Meet Our GEMS: Kavitha Muralidharan

Questioning Patriarchy

by Meera Srikant

Kavitha Muralidharan is Associate Editor of India Today and has previously worked as Head of the Reporting Department at the Hindu and Special Correspondent at Deccan Chronicle. She has also worked at several other leading publications including The Week, India Today and News Today. She has covered important developments in politics and other spheres in Tamil Nadu and has written features on various issues including health, cinema, literature, environment and human rights issues. Kavitha is the winner of the Press Institute of India - International Red Cross award for humanitarian reporting in conflict situations for her coverage of the Sri Lanka war. She has also authored several books in Tamil and English.

Why is this issue important to you?

This issue is important to me because it is an important issue. Gender issues are often looked over, side-lined and swept under the carpet, with no effort to find a solution. I am passionate about gender issue because a woman is as much a human being as a man is and it is a crime to deny anything to her in the name of gender.

What is it you feel most strongly about?

What I really strongly feel about is violence against women and the ways to stop it. It is in the system (especially Indian) to see woman as a lesser human being and use violence to exercise one's authority and power over her. I think this is nauseating and needs to be addressed.

Tell us about your activity and what you hope to do with it

Because I have just taken a new assignment, I can hardly do anything for Prajnya campaign this year. However, in the coffee and conversations session, I hope to make up.

Three things you would suggest to keep these individual actions going

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Be responsible: I feel it is the responsibility of every human being to make sure the world is a better place to live for both genders, not just woman's. It is the responsibility of every human being to step into action whenever an act of violence is committed against a woman. There are so many of them on streets - from abuses to physical violence.  

Begin from home. It pains when I see women with patriarchal bent of mind and I think for those who are aware, change should begin from home. We should basically question patriarchy at home. 

Ask: Nothing like asking for an answer. At every interview I have attended in the last couple of years, at every seminar I address, I ask them if there is a sexual harassment committee in place. This really helps. 

Meet Our GEMS: Ramya Kannan

Fighting Impunity

by Meera Srikant

Currently City Editor with The Hindu in Chennai, Ramya Kannan has been with The Hindu for nearly 17 years now. One reason she has stayed is because she believes the paper remains, till date, the strongest mainstream news organisation with a commitment towards covering development issues. And that's what she prefers to do: write on health and development issues. These are inextricably intertwined with real issues at the grassroots - caste, patriarchy, unemployment and poverty. Getting to the root of the problem is a challenge, every time. And after all these years, she is still naive enough to believe that change, great change, is often facilitated by good journalism.  She believes talking about the issue is important to bring about a change.

Why is this issue important to you?

It's essential to the question of the identity of being a woman itself, in my opinion. 

What is it you feel most strongly about?

The impunity with which this violence is being perpetrated; as if it were normal to argue that a woman deserves it; and the appalling acceptance of this view in a larger societal context.

Tell us about your activity and what you hope to do with it

Talking, tweeting, writing (blogs and mainstream news) about gender violence. It's important to have a voice, to always articulate these opinions to break the essential culture of silence that allows violence against women to be perpetrated. As they say, talking helps, in more ways than one.

Three things you would suggest to keep these individual actions going

Talking, writing, tweeting. It's almost part of a routine now.

Looking through a Gendered Lens: The Media and Violence

Today, we met with 3 senior women journalists from the city to discuss gender sensitivity in the media and safety on the job, on and off-line for women. Kavitha Muralidharan from India Today and Ramya Kannan and Zubeda Hamid from The Hindu were in conversation with the Prajnya Team and touched upon a variety of issues related to gender violence and its depiction and coverage in the media across all formats.

From TV soaps in Hindi and Tamil to reality television and the unique problems it presents in terms of reinforcing existing gender stereotypes as well as re-victimizing vulnerable individuals, writing, form, content and presentation were critiqued. While charting several positive developments in prime time television, such as creating space for the depiction of same-sex couples and addressing sexual violence in some forums, there was also an overall sense of dismay at the incremental nature of change and the regressive tone evident in much of the programming.

Radio was identified  as a powerful medium for change and the rise in civic engagement in programming was also noted.

Analysing the print media, it was acknowledged that newsrooms have come a long way in achieving gender parity in hiring reporters. This was attributed to the number of colleges offering courses in journalism in both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels and the increasing number of women graduating in these streams. It was also felt by all that the sexism encountered within organizations has also considerably diminished although there's still a long way to go in eliminating it completely. Issues of safety, especially on night shifts, still remain and have no express organizational policy directives driving them.

The conversation ended on a positive note with a commitment to explore further avenues of engagement with women journalists to discuss and challenge existing gender stereotypes in writing and broadcasting.

2009 Campaign PR (26/11): Accounting for accuracy - reporting on gender violence

Chennai, November 26: How does one report a case of gender violence without sounding sensational, callous or careless? Why do certain crimes get reported over some others? These were just few of the questions discussed at the ‘Reporters’ Roundtable: Gender Violence and the Media’ organised by Prajnya, a non-profit think-tank, in Chennai on Thursday.
The roundtable, held as part of Prajnya’s 16 Days Campaign against Gender Violence, had mediapersons debating norms in reporting cases of gender violence. The session was mediated by Ammu Joseph, a Bangalore-based independent journalist.
Ms. Joseph writes on issues relating to gender, human development and the media. She is a recipient of the UNFPA-LAADLI Media Award for Gender Sensitivity 2007 and a founder-member of the Network of Women in Media, India.

In her short talk prior to the discussion, Ms. Joseph pointed out numerous drawbacks in existing media coverage of gender violence such as lack of accuracy, consistency, insensitivity and speculation. The media, she said, tended to veer between routinising violence against women to sensationalising reports.
The participants discussed the lack of a clear definition of gender violence, both globally and in Indian laws on domestic violence. The roundtable also drew attention to the pressures of competition among media houses in getting to the story ‘first’ and the packaging of news as entertainment. This often led to inaccuracies, ‘single-source’ reports on gender violence and journalists flouting rules on sensitive reporting.

The participants felt that the focus needed to shift from the victim of a crime to the perpetrator. They also mutually agreed that to have a greater impact, follow-ups and trend stories linking the crime to the bigger picture of gender violence were crucial.
The session yielded practical suggestions for reporting on stories of gender violence.

Day Fifteen - Point Blank

Day 15 of the campaign - Point Blank at MOP Vaishnav college, attended by their wonderfully enthusiastic students. Probably the campaign's most interactive event, with a rousing debate on media representations of women and violence against women.

Some glimpses...

Our moderator, Sudha Ramalingam


Cinematographer Fowzia Fatima


Advertising Professional Suguna Swamy


Journalist Asha Menon


RJ Deva


Director Thiruchelvan

From around the world...

The 16 Days campaign is officially underway, even as we continue to hear stories of gender violence from around the world. In today's newspapers, for instance, there's the story of 24-year-old Reshma James.

US Indian shoots wife dead in church, 2 hurt

Jersey City (New Jersey), Nov. 24: An Indian American man killed his estranged wife and critically injured two others when he opened fire at a church in New Jersey whose congregation has links with Kerala, the US police said on Monday.

The incident occurred at 11.44 am on Sunday during the weekly mass at the St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church in Clifton. The police said 27-year-old Joseph Pallipurath had driven all the way from Sacramento in California in his green Jeep Wrangler to kill his wife, 24-year-old Reshma James, who was at the church.

There were about 150 people inside the church when Pallipurath opened fire from a silver handgun. James was killed, while 23-year-old Dennis John Malloosseril and 47-year-old Silvy Perincheril were injured.

Quoting eyewitness, local daily The Record said Malloosseril and Perincheril were shot at point blank range when they tried to stop Pallipurth from killing his wife.

All the three were taken to the nearby St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Centre. James was pronounced dead at about 4 pm, while the police said the condition of the other two was "very critical". Friends of Malloosseril said he was near death and family members were making arrangements to donate his organs. Pallipurth managed to escape from the church and was still on the run. A case of homicide had been registered against him and the police have released his picture in the media. "No arrest has been made so far. He is still at large," a Clifton City Police detective said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the state police have joined the Clifton City Police in their effort to nab Pallipurath. The incident has sent shock waves among the large Indian American community in New Jersey.

The Record reported that James had moved to California from India in January after an arranged marriage to Pallipurath. However, church members said the relationship soon turned violent. "He was beating her. She had a restraining order against him," said Thomas Abraham Lahayil, the church’s vicar. James had fled Sacramento and moved in with Perincheril, who was her cousin.

Perincheril, a mother of three, used to work as the church’s Sunday school teacher and a nurse at Passaic High School, family members said.

Church members said James’ parents in India had been informed of her death and were headed to the US. They were uncertain whether James’ body would be taken to India for burial.

—IANS

And then there is this one, which we've heard countless times, of mothers who give birth to girls, and their forced shame.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/23/india-gender

The joys of voluntary blogging

This is NOT a 'guilt' posting- you know, one of those where you post something because you err, have to? Nor is this a direct outcome of the following conversation with "she-who-shall-not-be-named" (yes, yes, not very original, I know!).

She-who-shall-not-be-named: write!

Me: yes ma'am

She-who-shall-not-be-named: how long does it take to do a blog entry? it is not a thesis or a work of lit.

Me: i think thats my problem, i make everything "work" instead of just writing

She-who-shall-not-be-named: just write for fun. write about my pestering you to write.

Me: :)

She-who-shall-not-be-named: seriously.

Me: yes ma'am!!!!!!!!!

She-who-shall-not-be-named: never thought campaign work would be so...pestilential!

Me: I admire your persistence:)

She-who-shall-not-be-named: pestilence?

Me: same difference!!

She-who-shall-not-be-named: hahaha

Me: :P

She-who-shall-not-be-named: ok, so if i left you alone in this chat window, you might have time to write.

Me: Ok, I have to run, bye for now!

She-who-shall-not-be-named: bye

Me: and i promise I'm not running away

She-who-shall-not-be-named: yengai povai. i know where to find you!

Me: valid point:)

And she did find me, not many hours later, to ask -

She-who-shall-not-be-named: Did you....?

Now, many many hours later, I can say, Yes, I have!!

To return to my original point, I'd like to say again that I have posted this of my own free will and initiative, and haven't been coerced or gently nagged or....you get the point.

All attempts at humour aside, over the last two months, I've come to understand more than ever what an immense undertaking a campaign such as 16 Days is. As a relative newcomer to Prajnya, I've sort of felt like an interested and curious observer at times, peering over the wall (somewhat literally on Facebook), trying to frantically keep track of all the action, amidst other 'daily routines'. Hopefully next year, I'll be able to actually contribute more, and yes, blog a lot more (in anticipation of a 'you know how you can contribute - by blogging' comment!).

Here are some interesting links, all from India Together, and all by Kalpana Sharma, who continues to write with endless zeal and regularity about women, often drawing our attention to important events rarely reported in the mainstream media.

http://www.indiatogether.com/2008/oct/ksh-harass.htm

http://www.indiatogether.org/2008/jul/ksh-work.htm

http://www.indiatogether.org/2007/sep/ksh-silence.htm

Happy Reading, and thinking.

Phew. I can now go off the invisible mode in Google Talk!