Namita Bhandare writes on gender and other social issues and has 25 years of experience in journalism. She has edited books and features in a documentary on sexual violence. She tweets as @namitabhandare
Articles by Namita Bhandare
Mind the Gap: ASER survey finds the kids are (more than) alright
Girls are surging ahead of boys in some subjects. Government schools are doing better than private schools. And everyone has better reading and writing skills.
Published on Feb 02, 2025 12:33 PM IST
When law seeks to make the State the Big Brother
Interfaith couples who already find it tough to marry because of existing so-called anti-conversion laws will now find even living together impossibly hard.
Published on Jan 31, 2025 08:06 PM IST
Mary Ellen Iskenderian: Why the financial inclusion of women matters
One billion women around the world are estimated to be out of the purview of the financial sector.
Published on Jan 26, 2025 07:30 AM IST
Mind the Gap: Why American companies are wrong to roll back DEI policies.
In Donald Trump’s USA, companies that have promoted DEI are rolling back their programmesIn India, corporates have, fortunately not lost their appetite for DEI
Published on Jan 19, 2025 07:30 AM IST
Why we need to talk to boys about rape
The malaise of violence, including sexual violence against women and girls, cuts across geographic borders, age of victim, educational level, and income
Published on Jan 17, 2025 08:33 PM IST
Mind the Gap: Why L&T’s SN Subrahmanyan needs to talk to more women
A 90-hour, seven-day week works out to just under 13-hours a day.
Published on Jan 12, 2025 07:40 AM IST
The year-ender gender quiz: Heroes, villains and the year in gender
How closely did you follow the gender news of 2024? Take my year-ender gender quiz to find out.
Published on Dec 29, 2024 08:15 AM IST
The Challengers: Women who shook the status quo in 2024
BBC has a list of 100. Financial Times has just 25. But writing from an Indian perspective, viewing India from within, who were the women who made most impact?
Published on Dec 22, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Breaking the gender glass ceiling across disciplines
Looking at the year gone by there is reason to believe the tide has changed. That the girls will save themselves—and us. That there is hope everywhere.
Published on Dec 20, 2024 08:28 PM IST
Death, tragedy and serious accusations in Bengaluru
India’s dowry death statistic is a disgrace; 18 women killed every single day.
Published on Dec 15, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Absolutely the best books by women in 2024
Wars and genocide raging and women’s rights from Afghanistan to the US under attack.
Published on Dec 08, 2024 08:15 AM IST
The misguided debate over declining fertility
There is anxiety about the economic impact of dwindling numbers. But that cross cannot be borne by women alone.
Published on Dec 06, 2024 08:54 PM IST
General’s F grade for women commanding officers
Women have had to fight to serve in the Indian army. Now, a three-star general’s scathing letter indicting women commanding officers is causing a stir.
Published on Dec 01, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Understanding the law that criminalises sex based on a false promise to marry
The Supreme Court noted this week that every consensual relationship that doesn’t end in marriage cannot be criminalised.
Published on Nov 24, 2024 08:15 AM IST
A double whammy for women in informal sector
Apart from the health effects of breathing toxic, polluted air, women in the informal sector have to suffer income loss, too
Published on Nov 22, 2024 06:49 PM IST
Workers not volunteers says Gujarat high court about anganwadi workers
The Gujarat high court has ruled that anganwadi workers and helpers perform a vital task and can’t be treated as ‘volunteers’.
Updated on Nov 19, 2024 03:29 PM IST
What Donald Trump’s decisive win says about gender in America
In the end, it wasn’t a close contest as predicted, but a big bang decisive win for Trump, a convicted felon accused of sexual assault by over two dozen women.
Published on Nov 11, 2024 08:15 AM IST
The 1984 Anti-Sikh riots: India’s unhealed wound
“Are we not citizens of the country who deserve justice?” asks Darshan Kaur. “But society just forgot about us.”
Published on Nov 08, 2024 08:33 PM IST
Why 2024 is America’s most gendered election in history
Hours from now Americans will decide between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris as their next president.
Published on Nov 03, 2024 08:15 AM IST
The incredible courage of Sakshi Malik
In July 2016, Sakshi Malik got on to a 14-hour flight to New York City. From there she connected to another four-hour haul to Rio de Janeiro.
Published on Oct 27, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Fertility cross is not for women to carry
The solution is not to ask women to have more kids; a better idea might be just to accept an inevitable reality and prepare for it.
Published on Oct 25, 2024 08:35 PM IST
The government will not recognise marital rape as a crime
The government’s affidavit to the Supreme Court that “violating a wife’s consent” is wrong, but to call it rape is “excessive”
Published on Oct 06, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Supreme Court cracks down child pornography
Child pornography is illegal even if stored on your private device and watched in your personal space, rules the Supreme Court.
Published on Sep 29, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Gisele Pelicot is changing the way we talk about rape
By refusing to be anonymous, Gisele has taken control of the narrative of her life and is reminding the world that the shame of rape does not fall on her but on the men who raped her.
Published on Sep 27, 2024 09:14 PM IST
India’s resounding paralympic success must lead to a wider conversation
The euphoria of India’s spectacular performance at the Paralympics is still to die down, but beyond the medals, I've a simple question: Are we doing enough for people who live with disability?
Published on Sep 22, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Why Kamala Harris is the voice the world needs
Global woman icon? Hardly. Flawed? Definitely. And yet Kamala Harris might just be the voice the world needs right now.
Published on Sep 13, 2024 08:59 PM IST
The death penalty cannot fix India’s rape problem. Here’s why
By unanimous vote, the West Bengal assembly on Tuesday cleared a bill that makes the death penalty mandatory in cases involving rape and murder.
Published on Sep 08, 2024 08:15 AM IST
Neha Dixit on gender, the informal economy and the invisible work of women
I’ve been meaning to talk to Neha Dixit about her wonderful debut book, The Many Lives of Syeda X: The story of an unknown Indian
Published on Sep 01, 2024 08:15 AM IST
What after the Hema panel report? Answer lies with us
If the rot is systemic, the answer cannot be piecemeal — a resignation here, a committee there. We have to stop responding to sexual assault as disparate crimes and see it as part of a larger pattern of power imbalances stacked against women.
Published on Aug 30, 2024 09:26 PM IST
Women@Work: The Malayalam film industry’s dirty, not-so-little, secret
The Hema Committee report on the Malayalam film industry, released this week, is shocking in its account of the rampant sexual exploitation of women.
Published on Aug 25, 2024 08:15 AM IST