Women Rights

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea challenging certain provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act and alleging misuse of women-centric laws. "You can go and raise all these grounds in Parliament," a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K Vinod Chandran told the counsel appearing for the petitioner. The petitioner's counsel said they were seeking to challenge certain provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, including sections 2 and 3. While section 2 of the Act deals with definition of dowry, section 3 pertains to penalty for giving or taking dowry. The counsel said the petitioner was concerned about these laws which adversely impacts men. The public interest litigation (PIL) names laws like the Dowry Prohibition Act, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, and the provision on cruelty to women in the erstwhile Indian Penal Code to question their validity. The plea filed by petitioner Rupshi Singh highlighted the alleged malice in law, the unreasonableness cont

An Afghan women's group on Friday hailed a decision by the International Criminal Court to arrest Taliban leaders for their persecution of women. The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced Thursday he had requested arrest warrants for two top Taliban officials, including the leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. Since they took back control of the country in 2021, the Taliban have barred women from jobs, most public spaces and education beyond sixth grade. In a statement, the Afghan Women's Movement for Justice and Awareness celebrated the ICC decision and called it a great historical achievement. We consider this achievement a symbol of the strength and will of Afghan women and believe this step will start a new chapter of accountability and justice in the country, the group said. The Taliban government has yet to comment on the court's move. Also Friday, the UN mission in Afghanistan said it was a tragedy and travesty that girls remain deprived of educatio

As political parties jockey to woo women with schemes and promises of sops every election season, CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat feels that these are reflections of their assertion as independent citizens even as these schemes take away the discourse from women's rights and make them mere "beneficiaries". In an interview with PTI, she, however, welcomed cash transfer to women while stressing that it was not a "freebie" as women contribute almost seven per cent of the GDP through unpaid labour. It shows that political parties have realised that women cannot be taken for granted, said Karat, a well known activist who is among the founding members of the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), one of the largest women organisations in the country. Asked about direct benefit transfer (DBT) schemes for women being brought in by political parties in the run up to eleections, she said, "That is a result of women's movements, women's organisations, the struggles and the consciousness

The Taliban says it will close all national and foreign nongovernmental groups in Afghanistan employing women. It comes two years after they told NGOs to suspend the employment of Afghan women, allegedly because they didn't wear the Islamic headscarf correctly. In a letter published on X Sunday night, the Economy Ministry warned that failure to comply with the latest order would lead to NGOs losing their license to operate in Afghanistan. The ministry said it was responsible for the registration, coordination, leadership and supervision of all activities carried out by national and foreign organisations. The government was once again ordering the stoppage of all female work in institutions not controlled by the Taliban, according to the letter. In case of lack of cooperation, all activities of that institution will be cancelled and the activity license of that institution, granted by the ministry, will also be cancelled. The Taliban have already barred women from many jobs and mos

The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to examine a plea seeking direction for framing pan-India guidelines to provide a safe environment for women, children and transgender persons in society. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan issued notice to different ministries of the Centre and its instrumentalities and posted the matter for further hearing in January. Senior advocate Mahalakshmi Pawani, appearing for the petitioner Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association, said several incidents of sexual abuse against women are taking place in smaller cities, which are going unreported and pushed under the carpet. "After the RG Kar Medical College Hospital incident of Kolkata where a trainee doctor was raped and murdered, around 95 incidents of sexual violence have taken place but were not highlighted," Pavani said, adding that like Scandinavian countries, offenders should get punishments such as chemical castration. The bench said it will not entertain many of the prayers mentioned

Police detained dozens of people in Istanbul who tried to join a rally on Monday calling for greater protection for women in Turkiye, where more than 400 women have been murdered this year. The demonstrators tried to enter the main pedestrian street, Istiklal, to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, in defiance of a ban on all protests in the area. Earlier, police barricaded all entrances to Istiklal and to the city's main square, Taksim, while authorities shut down several metro stations to prevent large gatherings. Many demonstrators were protesting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's decision in 2021 that withdrew Turkiye from a landmark European agreement known as the Istanbul Convention. The treaty, which aims to protect women from violence, was signed in Istanbul in 2011. Erdogan's decision came after some members of his Islamic-rooted ruling party accused the treaty of promoting LGBTQ+ rights and other ideals they said were incompatible with

Taliban's latest decree further limits women's freedom by barring them from reciting prayers aloud, even in the presence of other women

But since Sri Lanka introduced the universal franchise in 1931, the number of women in parliament has never crossed a threshold of 7%

The United Nations will continue to engage all stakeholders in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, a U.N. spokesman said, even though Afghanistan's rulers issued a ban on women's voices and bare faces in public and severed ties with the U.N. mission after it criticized them. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric in New York defended the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, and its head Roza Otunbayeva, who said that the new laws provided a distressing vision for Afghanistan's future. She said last week the laws extend the " already intolerable restrictions on the rights of women and girls, with even the sound of a female voice outside the home apparently deemed a moral violation. The laws were issued after they were approved by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. The Taliban had set up a ministry for the " propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice after seizing power in 2021. They say the laws are based on their interpretation of Sharia law. The ministry

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud hailed Justice Hima Kohli on Friday, saying she is not just a woman judge but also a fierce protector of the rights of women. The CJI was holding a ceremonial bench for Justice Kohli, who is due to retire on September 1. Justice Kohli was the ninth in seniority among the apex court judges. With her retirement, the top court will be left with only two women judges -- Justice B V Nagarathna and Justice Bela M Trivedi. "It has been a pleasure to sit with Justice Kohli. We have exchanged very serious ideas and thoughts. There have been times when she supported me. Hima, you are not just a woman judge but also a fierce protector of the rights of women," the CJI said. Attorney General R Venkataramani said Justice Kohli dedicated her entire life to the cause of justice. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said, "We have always seen a very tough exterior on the bench but we have also seen a very soft, humane and compassionate side of Justice Kohli." "She

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a 200-word summary that abortion advocates used to collect signatures for a ballot measure is valid, clearing the way for voters to decide on the constitutional right to an abortion. Under the measure, abortions would be allowed until an embryo or foetus could survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks. There are some exceptions for later-term abortions to save the mother's life or to protect her physical or mental health. The decision comes on the heels of a Thursday ballot printing deadline in Arizona. The Arizona Right to Life, the organisation that sued the ballot measure campaign, argued that the petition summary was misleading. The high court justices rejected that argument, as well as the claim that the summary for the proposed amendment failed to mention it would overturn existing abortion laws if approved by voters. We have noted that (r)easonable people can differ about the best way to describe a principal provision,

There are over 1.84 crore women-owned MSMEs in the country and the government has taken a number of initiatives to increase the participation of women in the sector, Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Jitan Ram Manjhi said on Thursday. He said in the Lok Sabha that the women owners of Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) registered on Udyam and Udyam Assist Platform (UAP), since the launch of Udyam on July 1, 2020 and the launch of UAP on January 11, 2023 in the country, is 39 per cent. "Number of women-owned MSMEs as on July 23, 2024 is 1,84,59,809," he said during Question Hour. Manjhi said the government has taken a number of initiatives to increase the participation of women in MSMEs in the country such as amendment of the Public Procurement Policy in 2018 and mandating central ministries and departments and undertaking to procure at least three per cent of their annual procurement from women entrepreneurs to benefit women entrepreneurs. He said to suppor

Melinda French Gates says she will be donating USD 1 billion over the next two years to individuals and organisations working on behalf of women and families globally, including on reproductive rights in the United States. It's the second billion-dollar commitment French Gates has personally made in the past five years. In 2019, she pledged over ten years to expand women's power and influence. Earlier this month, French Gates announced she would step down from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and vowed to focus on women and families. As a part of leaving the Gates Foundation, French Gates received USD 12 billion from Bill Gates for her philanthropy going forward. French Gates, one of the biggest philanthropic supporters of gender equity in the US, said on Tuesday in a guest essay for The New York Times that she's been frustrated over the years by people who say it's not the right time to talk about gender equality. "Decades of research on economics, well-being and governance

As Haryana gears up for elections on 25th May, women's issues, the treatment of the women wrestlers and farmer protests weigh heavily on the minds of the voter

The husband's family should also document all gifts to avoid false allegations

"We need good hospitals as well as doctors. For better access to education, we need more schools as well as teachers," a woman voter from Lakshwadeep said

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, the discourse surrounding women's issues has garnered renewed attention with the slogan of 'Nari Shakti' but several activists are apprehensive that the core concerns of women may again get subdued in the broader economic and political debates. There is a need for political parties to prioritise gender-sensitive policies, not merely as token gestures but as integral components of their core agendas, Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India (PFI) said, criticising the "marginalisation" of women's issues within the broader electoral discourse. "To truly empower women and address their unique concerns, it is imperative that political parties and leaders integrate gender-sensitive policies into their core agendas and manifestoes as a priority. "This includes not only increasing women's representation in political spaces but also ensuring that their voices are heard and acted upon in decision-making processes," she ..

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said the focal point of all initiatives of his government is women. On #InternationalWomensDay, celebrating the women of Assam; courageous, enterprising, resilient and changemakers. We are committed to ensure that each women in the State gets a fair opportunity to grow as the focal point of all our governance initiatives are women! the CM said on X. In another post, Sarma thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reducing cooking gas cylinder prices by Rs 100. With the earlier cut of ?200 & latest cut of ?100 on LPG cylinders, our mothers and sisters can now significantly save and put this money to better use. On behalf of entire #ModiParivarAssam, I sincerely thank Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji, for this bold decision, he added. Announcing the price cut on the occasion of International Women's Day on Friday, the PM said it will significantly ease the financial burden on millions of households across the country, ...

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday slammed the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over the issue of crimes against women, alleging that "being a woman has become a crime in this jungle raj". The Congress general secretary said two minor girls, who were victims of gang rape, had committed suicide in Kanpur and now their father has also committed suicide. "It is alleged that pressure was being put on the victim's family to compromise," Priyanka Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X. "In Uttar Pradesh, if victimised girls and women ask for justice, it has become a rule to destroy their families. From Unnao, Hathras to Kanpur, wherever women were tortured, their families were destroyed," she alleged. "Being a woman has become a crime in this jungle raj where there is no such thing as law and order left," Priyanka Gandhi said. What should crores of women of the state do and where should they go, she said. Two girls were found hanging from a tree in a field near the brick kil

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday sought the blessings of women for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as he announced that registration will soon start for a scheme to provide them Rs 1,000 a month. While presenting the 2024-25 Delhi budget in the assembly on Monday, Finance Minister Atishi had announced a new scheme for women under which eligible non-income tax payees above 18 years will get the amount every month. The Lok Sabha polls are expected to be held in April-May and Delhi sends seven members to the Lower House of Parliament. The scheme, which will be implemented after the elections, is likely to benefit around 50 lakh women in the national capital. In a long post on X, Kejriwal said he was getting a lot of phone calls from women since the announcement of the Mukhya Mantri Mahila Samman Yojna on Monday and they were asking about the registration for the scheme. The chief minister said he was working on the scheme and registration for it will start