We may not have paid much heed to all the women-related issues that made news in 2015 but somewhere they did affect us. Be it the acceptance of lesbian relationships on Indian television or Indian women making it to the Forbes list, there have been multiple instances where we’ve been super proud of and some that we dearly regret (Read: increasing rape cases). So while we are getting ready to bid adieu to the year that was, here’s our list of the top 10 highs and lows that affected the lives of Indian women in 2015.
HIGHS
1. The first all-women contingent for the Republic Day parade.
Although a lot has been talked about women in the workforce, there haven’t been many women who have got a chance to wear the uniform. But when 25-year-old Captain Divya Ajith lead the first all-women’s contingent for the Republic Day parade, it sure did inspire more women to be part of the taskforce. This was the first time that an all-women’s contingent of the armed forces consisting of 154 women marched down Rajpath. A proud moment for every Indian woman.
2. Seven Indian women made it to the international power lists.
Seven Indian women made it to BBC’s 100 women list of 2015. Well-known celebrities like Asha Bhosle, tennis star Sania Mirza, actress Kamini Kaushal, farmer Rimppi Kumari, entrepreneur Smriti Nagpal and campaigner Mumtaz Shaikh were part of this list, which has a mix of influential women who are world leaders in their field. Four Indian women also made it to the Forbes 100 most-powerful women list.
3. The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign was well received.
PM Narendra Modi launched the Beti Bachao Beti Padho campaign in January 2015. This government scheme encourages people to save the girl child and get her educated. It is a great step towards educating the girl child, giving her equal rights and empowering her.
4. Lesbian romance was accepted wholeheartedly.
Indian television may not have got over the saas-bahu sagas but progress has surely been made. This year Indian television viewers saw the first lesbian romance on the show, MTV Big F’s sixth episode, which was titled ‘I kissed A Girl’. In fact a TV ad by Anouk (a fashion brand) also had a lesbian couple. The latest women-centric movie Angry Indian Goddesses also revolved around a similar story. Thumbs Up!
5. Sania Mirza created history with a grand slam win.
Sania Mirza became the first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam Doubles title this year with partner Martina Hingis, making us all proud. This was a great achievement for Indian women in sports.
6. Supreme Court said married women have a right to property despite living separately.
Supreme Court’s verdict in favour of women came as a big relief for many women, who are fighting to get their hands on their own belongings, after a bitter separation battle with their spouse. This made women hopeful and happy too.
7. India got its first transgender principal, mayor and police officer.
India witnessed a few firsts in 2015. First transgender police officer in Tamil Nadu, first transgender principal in West Bengal and first transgender Mayor in Chattisgarh. This was a great victory and a definite sign of progressive India.
8. A life-saving bindi worked miracles in rural India.
Hundreds of women in rural India were able to get access to their daily iodine intake through a simple bindi that made news for its life-saving effects. This Jeevan Bindi was created by Grey Group, which helped several women in villages to live a healthier life without having to pay an overwhelming cost.
9. Bollywood was unapologetically feminist.
Remember the time when we applauded Kangana Ranaut’s honest interview at the Women in the World summit or when Anushka Sharma bowled us over with her confessions, in an interview with Anupama Chopra. There were many such occasions where Bollywood agreed to be unapologetically feminist and we couldn’t be happier.
10. Menstruation was accepted as a natural process.
Menstruation was surely talked about more than ever especially with social media campaigns like #HappyToBleed and #IBleed, started by Indian women only to raise awareness and protest the way menstruation is treated in society. In fact many women have started using the menstrual cups. Mahesh Khandelwal, a scientist and a successful entrepreneur also created sanitary napkins that cost Rs. 10 for 6 pads, they are eco-friendly and made by rural women. Making sanitary napkins available to more women sure is a welcome change for many Indian women, making hygiene a significant part of their lives.
LOWS
11. A 28-day-old baby raped.
The rapes didn’t stop with Nirbhaya or even the Shakti Mill gang-rape case. Rapes in India have reached a number so high that we don’t remember of a single day when there was no rape news. But that isn’t the worst news. The recent news of a 28-day-old baby being raped was by far the most disgusting case of 2015.
12. India proved to be one of the worst countries for women to enter politics.
According to research conducted in many countries, India happens to be the worst for women in politics and thus has the least amount of women leaders falling even behind highly conservative countries like Syria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Niger and Somalia which have more women in the Parliament.
13. Pay disparity in Bollywood was out in the open.
Female celebrities like Anushka Sharma and Sonam Kapoor spoke about the wage disparity in Bollywood and how they deserved to be treated as equals. This brought out the issue of wage disparity against women in all walks of life out in the open, proving that women are paid much lesser than men.
14. Women blamed for the failures of men.
While men are never really blamed for crushing a woman’s career, a woman has to go through hell even if her partner fails to produce. We saw this discrimination publicly when Anushka Sharma was ridiculed on social media for being a distraction and cause of beau Virat Kohli’s failure in the World Cup series.
15. Research showed that a higher ratio of Indian women are illiterate.
A recent survey came to the conclusion that out of the 415 million Indians who have never attended school, 58 per cent are women. This is especially bad since educating a woman essentially means educating an entire family, and that is what India really needs.
16. Smriti Irani announced that Indian women have never been told to do anything.
For someone who is the country’s HRD Minister to make an ignorant comment about the situation of women in India is a shame. Smriti nonchalantly mentioned at a Woman’s summit in Delhi that no woman in India has ever been told what to do or what to wear, which is surely far from reality and received the wrath of many women.
17. Authorities stopped menstruating women from going to the temple.
The Sabarimala Temple Board president Prayar Gopalakrishnan stated that he wouldn’t allow women to enter the place of worship until they were verified to be not menstruating. Women have often been stopped from entering religious places during their periods, but this kind of an imposed rule is another low for women.
A similar incident occurred in Maharashtra where a woman entered the inner sanctum of a temple and the authorities carried out a purification process, since women were not alowed.
18. Misogyny in public by Indian politicians.
Indian politicians have continued to say some very offensive things about women in 2015 but out of all the obnoxious comments we heard the worst were the ones made by CPI leader Atul Anjan who said that ‘Sunny Leone’s condom ad is a cause for rape’ and Sunni Muslim Kerala leader Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musalyar, who said spoke about reservations for women in elections and said that “they (women) were only fit to deliver children.”
19. Bollywood actresses said they are not feminist.
Many Bollywood actresses including Parineeti Chopra, Madhuri Dixit, Katrina Kaif and Priyanka Chopra refused to be feminist and made some rather alarming statements on the subject which obviously wasn’t encouraging for other women or feminist.
20. When women continued to faked molestation and put the reputation of other women in jeopardy.
As if in 2014 the Rohtak sisters were not enough to put the reputation of women at stake, the agony seemed to continue even in 2015. Delhi-based Jasleen Kaur became an internet sensation for her alleged molestation complaint that brought her national coverage, but soon changed to criticism when the truth of her false complaint surfaced.
As we prepare to step into the new year, we hope that 2016 brings new hope and light for women in India, and across the world. May we rock and roll like never before.
On the same note, we would also like to say that we may have missed a few highs and lows, so if you’ve got more to add, write to us- idivaeditor@gmail.com
