Women and Gender News India: Reporting on The State of Being Women In India
Women News is India’s first news website dedicated to cover women related news with a journalistic rigor and feminist perspectives. Here journalism meets feminism. We bring you news and perspectives on gender based violence, women’s political and economic participation, women’s reservation in Parliament, a seat on the table in all walks of life, women’s access to public space, education, health care; women’s representation in media, art, cinema, culture, sexual and reproductive rights of women; women’s rights and conflict with religious personal laws, cultural taboos, women and communal politics and more.
Who?
Lawyer, Journalist and Feminist Scholar Sanjukta Basu is the Founding Editor of Women News India.
How?
Founding Editor Sanjukta Basu is running this initiative on her personal expenses. Women News does not have any donor or financers.
Why?
The idea germinated in a gap in India’s journalism. Mainstream media in India, whether newspapers or television channels or digital news, does not have dedicated sections to cover women and gender issues with a feminist perspectives. Women briefly appear on mainstream news when a crime is committed against them, when politicians and corporate leaders make “women empowerment” announcements, and when they create headlines in the fashion and entertainment industry. Thus, women are either portrayed as victims or as beneficiaries or sexualized objects of male gaze.
Brief reports or crime against women are never followed up unless there is public outrage based upon some or the other divisive factors, such as, Hindu-Muslim, Dalit-Savarna, BJP-Cong and so on. Stories of crimes like rape, murder, molestation, acid attacks, honour killings, infanticide, feticide, dowry harassment, physical and mental abuse, trafficking, and more are routinely picked up from the news agencies like PTI, ANI and briefly reported without any journalist or media houses bothering to delve deeper with fact finding and ground reporting. They do not chase those in power to hold them accountable.
As a result, news are forgotten and the public is left unaware of whether the victims or their families received justice or not.
All in all, women’s issues are seen separately from nation’s issues and therefore kept aside. Women and Gender News is here to change that. We follow up on the daily reports of violence and crimes against women with relevant police department. We call the National Commission of Women and Ministry of Women and Child to seek their statements and question them for accountability.
We also bring new feminist voices on the YouTube channel, featuring emerging feminist research from world of academia and new feminist voices on a weekly podcast.
Women News is not a non-profit or charitable organization, it is a news organization.
This difference is subtle but important. The motto is, “Journalism meets Feminism” because there is an element of core journalistic responsibility in what we do. A journalist’s main job is to question government on people’s issues.
First, you report the news and then question the relevant department or leader in the ruling regime what action did they take to address the issues. What is their response? Women News reports on women’s issues and questions the National Commission of Women, State Commissions of Women, Ministry of Women and Child Development at Center and State and other authorities who should be accountable to state of governance. Non-profit organization keep the two aspects separate.
We believe politics cannot be separated from welfare. Questioning political powers is integral to bringing change.
If you are curious or even skeptical about any of the above assertions, please take a chance on our content. Subscribe to this website for few days. You will not be disappointed.
