Voices

When World War II started, one of the important changes in the labour market was a sudden increase in the female labour force participation rate. When the men went out to fight the war, the idea of women, mostly middle class women, going out and working became acceptable. It is noteworthy that poorer and lower-middle…

When peeking into the universe of sex work, it is imperative to locate the various identities sex workers live with, those that relate to societal hierarchies as well those related to their work, and that define their economic position. This understanding will enable us to understand their lived realities, especially in the current context of…

Today as I write about my mother’s and chechi’s experiences through an intersectional feminist lens, I wonder who will pay for their physical and emotional labour. I wonder who will take responsibility for the loss of their youth. Who will take responsibility for the wear and tear that their bodies sustained from years of negligence? Most importantly, who will silence the mouths that say, “What ever did you do?”

Lisa calls such a model of marriage “sexist, out-dated and unrealistic.” Guess what? This sexist, out-dated and unrealistic model of marriage is the very model in vogue in our part of the world. Such a marriage model that should make parents of about-to-enter-matrimony women lose sleep, but this is the very model most parents are eager to shove their daughters into. Indeed such sexist marriages are the cause for over-the-top, days-long celebrations: i.e. the big, fat, horrendously expensive desi wedding.