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A recent BBC article praising BP Dakshayani of the ISRO, (a core member of the Mars Mission) for balancing work and home beautifully, is facing backlash. Here's a closer look.
A recent BBC article praising BP Dakshayani of the ISRO, (a core member of the Mars Mission) for balancing work and home beautifully, is facing backlash. Here’s a closer look.
Recently, many on social media slammed the BBC for its article on BP Dakshayani, ISRO’s former head for space navigation and flight dynamics. The title of the piece read, ‘Rocket woman: How to cook curry and get a spacecraft into Mars orbit.’
It’s the gender stereotyping in the article that has infuriated readers, many of whom have taken to social media platforms to vociferously express their disapproval of the international news broadcaster.
People have issues with the way BP Dakshayani, a prominent space expert and programmer, has been portrayed by lumping her achievements with cooking. Many have even proclaimed it to be BBC’s anti-Indian bias for presenting our women space scientists in such a way.
The heading of the article is definitely very sexist (and possibly racist, with its emphasis on curry). The tone of the article at the beginning appears to be casual, very superficially addressing the major role played by a team of women in successfully sending the Mars Mission into orbit. They just get addressed as ‘women in sarees’ and nothing else.
Stereotyping is indeed evident in the article, be it Dakshayani addressed as the ‘Indian wife’, in her family’s disapproval of further studies, her being compelled to take up household responsibilities after the wedding or her husband not helping her with the same. Yet – a big part of that reflects the gender roles prevalent in most Indian society. What the article has got perfectly right is the juggling, between work and home, that almost every woman in India needs to manage.
Dakshayani belonging to an older generation and coming from a traditional, conservative family had to work very hard to balance between responsibilities of housework and her career in science. “I used to get up around 5 am because I had to cook for seven, eight people and it was not easy. So I would cook for the whole family and then come to office,” said Dakshayani in her interview with the BBC.
What is surprising, rather than Dakshayani’s statement, is that as the years have passed, nothing much seems to have changed in society. I am very sure many women of today, can completely connect and relate to Dakshayani’s story and the struggles she narrates.
It is still considered that women’s first priority has to be husband, children and taking care of the family. However big her dream to achieve something in life is or her other ambitions are, it’s her duty to keep them aside and concentrate on looking after the house.
A few like Dakshayani fight against all odds, toil day and night to get the best of both worlds. Many somehow manage sailing on both the boats, while in some cases, due to excessive pressure from family and the society, women give up on their career goals.
As Dakshayani herself has said, it’s very tough. But with her achievements she has proved to the world that it’s not impossible either. Perhaps what we can take away instead from the whole episode is her never give up attitude and determination to succeed.
Image courtesy the BBC article mentioned in this piece.
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Rajshri Deshpande, who played the fiery protagonist in Trial by Fire along with Abhay Deol speaks of her journey and her social work.
Rajshri Deshpande as the protagonist in ‘Trial by Fire’, the recent Netflix show has received raving reviews along with the show itself for its sensitive portrayal of the Uphaar Cinema Hall fire tragedy, 1997 and its aftermath.
The limited series is based on the book by the same name written by Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy, who lost both their children in the tragedy. We got an opportunity to interview Rajshri Deshpande who played Neelam Krishnamoorthy, the woman who has been relentlessly crusading in the court for holding the owners responsible for the sheer negligence.
Rajshri Deshpande is more than an actor. She is also a social warrior, the rare celebrity from the film industry who has also gone back to her roots to give to poverty struck farming villages in her native Marathwada, with her NGO Nabhangan Foundation. Of course a chance to speak with her one on one was a must!
“What is a woman’s job, Ramesh? Taking care of parents-in-law, husband, children, home and things at work—all at the same time? She isn’t God or a superhuman."
The arrays of workstations were occupied by people peering into their computer screens. The clicks of keyboard keys were punctuated by the occasional footsteps moving around to brainstorm or collaborate with colleagues in their cubicles. Most employees went about their tasks without looking at the person seated on either side of their workstation. Meenakshi was one of them.
The thirty-one-year-old marketing manager in a leading eCommerce company in India sat straight in her seat, her eyes on the screen, her fingers punching furiously into the keys. She was in a flow and wanted to finish the report while the thoughts and words were coming effortlessly into her mind.
Natu-Natu. The mellifluous ringtone interrupted her thoughts. She frowned at her mobile phone with half a mind to keep it ringing until she noticed the caller’s name on the screen, making her pick up the phone immediately.
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