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Released earlier this week, BBC's 100 Women List features four inspiring and amazing Indian women. Here's who they are!
Released earlier this week, BBC’s 100 Women List features four inspiring and amazing Indian women. Here’s who they are!
The year 2020 has mostly brought with it, a pandemic, lockdown and a lot of negativity. However, it was also the year we realised how correct Beyoncé really was, that it is indeed women who run the world. Kamala Harris was elected as the USA’s first-ever female VP and New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern who won her second term as NZ’s Prime Minister. Women have truly shown us their power and might.
But wait, there’s more! Early this week, BBC released its BBC 100 women list. Every year the BBC honours 100 women from across the world for their noteworthy contribution in four categories – knowledge, leadership, creativity and identity. And this year too, the list has some amazing women on it.
More than anything, what made me incredibly happy was the first person on the list. She was the ‘Unsung Hero,’ the countless women across the globe who have made an impact in a world that came to an almost standstill.
The ‘Unsung Hero’ is every doctor who was on the forefront since the pandemic began, exposing herself to a virus we still know very little about. She was every nurse in every hospital who worked day and night, making sure her patients were fine. The Unsung Hero is every woman who stood up and decided to do her bit!
While each and every woman on the list is noteworthy on her own, I am here to tell you about the four Indian women on the list.
Known as Shaheen Bagh ki dadi Bilkis Bano, 82, definitely made the news as one of the women peacefully protesting the CAA Bill in Delhi. She became the face of the protest. Bilkis Dadi was also referred to as the ‘voice of the marginalised’ by journalist Rana Ayub in an essay she wrote for the TIME magazine. She was also the only Indian woman to be featured in the TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020.
The only female member of the band The Castless Collective, Isaivani is the next Indian on the list. She is one of the very few gaana singers in the country. Gaana music is something that has emerged from the working-class neighbourhood from North Chennai and was until recently, a male-dominated space. According to a report in The News Minute, Isaivani was quoted saying she hopes this list helps bring more women in the space of gaana music.
A para-Indian athlete, Manasi Joshi is currently the world para-badminton champion. Joshi is an engineer by profession and following an accident eight years ago, she had to have her leg amputated. Post the accident, the only thing helping her was badminton. Helping her and how! She isn’t just the world para-badminton champion, in October, she became the only Indian para-athlete to have a Barbie doll modelled after her!
At 12, Riddhima Pandey knows way more about climate change and what to do about it than you and I would! She was among the 16 children who filed a complaint to protest lack of government action on climate change at the UN Climate Action Summit in 2019. In 2017, she filed a petition in the National Green Tribunal against the government for not taking any action against climate change.
This list does make me think, 2020 may not be so awful after all. What do you think?
Picture credits: BBC
Reader, writer and a strong feminist, I survive on coffee and cuddles from dogs! Pop culture, especially Bollywood, runs in my veins while I crack incredibly lame jokes and puns! read more...
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People say that women are the greatest enemies of women. I vehemently disagree. It is the patriarchal mindset that makes women believe in the wrong ideology.
The entire world celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8, 2024. It should be a joyful day, but unfortunately, not all women are entitled to this privilege, as violence against women is at its peak. The experience of oppression pushes many women to choose freedom. As far as patriotism is concerned, feminism is not a cup of tea in this society.
What happens when a woman decides to stand up for herself? Does this world easily accept the decisions of women in this society? What inspires them to be free of the clutches of the oppression that women have faced for ages? Most of the time, women do not get the chance to decide for themselves. Their lives are always at the mercy of someone, which can be their parents, siblings, husband, or children.
In some cases, women do not feel the need to make any decisions. They are taught to obey the patriarchal system, which makes them believe that they are right. In my family, I was never taught to make decisions on my own. It was always my parents who bought dresses and all that I needed.
14 years after her last feature film Dhobi Ghat, storyteller extraordinaire comes up with her new film, Laapataa Ladies, a must watch.
*Some spoilers alert*
Every religion around the world dictates terms to women. The onus is always on women to be ‘modest’ and cover their faces and bodies so men can’t be “tempted”, rather than on men to keep their eyes where they belong and behave like civilized beings. So much so that even rape has been excused on the grounds of women eating chowmein or ‘men will be men’. I think the best Hindi movie retort to this unwanted advice on ‘akeli ladki khuli tijori ki tarah hoti hai’ (an alone woman is like an open jewellery box) came from Geet in Jab We Met – Kya aap gyan dene ke paise lete hain kyonki chillar nahin hain mere paas.
The premise of Laapataa Ladies is beautifully simple – two brides clad in the ghunghat that covers their identity get mixed up on a train. Within this Russian Doll, you get a comedy of errors, a story of getting lost, a commentary on patriarchy’s attitude towards women, a mystery, and a tale of finding oneself, all in one. Done with a mostly light touch that has you laughing and nodding along.
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