View Single Post
Old 4th January 2019, 02:23 PM   #1
Skeptic Ginger
Nasty Woman
 
Skeptic Ginger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 96,386
Millions Of Women In India Join Hands To Form A 385-Mile Wall

NPR: Millions Of Women In India Join Hands To Form A 385-Mile Wall Of Protest

Think about that.

Quote:
They called it the "women's wall" — vanitha mathil in the local language of Malayalam.

According to government estimates published in the Indian press, somewhere between 3.5 million and 5 million women lined up on National Highway 66, a long stretch of road that runs along the country's western coast. The "wall" stretched out 385 miles. Organizers said it was a continuous chain from one end of the state to the other, but some critics say there were gaps.

Kerala is roughly the size of Switzerland and has a population of about 35 million.
Women have a long way to go to gain equal rights in India.

I don't have CNN or MSNBC anymore. Does anyone know if they covered the event? I've seen the rioting covered as women try to get the right to enter an important temple and extremists men are rioting because of it.

Quote:
On Wednesday, the day after the gender wall demonstration, Indian media reports emerged of two women under the age of 50 finally managing to visit the sacred shrine. The women were escorted by police into the temple in complete secrecy in the wee hours of the dawn. They were given police protection to avoid the mobs that had kept women at bay previously. They have since been taken to an undisclosed location.

On Thursday, right-wing groups declared a hartal — a strike involving the closure of shops, usually following a sorrowful event. Violent protests erupted in the state as mobs took to the streets hurling stones and crude bombs. One person was killed and 14 others were injured. State police arrested 745 people.

That same day, a third woman visited the temple amid the protests.

For Madhavan, the violence was distressing but did not dampen her spirit.

"Social change doesn't happen in a day," she says. "It needs time. But with these small steps, we've made it easier for the next generation to embrace it. In this way, the wall of women marks a new dawn for feminism in India."
Skeptic Ginger is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top