At The News Minute, we believe it’s important that March 8 is observed as a day to strengthen the rights of women. But the work that goes into ensuring that our journalism is feminist happens all year long.

Voices News Wednesday, March 08, 2023 - 08:21
Written by  TNM Editorial

It’s Women’s Day and so obviously there’s more Pink in the air than static electricity in Bengaluru. Brands are telling us how much women matter to them, why women must be celebrated, how women hold up half the sky; men are sharing post after post on why there’s-no-one-like-my-mother, and of course that beautiful sketch of the woman who has 10,000 hands and is doing 20,000 chores without complaining will be witnessed at least once on the interwebs. Women. Ah. Gorgeous. Beautiful. Strong. Adjective. Adjective. Adjective…

If TNM had a rupee for every post we see Celebrating WomenTM on the eighth of March every year, our yearly budget would be sorted, with enough left over to do more ground reporting.

That said, we are grateful for all the support you have provided us to help us produce the work we do. If you are not already a TNM Member, we urge you to consider signing up today. Share our work with friends and family – we need all the support we can get.

International Women’s Day was not always this pink and ‘girlboss’-ey. It originated from the labour movements and feminist movements of the world, and March 8 has been recognised as International Women’s Day by the United Nations since 1977. The day recognises the struggles of women in every sphere of life — whether it’s the right to vote, work with dignity, or live a life without violence. That it has been reduced to a marketing calendar item for fairness creams and hair removal products, and celebrating benign patriarchy, is upsetting.

At The News Minute, we believe it’s important that March 8 is observed as a day to strengthen the rights of women — but the work that goes into ensuring that our journalism is feminist and looking at all issues through a gender lens happens year long. As a newsroom led by women, we don’t wait for specific events to ‘pinkify’ our coverage. We don’t look for specific ‘women centric’ stories. Every single piece of work we do, and every person who is part of our team, has a progressive approach towards gender as a marginalisation in our society — and the view that it intersects in various ways with other marginalisations that people face.

What does that mean?

It means we cover the battle against the hijab as one targeting Muslim girls and women who are being forced to either part with markers of their identity as Muslims or give up on their education. We foreground women’s voices in people’s movements, recognise that women leaders are everywhere, and it’s a choice that journalists make to see them or not. We try hard to ensure that the experts we reach out to are not just cis het upper caste men — we collaborate with other organisations and institutions to identify a diversity of voices. We educate ourselves every day by listening to women with lived experiences different from our own.

We are proud to be a feminist newsroom — and not a newsroom that tokenises feminism.

Here’s some of our work from recent months that we are proud of:

‘Had to be brave’: How 5 Dalit women defied barriers to enter a temple in Karnataka

TN Dalit prof faces hostile workplace after sexual harassment complaint

When protests over young women wearing hijab in classrooms broke out all across Karnataka, we reported from the protest site, but also went beyond. While our ground reports narrated how the protests were started and organised, our sharp opinion pieces highlighted the legal contradictions. We also looked at the aftermath of the court verdict.

Number of Muslim girls in Udupi colleges doubles in 15 yrs, hijab ban threatens progress

Muslim students in hijabs endure unwanted glare of media and cameras in Karnataka

When it comes to law and the judiciary as well, we have stood up for justice and critiqued institutionalised power, as can been seen from our coverage of the Franco Mulakkal sexual assault judgement.

Franco judgment disregards the power bishops have within the church

Franco judgment uses alleged 'illicit relationship' to disbelieve survivor’s accusations

We also extensively wrote on dowry harassment, cutting across intersections, contextualising the history and implications of the practice.

Vismaya dowry death: What makes us believe some women over others?

When a woman is nothing if not a wife: Vismaya's death points to our shared guilt

Once confined to some communities, dowry is now all pervasive in Kerala

Kerala Dalit woman dies after dowry harassment, cops wait 42 days to arrest accused

We have also been at the forefront of #MeToo reporting. For us, the stories were not just news pieces. We went beyond the news cycle to amplify narratives, debunk toxicity, and build survivor solidarity.

Fighting back without a support system is unimaginable: Actor Bhavana interview

We have been actively generating conversations on popular culture and patriarchy, unpacking concepts like stalking, harassment, and calling out their glorification on screen.

The Chinmayi Show | Stalking and what it does to women | Parvathy Thiruvothu

African Queens: Njinga review: Netflix series depicts Black resistance and reclamation

When Adoor Gopalakrishnan contradicts his art that vilified inequality

If this is the kind of journalism you would like to see more of, support TNM by becoming a Member. Less pink, more feminism.