Women in the News

Opening our morning newspapers, we found “ink” liberally dedicated to the news of rich and powerful and not so rich and powerful women. “I’m in. And I’m in to win” was the headline reporting that Hillary Clinton had tossed her hat into the 2008 US presidential race. We suspect that Hillary, with her own savvy skills, long exposure to the global media and a master strategist as a spouse will hold her own in the widening field of Democratic hopefuls.

News of our homegrown Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty’s appearance on the British reality show Celebrity Big Brother also commanded attention. Nearing the halfway mark of their one month of togetherness, the personal bickering among the 12 housemates of faux and yesterday fame was coming to a showdown. Shetty has been holding her own, but ended up being reduced to sobs. Referred to as “the Indian” or the “Paki” and having her English and eating habits questioned, Shetty found her main antagonist in Jade Goody. Goody, a dental nurse, whose fame is based on her previous participation in a Big Brother show, was voted off by British viewers by an 82% margin.

The producers of the show were not all that upset. Goody’s rants substantially pushed up viewership. Now off the show, the producers are considering sending Goody to India. The trip is not to sensitize her Indian sensibilities. Rather, she may appear on the producer’s subcontinent version of the show, Big Boss . On this program it appears that the Indian class conflict tension is not holding viewer attention. A second lightning strike of cultural conflict may be in order. As for Shetty, her 50 Bollywood film career faltering, will pocket 350,000 English Sterling pounds for her pain. Real life for women in India is far harsher.

It is not uncommon to read of dowry harassment, or of a male suitor whose advances have been spurned, retaliating by tossing acid in the woman’s face. The male-prerogative- dominated nature of our subcontinent culture is also seen in the euphemistic term used to describe sexual harassment; “Eve teasing.” Recently a women’s movement called Blank Noise, lead by Jasmeen Patheja, took to busy Brigade Road to combat the sexual advances of the mainly young male crowd that prowls Brigade Road and the nearby pub crawl lane of Church Street. In Gandhigiri style, using moral force to combat society’s inequities, the women “stare insensitive men into shame.”

In another advance for woman, the Bombay High Court came to the aid of Dilshad Begum, albeit 16 years after she contested her husband’s declared divorce. Under Muslim law a man can divorce his wife at his will by declaring three times “talaq, talaq, talaq.” Talaq literally means “undoing the knot.” No such right exists for a woman. She must obtain her husband’s explicit consent. Dilshad will now receive some relief, but, overall, her rights remain diluted in sea of man-made laws.

Hillary may be vying for the most powerful job in the world, but for Dilshad, it was one small step for a woman and one giant leap for womankind.