Women's eNews (https://womensenews.org/author/kalpana-sharma/)
The difficult and complex issues of women’s empowerment are all too often and too easily reduced to the symbolism of the burka. The author argues that fixating upon the veil sidesteps the real issues of Muslim women’s rights.
Two writers, a Seattle journalist from Egypt and a columnist for India’s national newspaper, argue in separate essays that, as we plan for peace, attention must be paid to our allies’ denial of rights to women–food, medical care and full citizenship.
Some pioneering women jurists in remote Indian villages are barely literate, but they know the law often ignores women. Sitting in a circle on the floor, they dispense justice in cases of divorce, abandonment, violence, rape and dowry demands.
A woman who was set afire and allowed to burn to death in front of the bustling Mumbai Railway Station is but one gruesome example of the abiding and even increasing violence against women in India where laws are enlightened but people are not.