Aswini Ashok

Two things totally unrelated to each other happening right now have a strange yet compelling connection. One is the Indian army’s call for women officers seeking permanent commission to start sending their applications. Another one is the promotion works of the movie, Gunjan Saxena. If you have ever wondered why this, much celebrated Kargil girl is still not serving the IAF unlike many Kargil heroes still in their uniforms. The answer lies in the first event mentioned. It is because women were not granted permanent positions in Armed forces. Well, times have changed now. The Supreme Court judgement earlier in February this year was celebrated for promising equality in the Indian army. Though it is a welcome move undoubtedly, it is imperative to understand the evolution and reasoning of the demand to understand what costs equality, even in its limited scope. Captain Bhavana Kasturi leading an all-male contingent in R-Day parade 2019 Women in Army:        ...

Feminism is a constantly evolving ideology, keeping it in par with the issues that need to be addressed at every passing time. Over the centuries, there have been innumerable demands that were at the forefront of feminist movements, which were revived upon time based on the growing demands and developments in society. This can be best understood when read in conjunction with the demands fought for in first wave feminism to till now. Some demands, even if claimed to have been achieved, is still not accessible to all the women around the globe. This ‘evolution’ is what makes feminism more inclusive to get associated with and understood through the lens of any other form of discrimination. Thus ‘Intersectionality’ has become a key component of feminism. The struggle for freedom is powered by minds that are deprived of freedom-those that know the value of freedom more than anyone else. Hence feminism has evolved over time as an inclusive platform to fight for the demands of myriad ...

There is a constant acquisition that Indian men look for a well-educated, good-looking, decent, family girl who can make round rotis. For the uninitiated, this may sound alarming, but, trust me, no Indian girl finds it remotely disturbing. We know this is how it works and have no qualms moving on without wasting a second. In my honest opinion, the above ad is at least straight forward, how much ever problematic it is. It warns women beforehand. But, there are quite a whole lot of ‘educated’ ‘decent’ ‘family’ men who have perfectly mastered the art of masquerading their sexism as wokeness. This is where women get confused because they are always trained to see any remote resemblance of good as benevolence. So, this piece is basically to alert my fellow sisters from such latent sexism and swipe away the first chance they get. And, to my fellow Indian men that we are indeed aware of your silly tactics. 1. It is OK to prefer working woman and be honest about it. But, make sure ...

                Lately, there is a surge in the movies centered on women. Don’t ask why there is no such thing as men-centric anything. Men are by default everything. However, the more relevant phrase to describe the so-called women-centric has to be “women-body-centric politics”. The politics around women’s body have been done to death by men (in real and reel), yet, there seems to be no end to their impositions. Women across the world are still fighting for political control over their own bodies. From anti-abortion laws to marital rapes the politics around women’s body has always been at the receiving end of the arrogance of predominantly men lawmakers than the plight of fighting women. Cinema in the form of pop culture has always been adamant in infusing regressive (mostly about women) thoughts so much so that it has become a norm. Three movies I watched this week brought into picture 3 different aspects ...

         Being a feminist in a society like India is like being one step away from landing in Jail. It is not just about dealing with jerks on a regular basis but controlling the urge to punch them right away. All my life I have been a feminist, knowingly or unknowingly. During my early years, I used to loathe the word ‘feminist’ believing it is indeed a problematic word to describe equality. I championed myself as anyone who battles for equality but feminist. Don’t blame me yaar. Even Indira Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee too refused to be referred to as feminists. Probably, now I have missed the chance to associate myself with them with my profound knowledge of understanding feminism is of course equality. Even with that understanding, I was a closet feminist for the next stages in my life. I have always believed that inequalities will die a natural death if we don’t acknowledge it and just mind our business believing there is no inequality. Just like Cancer cu...

70 years since Independence, the state of women in India though having been evolved to an extent is still very much behind other countries’ women population, let alone their own male counterparts. With a rank of 108 in World Economic Forum's gender gap index and a rank of 130 in Human Development Index, having adolescent birth rate of 23 i.e. 23 out of 1000 girls between the age group of 15 to 19 deliver a baby and only 39% of women population having secondary education, India’s growth remains not just unequal but unjust to its women population. The sorry state does not augur well for a country competing for a global spot being the 5 th largest economy and chest thumping on becoming one of the superpowers in the world. It is crucial that India’s growth is made inclusive without leaping ahead leaving behind the women population. Emancipation of women in our country has been through various phases, from eradicating Sati to ‘permitting’ women to enter the sanctum of the tem...

       Comedy is a tricky premise. You either win all guns blazing or fall flat. There is no in between. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is one such experiment that fared well enough to receive so many accolades for its cast and storyline. However, as an Indian viewer, it is sometimes hard to interpret the jokes as we are unfamiliar with the socio-cultural background in which it is set. The late 1950s of New York City is something beyond our imagination of course. Maybe some of the jokes couldn’t have tickled our ribs, but the message they put across is always loud and clear. As an Indian woman, I have always believed that the emancipation of woman first comes through education and sexual liberation shall follow. This I found hard to understand in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, where the women seem to be sexually liberated, but for education, there is no due importance. Mrs. Weissman manipulating the women students in their post-graduate into believing that the Master’s degr...