’s economic modelling shows that achieving women’s equality could add trillions of dollars to global growth, even in countries with fewer resources. It could also drastically improve quality of living on a global level. When women are at the helm, there is a striking increase in policy making, and advancement of overall growth and social equality. That said, at present only 7% of world leaders are women.
The pre-pandemic era exposed a blatant gender gap which has only widened further during the pandemic. Despite the proven proactive leadership of women, the glass ceiling is only thickening. The prevalent patriarchal dogmas and stereotypes make it harder for women to access the upper echelons of administration. In fact, the pandemic has only reversed the progress made by feminist struggles. The rise in violence against women and loss of economic power, education and autonomy, portends the regression of our society to stringent patriarchy.
To reinvigorate the course of feminist progress, initiatives are being taken to advance gender equality. Countries like New Zealand, Slovakia and Germany stand testimony to the mammoth potential of women, and the world has finally taken note of it. In this light, the Global Gender Equality Forum scheduled for 30 June to 2 July (2021), Paris will potentially be a landmark event towards furthering gender equality. With joint constructive steps and affirmative action, a gender equal future is not far from our grasp.
::June 15, 2021 at 7:00 pm #32421Domestic violence is still a prominent concern in India. It is so deeply entrenched in our society that it is normalised and women are often advised to ‘adjust’ and not resist. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in its 2019 report states the majority of cases filed under crimes against women pertain to violence perpetrated by husband and/or his relatives. It is not uncommon for men to be victims, but the prevalence is greater among women.
The normalisation of domestic violence stems from gendered upbringing where the woman is expected to be mature and understanding. Therefore it is her onus to compromise and tolerate maltreatment, for divorce is still a taboo in many Indian households and remains out of question. From an early age individuals are taught that the equation between a man and a woman is that of dominance and submissiveness. Such attitudes take deep root in young minds and when they become adults, they enact their roles in the equation. Men strive to exert power over women and violence is the most immediate tool.
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 is a civil law that provides protection to women from domestic violence. It extends to all women of a familial unit as well as to women in live-in relationships. The law also provides financial compensation as well as maintenance if separated from the abuser. Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code is a criminal law that protects women from physical and mental injury inflicted by her husband or his relatives.
The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) finds that the incidence of spousal violence is greater in Karnataka, Bihar, Manipur, Telangana and Assam. Even with stringent laws in place, domestic violence largely goes unreported. The gap between legal code and implementation, along with unfriendly and cumbersome process of law has discouraged a lot of victims from filing complaints.
The Covid-19 pandemic has augmented the number of domestic violence cases in India. Within a fortnight of implementing the first nationwide lockdown, the National Commission for Women reported a 100% rise in domestic violence complaints. The sudden economic insecurity, isolation, loss of jobs and psychological stress in families has contributed to the surge in violence against women. The several lockdowns encumbered reporting which in turn affected timely aid to women in distress. The functioning of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act was not recognized as an essential service during lockdown and hence a number of NGOs remained curbed. Governments have been widely criticised for not anticipating the rise in harassment and building relief systems for women.
There is no effective system in place to address misuse of these laws. On June 1, 2021 the Madras high court remarked that there were no provisions for a spouse to proceed against false complaints. Such loopholes allow individuals to take advantage of the provision. This should be immediately addressed for it desecrates the very purpose of such laws which is to prevent crimes grounded on gender inequality.
Our country, with the cohesion of judicial systems and NGOs, has the framework to successfully challenge and eradicate domestic violence in India. However, the network beginning with the victim and concluding at the judiciary must be revamped so as to facilitate smoother and immediate recourse of justice.
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