Feministaah

This must have slipped through the many more earth-shattering news reports from around the world, but it could be a very tiny step forward for women, that the Miss America pageant announced the   dropping of the swimsuit and evening gown competition.  Gretchen Carlson, chairwoman of Miss America’s board of trustees, is quoted as having said, “We are no longer a pageant.  We are a competition. We will no longer judge our candidates on their outward physical appearance…It’s going to be what comes out of their mouth that we’re interested in, when they talk about their social impact initiatives.” Of course, one might then argue why have a beauty pageant all? The women’s brains are tested enough in school,   college and workplace; besides, what is the likelihood of a woman who does not fit conventional standards of beauty actually winning a beauty contest? However, it is time to recall a beauty pageant, that fifty years ago, heralded the woman’s liber...

A friend, who calls herself a senior citizen, was surprised, annoyed and somewhat amused to find that she could not get an apartment of her choice to rent, because of the building society’s ‘No Single Women’ regulaion. She was hardly likely to party all night, she protested, but was told a rule is a rule. Realising that single women have problems renting apartments in supposedly modern and liberal Mumbai, another friend instructed her broker to give out her flat to a single woman or women. The broker refused, saying these women were trouble, “they have boyfriend problems and hang themselves… then you and I will get into trouble.” The city is full of hard-working young women, staying away from their families, trying to be independent, and battling such ridiculous biases.     Shikha Makan’s documentary   Bachelor Girls   (the term used for single women by brokers, which is marginally better than the derogatory ‘spinster’), has interviews with dozens of women, who...