The Centre for Internet and Society
http://editors.cis-india.org
These are the search results for the query, showing results 41 to 50.
Bridging the gap: Tech giants bring the internet to women in rural India
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hindustan-times-october-28-2016-kumkum-dasgupta-bridging-the-gap
<b>This Diwali is going to be a cracker of a festival for Nisha Chanderwal, a second year BA student.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article by KumKum Dasgupta was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/bridging-the-gap-tech-giants-bring-the-internet-to-women-in-rural-india/story-8ZGqNnNArjbWFQCiJ3sSgJ.html">published in the Hindustan Times</a> on October 28, 2016. Pranesh Prakash and Rohini Lakshané were quoted.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“I bought a bright red kurta with gold-colour zari dupatta from Snapdeal, my first online purchase,” the 19-year-old resident of Alwar’s Umren village told HT recently.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“No courier service reaches my village. So I gave my aunt’s home address in Alwar. They paid in cash…I paid her when I picked up the parcel,” she added, explaining the circuitous delivery and payment process that is common in rural India.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Nisha is elated for one more reason: She has finally got even with her 20-year-old brother, Ashok. “He has a smartphone, but doesn’t even let me touch it, saying girls should not use the Internet. But now thanks to Google’s Internet Saathi Programme (ISP), I don’t need his phone or his help,” said an elated Nisha.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In July 2015, technology giant Google launched ISP in partnership with Tata Trusts, one of the country’s oldest philanthropic organisations, to bring rural women online in India. Today, the initiative is live in 25,000 villages across 10 states with 1,900 saathis. The final mission is to reach 300,000 villages. Google is adding up to 500 additional ‘saathis’ per week. More than 100,000 women have been trained so far.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Google started this programme because Internet usage by women in rural areas is low.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“Only one in 10 Internet users in rural India is a woman,” Sapna Chadha, marketing head, Google India, told HT. “With ISP, we are creating an enabling environment that empowers them while also bridging the technology gender divide. We believe that easy access to information can transform lives. Our mission is to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible”.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Along with access to information, getting more and more women online has other benefits: “If women are a minority online, they become vulnerable to harassment and violence. Women can’t only be consumers of the Internet but must contribute their views, and make the space equitable,” said Rohini Lakshané of the Bangalore-based The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), which is funded by the Kusuma Trust.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Google and Tata Trusts are leveraging their core strengths for ISP. While Google provides the hardware (phones and tablets), training and Internet connectivity. Tata Trusts does the identification of saathis and the monitoring.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“We tie up with government departments to roll out the project. For example, in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, we are working with the rural livelihood mission. The government helps us to identify villages, set selection criteria and logistics such as venues,” explained Prabhat Pani, project director, Tata Trusts.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The programme first chooses a few women and trains them on how to use a mobile phone, shoot photos and videos and the basics of Internet. Then the women are sent out on bicycles with a smartphone and a tablet to teach others in their villages.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The programme has opened a new world for many. “Google is like a book. You can get whatever information you need. I am illiterate but I use voice search for information,” said Phoolwati, a 45-year-old resident of Nangli Jamawat, Umren.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Her friend Manju is now the village’s undisputed ‘selfie queen’. “I love taking videos and photos,” she said, adding that she also searches for information on MGNREGA or education loans for her children.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">According to Google, the new online entrants are searching for news, recipes, designs for clothes, images and information on pilgrimages, farming and cattle-related information and government schemes.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">For Google, it makes immense sense to get more people online. “The company is targeting huge and untapped demographics who are entry-level users. Going forward, they will have a huge first-mover advantage if there is scope to monetise Google’s services,” explained Lakshané.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">By 2020, about 315 million rural Indians will be connected to the Internet, compared to around 120 million now. That’s about 36% of the country’s online population. By 2020, this share of rural India will jump to 48%, creating a huge opportunity for brands and marketers in places where establishing stores is a challenge,” says a study by the Boston Consulting Group, The Rising Connected Consumer in Rural India.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The first signs of this market potential were evident during the pre-Diwali online festival season sale. E-tailers posted growth in sales compared to last year thanks to growing smartphone penetration in small towns and villages, cheaper data tariffs and free hotspots. While Google did not divulge the exact revenues that it is spending on ISP, Chadha said it has helped the company to understand the needs of users in rural areas and what role the Internet can play.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Along with ISP, Google is also working with the Indian government on two projects that aims to give more people access to the Internet.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">First, the Project Loon, which uses high-altitude balloons to create an aerial wireless network with up to 4G speeds for providing Internet access to rural and remote areas.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Second, the company is partnering with RailTel to provide free wi-fi access in stations.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“The ISP has no immediate profits for Google. The average revenue Indian per user is less than say a user in US. But getting more people online helps Google because its search engine is most used,” Pranesh Prakash, policy director, CIS, told HT. “In the long run, the company will earn when people access its services and also from advertising revenue.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Nevertheless, the ISP is addressing a major problem. “Many are afraid to go online because they don’t know how they can benefit. While the Saathi programme is not a philanthropic effort, it’s good that Google is addressing this issue through its training programmes,” Prakash said.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hindustan-times-october-28-2016-kumkum-dasgupta-bridging-the-gap'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hindustan-times-october-28-2016-kumkum-dasgupta-bridging-the-gap</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaGenderInternet Governance2016-10-30T07:23:05ZNews ItemAnother 5 Years: What Have We Learned about the Wikipedia Gender Gap and What Has Been Done? (Part 3.)
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-3
<b>Five years after Wikimedia Foundation’s 2011 editor survey was conducted and revealed the gender gap issue, scholars, practitioners, and communities around the globe have come a long way to address the gender imbalance of the online encyclopedia. This blog post series (of three parts) serve as a summary of movements and discoveries in Wikipedia gender gap narrowing on both local (India) and global scales.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This is the third
(last) part of the blog series, please see <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-1">Part 1 </a>and <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-2">Part 2</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Responding to the
Wikipedia gender gap problem, former WMF Executive Director Sue Gardner set a
target in 2011 to raise the female editor percentage <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/business/media/31link.html">to 25%</a> by 2015. In an <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28701772">interview</a> in August 2014, Jimmy Wales declared that “<em>we’ve completely failed,</em>” Gardner also
noted that the solutions should come from local Wikipedian communities rather
than from the Foundation on a macro scale.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Although the
target was not met, initiatives and reforms taken places globally and locally in
the past five years are not fruitless. And as mentioned in Part 2, we should
not define this movement as merely pursuing a goal towards certain percentage
or number. As for now dialogue has been created to include the issue into more strategic
plans; collectives are established to cumulate and share resources across
communities. There has been abundance of learning (and definitely much more to
learn) in the issue.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>What has been done?</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Be it ongoing or spontaneous, international or local, there have been
many interventions trying to address the gender gap in Wikipedia.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><u>Intervention events<em></em></u></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In July 2015, WikiProject
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women_in_Red">Women in Red</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"> (WiR)</span> was launched to <em>“turn "<a title="Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Red/Redlist index" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women_in_Red/Redlist_indexhttps:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women_in_Red/Redlist_index">redlinks</a>
(non-existing pages) into <a title="Wikilink" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikilink">blue ones</a> (existing pages).” </em> The project encourages editors worldwide to
create (or expand) female-related pages (biographies, women’s work,
contribution, issues, etc.) that fit the notability criteria of Wikipedia. WiR
also picks monthly and annual topics to feature. Currently in September, 2016,
edit-a-thons on Women in nursing and women labour activists are happening
online. And “Women scientists” edit-a-thon is a year-long featured topic for
2016. Although WiR is still primarily an English-WP project, some communities
have expanded and localized it to local initiatives.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Coincidentally, in
2013, Indian Wikipedian communities have carried out one of the biggest and
most well-known gender gap intervention – <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Lilavati%27s_Daughters_Edit-a-thon">Lilavatis’
Daughters</a>. “Lilavati’s Daughters” is <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-literaryreview/forgotten-daughters/article662225.ece">a
book</a> of essay collections featuring nearly one hundred women scientists in Indian
since the Victorian Era. The 2013 edit-a-thon was hence to create Wikipedia
pages for these biographies in different Indian languages. Collaborating with
institutions and colleges, the event was greeted with high popularity and
success. Similar events were also carried out afterwards, including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Indian_Women_in_Science_Edit-a-thon">Indian
Women in Science Edit-a-thon</a> which has been held annually since 2014; the
last event was held in July, 2016 at the Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Another
significant initiative across the globe and in Indian communities is the annual
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiWomen%27s_History_Month">Wikiwomen’s history
month</a> in March along with the celebration of International Women’s Day on March
8<sup>th</sup>. The initiative started in 2012, edit-a-thons, photo-thons
(updating photos onto Wikimedia Commons), and meetups have been held to raise
the awareness of the gender gap online, create female-related content available
on Wikipedia, and to strengthen the bonding between local Wikiwomen.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Recently,
Wikimedia Foundation collaborated with the United Nations to launch the one-day
<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/UN_Women_Her_Story">Her Story project</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"> Edit-a-thon</span> on August 12<sup>th</sup>, 2016 to celebrate International Youth Day
globally. Cities in India like <a href="https://www.empowerwomen.org/en/campaigns/herstory">Chennai and Delhi
also held local edit-a-thons</a> on the day of in response to the event. With
the opportunity to work alongside the UN, it is a good sign that the Wikipedia
gender gap issue is drawing global attention, not just in the Wikipedian
community level, but also in global institution level.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><u>Collaborative</u></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiWomen%27s_Collaborative">Wikiwomen’s
Collaborative</a> is a global platform for female Wikipedians to share
projects, insights, and support. The Collaborative also encourages participants
to write blog post on the <a href="https://blog.wikimedia.org/c/community/wikiwomen/">Wikiwomen’s Blog</a>
to spread more words about the gender gap issue and initiatives. A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Countering_systemic_bias/Gender_gap_task_force">Gender
Gap Task Force (GGTF)</a> was founded in 2013 aiming to challenge the
patriarchal culture of knowledge and Wikipedia. GGTF tries to fix the
encyclopedia’s imbalance power structure by initiating discussion and
examination on its policies and editor interaction. It has also been a place to
cumulate research studies and resources on the gender gap topic. A (global) <a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap">gender gap
mailing list</a> is also created to spread the news and words with more
communities.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><u>Improvement in the
Interface</u></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Aside from events and
collectives organized by respective communities, the Wikipedia platform itself
has also been under constant transition in the last few years, trying to create
a friendlier place for women and newcomers.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Since June 2012,
the new prototype <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor">Visual
Editor</a> has become available in more and more language versions of Wikimedia
projects – including most Indian languages. Visual Editor enables editor to
contribute without learning the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki_markup">Wiki markups</a>, as it
creates the “write-as-how-you-will-see-it” feature requiring only basic typing
skills. Nevertheless, Visual Editor does have several <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:VisualEditor#Limitations">limitations</a>
comparing to the traditional edit source option, including slower speed, unavailable
in talk and discussion namespaces, limited template editing options, and so on.
While a <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:VisualEditor%27s_effect_on_newly_registered_editors/June_2013_study">research</a>
in 2013 on Visual Editor’s use in English Wikipedia showed low effectiveness of
the new feature in attracting and encouraging new editors, more research should
also be done in the non-English (especially Global South) context. <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Marathi_Wikipedia_Tutorials">Online
tutorial resources</a> about editing are also becoming available in Indian
communities.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikimarkup.png/image_large" alt="Traditional wiki markup editing screenshot" class="image-inline" title="Traditional wiki markup editing screenshot" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Traditional Wiki
markup editing screenshot</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/visualeditor.png/image_large" alt="visual editor of wikipedia screenshot" class="image-inline" title="visual editor of wikipedia screenshot" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Visual Editor
screenshot</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">On the other hand,
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Editing_on_mobile_devices">mobile
apps of Wikipedia</a> has been improved in its editing function. Although the
apps are still in constant development to make the function smoother and easier
for mobile users, it is a great breakthrough for those who do not have personal
computers to contribute in small ways (or even in great ways – <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Cullen328/Smartphone_editing#Why_I_edit_by_smartphone">some</a>
have created pages and denied the statement that mobile editing is
impractical). </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>What’s more to be learned?</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">There is no
denying that our Indian language communities have been putting efforts to
highlight and address the gender gap issue on Wikipedia. The <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiConference_India_2016">Wikiconference
India 2016</a> in August also had a panel responding to this topic where
panelists from both outreach and research threads proposed localized
perspective and strategies to fix the problem.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">However, there are
still much more to be learned. First of all, we need a more organized feedback
loop (a cycle of planning-executing-evaluating-sharing learning) for local
interventions to learn from our success and mistakes. Secondly, the issue has
to become more “public” in a sense that we are not just promoting within our
own circles. Awareness-building through media coverage and institutional
collaboration can bring in greater public opinions and volunteers to help the
online encyclopedia become a more inclusive place. The third point is a change
of mindset: women's feeling and experience should be put forward into the
central of our initiatives and interventions.</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>“We made it clear
that we were focusing on the (female) participants and their experience, the
content they created online are of course important too, but that’s just the
by-product.</em>” -<span style="text-align: right;">Wikiconference Indian 2016 Gender Gap panel presenter</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In other words, as
we are engaging more and more women, the focus should not be numbers but the
humans. At the same time, we should always encourage women to stand out and
speak out. As mentioned in the previous part, gender discrimination cases have
not yet been reported in our communities, but we also have to ensure if it does
happen both the female editors and the community should have a certain level of
awareness (what constitutes harassment/discrimination/sexism; when and how to
call out) and a report and support mechanism to the problem.</p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The road to a real
equalized knowledge system is not easy. As many have noticed and pointed out
“This is not just a Wikipedia problem!” Indeed, similar gender imbalance exists
in our academies, IT industries, free and open-source software (FOSS) workplace,
to name a few. Nonetheless, with the flexibility and the strong bond that Indian
Wikipedian communities possess, we can be one of the pioneers in positive
changes. After all, the knowledge created and action taken today will shape
what our tomorrow can be like.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-3'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-3</a>
</p>
No publishertingCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeGenderWikipediaWikipedia gender gapWikimedia2016-09-22T07:54:47ZBlog EntryAnother 5 Years: What Have We Learned about the Wikipedia Gender Gap and What Has Been Done? (Part 2)
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-2
<b>Five years after Wikimedia Foundation’s 2011 editor survey was conducted and revealed the gender gap issue, scholars, practitioners, and communities around the globe have come a long way to address the gender imbalance of the online encyclopedia. This blog post series (of three parts) serve as a summary of movements and discoveries about Wikipedia gender gap on both local (India) and global scales.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In the <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-1">last part</a> of the blog series, we examined the
definition and danger of the Wikipedia gender gap. This issue has been puzzling
for many – why is there such a wide gap globally?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Why is there a gender gap?</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The
reasons behind the Wikipedia gender gap are complex and culturally-sensitive. Two
main types of barriers are discussed as “inside of Wikipedia (internal)” and
“outside of Wikipedia (external).” </p>
<table class="plain">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Internal</th>
<th>External</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td> Challenges using Wiki mark-up and its interface</td>
<td>Limited access to internet and facilities</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>(rare in India) Challenges in getting help from community members</td>
<td>Lack of skills</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>(rare in India) Being discriminated as a newcomer</td>
<td>Lack of confidence</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>(rare in India) Experience of discriminative behavior/conflicts</td>
<td>Limited time</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The fear of becoming “visible” as one of the few female in the community</td>
<td>Preference to more socially interactive online activities (Lack of interest)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br /></td>
<td>Awareness - not knowing Wikipedia is editable</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">(From
Jadine Lannon (2013), <em>Same Gaps Different Experience</em>)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><u>India
v.s. the World</u></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Unfortunately,
most studies have been done in English Wikipedia and rarely in other smaller
language communities, despite the fact that these barriers can vary a lot in
different cultural, political, and economic context. In India, practitioners
and researchers have identified a few potential causes of low female participation
rate on Wikipedia. Contrary to what was discovered in the English Wikipedia,
researchers have found that Indian female Wikipedians are generally more active
and willing to participate in both online and offline interactions compared to
those in the English Wikipedia community. Reports of gender discrimination
cases are also fewer than those in the Western context. A possible explanation
to both phenomena is that Indian Wikipedian communities are rather small and
close-knitted which encourage more interpersonal networking and prevent
anonymous attacks<a name="_ftnref1" href="file:///C:/Users/Ting-Yi/Desktop/coop/Blog%20post/BP2_Gender%20Gap%20summary.docx#_ftn1"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[1]</span></span></a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><u>Awareness</u></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">However,
recruiting and keeping female Wikipedians in India do have its own barriers to
overcome. “Awareness” is discovered as one of the very primary barriers for most
to start editing Wikipedia. Many did not know that the online encyclopedia is easily
editable, and even more have not heard of (or are unfamiliar with the use of)
Wikipedia. Outreach events are important portals for both men and women to
discover and join local Wikipedia communities. And this is where weakness can
be turned into strength; as most newcomers are brought in through community
outreach events or personal connection, it creates a strong bond within the members
and a more welcoming culture featuring collectivism rather than individualism.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><u>On the
societal level?</u></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Although
the binary categorization of inside and outside of Wikipedia is widely used, it
can easily lead us to believe that we can draw a clear line in between
Wikipedia and the offline world, but neglect the big picture which shapes both
sides of the table. Ignoring the fundamental (societal) level of the issue and
its linkage to other factors poses the risk of nurturing a symptom-fixing
solution instead of a system-questioning culture.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">For
example, societal factors such as expectation on women’s/girls’ role and priority
in her family can prevent them from the access to required facilities,
internet, training, and personal leisure time for joining (or continuing
editing) Wikipedia. On the psychological experience side, some women reported
that they do not feel comfortable when being so “visible” online and in the
community<a name="_ftnref2" href="file:///C:/Users/Ting-Yi/Desktop/coop/Blog%20post/BP2_Gender%20Gap%20summary.docx#_ftn2"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[2]</span></span></a>; and this has a lot to do
with how our online (and offline) society has been constructed and
conceptualized as an “unsafe” space for women.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In
fact, Wagner et al. (2015)<a name="_ftnref3" href="file:///C:/Users/Ting-Yi/Desktop/coop/Blog%20post/BP2_Gender%20Gap%20summary.docx#_ftn3"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[3]</span></span></a> have found that a nation’s
Gender Inequality Index (GII) is associated to the country’s editor gender bias
on Wikipedia. Although it was a study focusing on Global North samples, the
logic behind is most likely applicable in India (which ranked <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/en/2015-report">130 out of 188 countries’ GII in 2014</a>)
– as the more unequally women is treated in the society, the less likely that
she can reach the pre-requisite to be a Wikipedian, or even be online. For
example, in India there is a much lower literacy rate for female than male – 53.7%
to 75.3% as reported in the <a href="http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/glance.aspx">2011
Census</a>. At the same time, population (above the age of 25) with at least
some secondary education is 56.6% for male and only 27% for female in India
based on the <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/GII#c">UN Human
Development Report</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">All
these societal factors and nuances feed into the gaps we see today – in higher
academic positions, in industries, and eventually in Wikipedia. It is
definitely not easy to address the macro-scale problems, but what we can do is
to change it from the community level to influence individuals and the society.
Hence, we are not just battling against an online phenomenon created by
individuals’ unwillingness to participate, but challenging and redressing the patriarchal
power while transforming the traditions of how knowledge flows. After all, bridging
the gender gap should not be merely a target of “We will reach X% female
participation rate by Y years,” it has much greater potential and
responsibility in the long run for our generations and societies.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/pyramid.png/image_large" alt="pyramid graph of statements and explanations on wpgg" class="image-inline" title="pyramid graph of statements and explanations on wpgg" /><br /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In the
next part of the blog series, we talk about: <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-3"><strong>What has been
done? </strong>& <strong>What’s more to be
learned?</strong></a></p>
<p> </p>
<div><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1">
<p><a name="_ftn1" href="file:///C:/Users/Ting-Yi/Desktop/coop/Blog%20post/BP2_Gender%20Gap%20summary.docx#_ftnref1"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[1]</span></span></a> From
Jadine Lannon (2013), <em>Same Gaps Different Experience</em> and from WCI 2016
presentation:</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<p><a name="_ftn2" href="file:///C:/Users/Ting-Yi/Desktop/coop/Blog%20post/BP2_Gender%20Gap%20summary.docx#_ftnref2"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[2]</span></span></a> Jadine, L., (2013). <em>Same Gaps
Different Experience</em></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<p><a name="_ftn3" href="file:///C:/Users/Ting-Yi/Desktop/coop/Blog%20post/BP2_Gender%20Gap%20summary.docx#_ftnref3"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[3]</span></span></a>
Wagner, Garcia, Jadidi,
& Strohmaier, (2015). It’s a man’s Wikipedia? Assessing gender inequality
in an online encyclopedia. From the Wikipedia editor community is sensible to
gender in Proceedings of the Ninth International AAAI Conference on Web and
Social Media 454. URL:
https://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/ICWSM/ICWSM15/paper/viewFile/10585/10528 </p>
<p> </p>
</div>
</div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-2'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-2</a>
</p>
No publishertingCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeGenderWikipediaWikipedia gender gapWikimedia2016-09-22T07:55:39ZBlog EntryAnother 5 Years: What Have We Learned about the Wikipedia Gender Gap and What Has Been Done? (Part 1)
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-1
<b>Five years after Wikimedia Foundation’s 2011 editor survey was conducted and revealed the gender gap issue, scholars, practitioners, and communities around the globe have come a long way to address the gender imbalance of the online encyclopedia. This blog post series (of three parts) serve as a summary of movements and discoveries about Wikipedia gender gap on both local (India) and global scales.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>“Our editing community continues to suffer
from a lack of women editors…. only 8.5% of editors are women.</em>”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Probably
the most cited statement for Wikipedia gender gap studies, the <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Editor_Survey_Report_-_April_2011.pdf">editor
survey</a> conducted by Wikimedia Foundation in April 2011 revealed
the alarming imbalance within the online encyclopedia community(s). In the same
survey, the percentage of female Wikipedians in India is reported as only 3%. When
we have repeatedly emphasized on the development and changes the internet can
bring to our societies, how do we ensure that behind our computer screen it is
not just another mirror reflecting what has been silenced and forgotten?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>What is the Wikipedia gender gap?</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">There
are two main focus on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_bias_on_Wikipedia">gender
gap within Wikipedia</a> – the editor demographic and the coverage of
topics – which are essentially flip sides of a coin. With fewer female
contributors, we are losing a more diverse knowledge platform for all. But the
issue is far more complex than simply having less information about “friendship
bracelets” than “baseball cards.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Looking
at the biography pages on Wikipedia, researchers found that not only is the number of
female biographies much lower than males’ (due to historical factors, availability
of firsthand sources, and editors’ interest), but the linguistic and topical
bias within also presents <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Writing_about_women#cite_note-1">a male-centered discourse</a>. For example, on women’s
biography pages, words related to one’s gender such as “women,” “female,”
“lady” will be used more commonly than the counterpart words in men’s pages;
and that a women’s biography will have more information about her marriage and
family life than her male counterpart’s. Studies also found that female-related
articles are more likely to be linked to male-related ones but not the other
way around<a name="_ftnref1" href="file:///C:/Users/Ting-Yi/Desktop/coop/Blog%20post/BP2_Gender%20Gap%20summary.docx#_ftn1"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[1]</span></span></a>. This
demonstrates that the editing preference, styles, and content
are closely related to the editors’ genders and how they see the world. In
other words, language and knowledge cannot be separated from one’s gender – the
Internet may be bodiless but it can never become genderless<a name="_ftnref2" href="file:///C:/Users/Ting-Yi/Desktop/coop/Blog%20post/BP2_Gender%20Gap%20summary.docx#_ftn2"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[2]</span></span></a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Wagner et al.’s paper<a name="_ftnref3" href="file:///C:/Users/Ting-Yi/Desktop/coop/Blog%20post/BP2_Gender%20Gap%20summary.docx#_ftn3"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[3]</span></span></a> in early
2016 also confirmed the existence of a “glass ceiling” for female figures to be
considered “notable” enough to have a Wikipedia bio page (or for the page not
to be deleted). Who gets to decide what is “notable enough” becomes
questionable when we understand the gender bias. As a matter of fact, while the
difference in male and female biography numbers is narrower for globally known
figures, a larger gender gap exists for “local hero(ine)s” because of the
notability threshold applied. That is to say, many women and female-related
topics are underrepresented (and underappreciated) on Wikipedia.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>The danger and why it matters</strong><strong></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em><u>Low awareness</u></em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The
Wikipedia gender gap is problematic and deserves more attention than ever not
only because gender imbalance should be tackled both online and offline, but
also that this imbalance is so prevalent and has been taken for granted by most.
Little do people consider, that with every single “click” on one’s google
search, we can be provided with an answer from a single-gender narration. This
imbalance and its problems are behind the scene – the share of male and female
editors are never on the surface without a holistic survey. While gender
balance has been pushed in our business, education, and government sectors, the
online encyclopedia feeding <a href="http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/">billions</a> of
internet users (and <a href="http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/PIRReport/Documents/Indicator_Reports.pdf">over
300 million in India</a> itself) is
still constructed in a male-dominant culture with little questioning from the
public.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em><u>Legacy
and influence</u></em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">There
is the saying that Internet is changing the human default from “forgetting”
into “remembering.” Wikipedia can serve as a great tool for digitization of
knowledge and the preservation of languages. What is to be recorded now will
become parts of (perhaps the most accessible) history in the future, and we
cannot afford a history without women’s voices and knowledge. Hence, to include
more women editors and women-related content is not simply out of a concern of
diversity, it is to ensure that this time we can pass on the legacy in a better
and more equitable fashion for the whole population.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em><u>The vicious
circle</u></em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>“We’ve to participate in meet ups
and workshops, then question (from family members) arises like how many guys
are there, is there any girl or not. In one sentence we're discouraged by our
surrounding</em>.”</p>
<p align="right" style="text-align: right;">– Female editor from local community</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The urgency of this problem is that
the lesser women are presented in the communities, the harder a motivation can
be established for new female editors to join. Now that we have made this issue
visible, the core mission we have is to ensure a change in the system and
environment that helps women feel more welcomed and comfortable – even when
they are aware that they are the minority.</p>
<div>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In the next part
of this blog series:<a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-2"> <strong>Why is
there a Gender Gap?</strong></a></p>
</div>
<p> </p>
<div><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1">
<p><a name="_ftn1" href="file:///C:/Users/Ting-Yi/Desktop/coop/Blog%20post/BP2_Gender%20Gap%20summary.docx#_ftnref1"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[1]</span></span></a> Wagner, Graells-Garrido,
Garcia, & Menczer, (2016). Women through the glass ceiling: gender
asymmetries in Wikipedia. <em>EPJ Data Science</em>. (5)1. Pp 1-24.</p>
<p>Graells-Garrido,
Lalmas, & Menczer, (2015). First women second sex: gender bias in Wikipedia.
In <em>Proceedings of the 26th ACM Conference on Hypertext & Social Media </em>(pp165)<em>.</em></p>
<p>Wagner, Garcia, Jadidi, & Strohmaier, (2015). It’s a man’s
Wikipedia? Assessing
gender inequality in an online encyclopedia. From the Wikipedia editor
community is sensible to gender in <em>Proceedings of the Ninth International
AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media 454.</em> URL: https://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/ICWSM/ICWSM15/paper/viewFile/10585/10528</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<p><a name="_ftn2" href="file:///C:/Users/Ting-Yi/Desktop/coop/Blog%20post/BP2_Gender%20Gap%20summary.docx#_ftnref2"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[2]</span></span></a> Code, L. (2000). Encyclopedia
of feminist theories. London: Routledge</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<p><a name="_ftn3" href="file:///C:/Users/Ting-Yi/Desktop/coop/Blog%20post/BP2_Gender%20Gap%20summary.docx#_ftnref3"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[3]</span></span></a> Wagner, Graells-Garrido,
Garcia, & Menczer, (2016). Women through the glass ceiling: gender
asymmetries in Wikipedia. <em>EPJ Data Science</em>. (5)1. Pp 1-24.</p>
</div>
</div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-1'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-1</a>
</p>
No publishertingCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeGenderWikipediaWikimedia2016-09-21T10:13:59ZBlog EntryAnnouncing Selected Researchers: Welfare, Gender, and Surveillance
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/announcing-selected-researchers-welfare-gender-and-surveillance
<b>We published a Call for Researchers on January 10, 2020, to invite applications from researchers interested in writing a narrative essay that interrogates the modes of surveillance that people of LGBTHIAQ+ and gender non-conforming identities and sexual orientations are put under as they seek sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in India. We received 29 applications from over 10 locations in India in response to the call, and are truly overwhelmed by and grateful for this interest and support. We eventually selected applications by 3 researchers that we felt aligned best with the specific objectives of the project. Please find below brief profile notes of the selected researchers.</b>
<p> </p>
<h4>Call for Researchers: <a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/researchers-welfare-gender-surveillance-call" target="_blank">URL</a></h4>
<hr />
<h2>Kaushal Bodwal</h2>
<p>Kaushal is persuing his MPhil in Sociology at Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. He completed his Master's in Sociology at Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University after getting a BSc honors degree in Biomedical Sciences from Delhi University. He is one of the founding members of Hasratein: a queer collective, New Delhi. He has been an active spokesperson for Queer and Trans Rights in India and have been on a number of panel discussion on Trans Act 2019 in various campuses. He has also delivered a lecture series on Colonialism and Medicine in Ambedkar University, Kashmiri Gate, Delhi. His areas of interest are Sociology of medicine, gender and medicine, sexuality, religion and biomedical science, intersex studies.</p>
<p><a href="https://kafila.online/2019/08/27/queerness-as-disease-a-continuing-narrative-in-21st-century-india-kaushal-bodwal/" target="_blank">Queerness as disease – a continuing narrative in 21st century India</a>, Kafila, 27 August 2019</p>
<p><a href="https://www.firstpost.com/india/what-it-means-to-be-a-queer-and-live-under-regime-bent-on-remaking-india-on-terms-of-their-tradition-writes-queer-scholar-trolled-by-right-wing-7915391.html" target="_blank">What it means to be queer under a regime bent on remaking India on its own ideological terms</a>, Firstpost, 17 January 2020</p>
<h2>Rosamma Thomas</h2>
<p>Rosamma has worked both as a reporter and as an editor of news reports with newspapers. She currently writes reports for NGOs while also undertaking freelance reporting assignments. She is based in Pune.</p>
<p><a href="http://iced.cag.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2016-17/NTP%2007/article.pdf " target="_blank">India's mining state steps up fight to rein in killer silicosis</a>, The Times of India, 29 June 2016</p>
<p><a href="https://www.newsclick.in/doctor-may-have-found-early-marker-silicosis-who-will-fund-him" target="_blank">Doctor may have found early marker for silicosis, but who will fund him?</a>, Newsclick, 18 July 2019</p>
<p><a href="https://www.newsclick.in/Asbestos-Poisoning-Raghunath-Manwar-Fight-Safer-Work-Conditions" target="_blank">Asbestos poisoning: Raghunath Manwar’s fight for safer work conditions</a>, Newsclick, 9 January 2020</p>
<h2>Shreya Ila Anasuya</h2>
<p>Shreya is a writer, editor, journalist and performance artist currently based in Calcutta. Her fiction explores the places where myth, memory, history and the performing arts meet. As a journalist, her work explores gender, sexuality, politics, culture and history. She has been published in <em>The Wire</em>, <em>Caravan</em>, <em>Scroll</em>, <em>Mint Lounge</em>, <em>Deep Dives</em>, <em>GenderIT</em>, <em>Helter Skelter</em>, and many more. She is the editor of the digital publication <a href="https://medium.com/skin-stories" target="_blank"><em>Skin Stories</em></a>, housed at the non-profit Point of View. She is the writer and narrator of ‘Gul - a story in text, song and dance’ which has been performed in several cities in India. She was a Felix Scholar at SOAS, University of London, from where she has an MA in Anthropology. For a full portfolio, please click <a href="http://porterfolio.net/dervishdancing" target="_blank">here</a> or visit her <a href="https://www.shreyailaanasuya.com/" target="_blank">website</a>.</p>
<hr />
<p>This project is led by Ambika Tandon, Aayush Rathi, and Sumandro Chattapadhyay at the Centre for Internet and Society, and is supported by a grant from Privacy International.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/announcing-selected-researchers-welfare-gender-and-surveillance'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/announcing-selected-researchers-welfare-gender-and-surveillance</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroWelfare GovernancePrivacyGenderResearchGender, Welfare, and PrivacyResearchers at Work2020-02-13T15:04:24ZBlog EntryA Selection of Tweets on How to Make Crowdmaps Effectual for Mapping Violence against Women
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/gender-it-february-19-2015-selection-tweets-how-make-crowdmaps-effectual-mapping-violence-against-women
<b>This is a collection of tweets by Rohini Lakshane on making crowdmaps more effective for mapping gender violence. The compilation of tweets has been republished by GenderIT.org.</b>
<div class="storify"><iframe class="s-header-ext s-header-iframe_rohinil-rohini-s-week-pinthecreep" frameborder="no" id="header-54dc4dbcfefa03f5059dcdb7" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe><iframe frameborder="no" height="750" scrolling="no" src="http://storify.com/rohinil/rohini-s-week-pinthecreep/embed?border=false" width="100%"></iframe></div>
<div id="footer">
<div class="section clearfix">
<div id="clearme"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="_mcePaste"><a class="u-url profile" href="https://twitter.com/pinthecreep"><span class="full-name"><span class="p-name customisable-highlight"> </span></span></a>
<div class="content e-entry-content">
<hr />
<p><br />For more see the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.genderit.org/feminist-talk/selection-tweets-how-make-crowdmaps-effectual-mapping-violence-against-women">original published on the website of Gender IT.org</a> on February 19, 2015.</p>
</div>
</div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/gender-it-february-19-2015-selection-tweets-how-make-crowdmaps-effectual-mapping-violence-against-women'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/gender-it-february-19-2015-selection-tweets-how-make-crowdmaps-effectual-mapping-violence-against-women</a>
</p>
No publisherrohiniGenderInternet Governance2015-03-12T00:42:08ZBlog EntryA Gendered Future of Work
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/ambika-tandon-and-aayush-rathi-december-19-2018-a-gendered-future-of-work
<b>This paper aims to contextualise the narrative around digitalisation and automation with reference to women's labour in India.
The paper has been authored by Ambika Tandon and Aayush Rathi, edited by Elonnai Hickok and Rakhi Sehgal. Research assistance has been provided by Divya Kushwaha.</b>
<h3>Abstract</h3>
<p>Studies around the future of work have predicted technological disruption across industries, leading to a shift in the nature and organisation of work, as well as the substitution of certain kinds of jobs and growth of others. This paper seeks to contextualise this disruption for women workers in India. The paper argues that two aspects of the structuring of the labour market will be pertinent in shaping the future of work: the gendered nature of skilling and skill classification, and occupational segregation along the lines of gender and caste. We will take the case study of the electronics manufacturing sector to flesh out these arguments further. Finally, we bring in a discussion on the platform economy, a key area of discussion under the future of work. We characterise it as both generating employment opportunities, particularly for women, due to the flexible nature of work, and retrenching traditional inequalities built into non-standard employment.</p>
<h3>Introduction</h3>
<p>The question on the future of work across the global North - and parts of the global South - has recently been raised with regards to technological disruption, as a result of digitisation, and more recently, automation (Leurent et al., 2018). While the former has been successively replacing routine cognitive tasks, the latter, defined as the deployment of cyber-physical systems, will enable the replacement of manual tasks previously being performed using human labour (Leurent et al., 2018). In combination, these are expected to have a twofold effect on: the “structure of employment”, which includes occupational roles and nature of tasks, and “forms of work”, including interpersonal relationships and organization of work (Piasna and Drahokoupil, 2017). Building from historical evidence, the diffusion of digitising or automative technologies can be anticipated to take place differently across economic contexts, with different factors causing varied kinds of technological upgradation across the global North and South. Moreover, occupational analysis projects occupations in the latter to be at a significantly higher risk of being disrupted than the former (WTO, 2017). </p>
<p>However, these concerns are somewhat offset by the barriers to technological adoption that exist in lower income countries such as lower wages, and a relatively higher share of non-routine manual jobs (WTO, 2017). 1 With the global North typically being early and quicker adopters of automation technologies, the differential technology levels in countries have been in fact been utilised to understand global inequality (Foster and Rosenzweig, 2010). Consequently, the labour-cost advantage that economies in the global South enjoy may be eroded, leading to what may be understood as re-shoring/back shoring - a reversal of offshoring (ILO, 2017). This may especially be the case in sectors where there has been a failure to capitalise on the labour-cost advantage by evolving supplier networks to complement assembly activities (such as in manufacturing) (Milington, 2017), or production of high-value services (such as in the services sector). </p>
<p>Extensive work over the past three decades has been conducted on the effects of liberalisation and globalisation on employment for women in the global South. This has explored conditional empowerment and exploitation as women are increasingly employed in factories and offices, with different ways of reproducing and challenging patriarchal relations. However, the effects of reshoring and technological disruption have yet to be explored to any degree of granularity for this population, which arguably will be one of the first to face its effects. This can be seen as a consequence of industries that rely on low cost labour being impacted first by re-shoring, such as textile and apparel and electronics manufacturing (Kucera and Tejani, 2014).</p>
<p>Download the full paper <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/pdf-gendered-future-of-work" class="internal-link" title="PDF Gendered Future of Work">here</a>.<a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/pdf-gendered-future-of-work" class="internal-link" title="PDF Gendered Future of Work"> </a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/ambika-tandon-and-aayush-rathi-december-19-2018-a-gendered-future-of-work'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/ambika-tandon-and-aayush-rathi-december-19-2018-a-gendered-future-of-work</a>
</p>
No publisherAmbika Tandon and Aayush RathiGenderJobsInternet Governance2020-07-21T06:29:22ZBlog Entry A Compilation of Research on the Gig Economy
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/a-compilation-of-research-on-the-gig-economy
<b>Over the past year, researchers at CIS have been studying gig economies and gig workers in India. Their work has involved consultative discussions with domestic workers, food delivery workers, taxi drivers, trade union leaders, and government representatives to document the state of gig work in India, and highlight the concerns of gig workers.
The imposition of a severe lockdown in India in response to the outbreak of COVID-19 has left gig workers in precarious positions. Without the privilege of social distancing, these workers are having to contend with a drastic reduction in income, while also placing themselves at heightened health risks. </b>
<p> </p>
<h3 dir="ltr">On gig economy during the COVID-19 pandemic</h3>
<p dir="ltr">Supported by <a href="https://www.apc.org/en/project/firn-feminist-internet-research-network">Feminist Internet Research Network</a> led by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC)</p>
<ul><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr">Along with Tandem Research, we spoke to leaders of four unions that represent gig workers across the country about the risks and vulnerabilities that they are having to contend with in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. <strong>Zothan Mawii</strong> (Tandem Research), <strong>Ambika Tandon</strong>, and <strong>Aayush Rathi</strong> share key reflections in this essay published on The Wire. (<a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/gig-workers-need-support">link</a>).</p>
</li><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr">Based on the discussion, a charter of recommendations was prepared with contributions from participants, and was shared with public and private stakeholders. (<a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/covid-19-charter-of-recommendations">link</a>)</p>
</li></ul>
<div> </div>
<h3 dir="ltr">On domestic workers in the platform economy </h3>
<p dir="ltr">Supported by <a href="https://www.apc.org/en/project/firn-feminist-internet-research-network">Feminist Internet Research Network</a> led by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC)</p>
<ul><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr">We discussed our ongoing research on the platformisation of domestic work in India with domestic workers, union members, and representatives from the Karnataka Labour Department in November 2019. <strong>Tasneem Mewa</strong> documented the rich discussion from this consultation. (<a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/platformisation-of-domestic-work-in-india-report-from-a-multistakeholder-consultation">link</a>)</p>
</li></ul>
<p dir="ltr">CIS worked with members of the Domestic Workers Rights Union to conduct field research on the lives and challenges of domestic workers in the platform economy. The following essays published on GenderIT capture their experiences of doing this research:</p>
<ul><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr"><strong>Parijatha G.P.</strong> writes about a “gated society management app,” MyGate, and the experiences of surveillance of migrant workers in Bengaluru. (<a href="https://www.genderit.org/articles/domestic-work-platform-economy-reflections-awareness-workers-rights">link</a>) </p>
</li><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr"><strong>Radha Keerthna</strong> writes about the similarity in the conditions of domestic workers in the traditional and platform economy, particularly the precarity and invisibility of labour. (<a href="https://www.genderit.org/articles/domestic-work-platform-economy-reflections-conducting-interviews-sensitive-issues">link</a>)</p>
</li><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr"><strong>Sumathi</strong>, a union leader, reflects on and her experience as an activist-researcher interacting with domestic gig workers through the course of our study. (<a href="https://www.genderit.org/articles/domestic-work-platform-economy-reflections-difficulty-set-interviews">link</a>)</p>
</li><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr"><strong>Zeenathunissa</strong> shares the difficulty of speaking to domestic workers in the gig economy, especially when workers undergo constant surveillance by employers and companies. (<a href="https://www.genderit.org/articles/domestic-work-platform-economy-reflections-research-and-social-work">link</a>)</p>
</li></ul>
<p dir="ltr"> </p>
<h3 dir="ltr">On economic, algorithmic, and affective vulnerabilities of gig workers</h3>
<p dir="ltr">Supported by <a href="https://azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/SitePages/research-grant-overview.aspx">Azim Premji University</a></p>
<p dir="ltr">CIS commissioned a set of four field studies of platform workers delivering food and driving taxis for platform companies in Mumbai and New Delhi. The researchers involved wrote a series of essays that were published by Platypus blog of CASTAC:</p>
<ul><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr"><strong>Anushree Gupta</strong> explores women’s presence as workers as well as passengers/customers in the ride hailing platform economy in Mumbai and related concerns of safety and risk mitigation. (<a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/anushree-gupta-ladies-log-women-safety-risk-transfer-ridehailing">link</a>)</p>
</li><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr"><strong>Sarah Zia</strong> highlights how algorithmic management of work and revenue targets of gig workers impact their everyday lives and plans for the future. (<a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/sarah-zia-not-knowing-as-pedagogy-ride-hailing-drivers-in-delhi">link</a>)</p>
</li><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr">Kinship networks are a critical source of safety and security for workers in the gig economy. <strong>Simiran Lalvani</strong> writes about the network among transportation workers in Mumbai, also reflecting on implications for those who are excluded. (<a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/simiran-lalvani-workers-fictive-kinship-relations-app-based-food-delivery-mumbai">link</a>)</p>
</li><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr"><strong>Noopur Raval</strong> and <strong>Rajendra Jadhav</strong> describe the unregulated and exploitative temporal structures of gig work, and how work-time of gig workers get configured by customer-facing promises of platform companies. (<a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/noopur-raval-rajendra-jadhav-power-chronography-of-food-delivery-work">link</a>)</p>
</li><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr">The four researchers, led by <strong>Noopur Raval</strong> (co-PI for the project, held a roundtable discussion to reflect on methods, challenges, inter-subjectivities and possible future directions for research on the gig economy and its workers. (<a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/india-gig-work-economy-roundtable">link</a>)</p>
</li></ul>
The consultants - Noopur Raval, Anushree Gupta, Rajendra Jadhav, Sarah Zia and Simiran Lalvani - involved in this project on mapping digital labour in India’s platform economies (in Mumbai and New Delhi) gathered in <a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/platform-work-india-panel-discussion-20190719">Bengaluru on July 19, 2019</a> to share their preliminary field insights along with reflections on what it meant to do such studies, how they went about studying gig-work, and challenges that arose in their work. Watch the livestream from this discussion <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1lwpb3jRMQ">here</a>.
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/a-compilation-of-research-on-the-gig-economy'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/a-compilation-of-research-on-the-gig-economy</a>
</p>
No publisherAayush Rathi, Ambika Tandon, Sumandro ChattapadhyayGenderDigital LabourCovid19ResearchPlatform-WorkRAW ResearchresearchResearchers at WorkDigital Domestic Work2020-05-19T08:20:20ZBlog Entry377 Bites the Dust: Unpacking the long and winding road to the judicial decriminalization of homosexuality in India
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/socio-legal-review-national-law-school-of-india-university-agnidipto-tarafder-and-arandrajit-basu-377-bites-the-dust
<b>An informal case comment tracing the journey and assessing the societal implications the recent 377 (Navtej Johar v Union of India).</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The <a class="external-link" href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/">article was published in Socio-Legal Review</a>, a magazine published by National Law School of India University on October 11, 2018.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Introduction</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After a prolonged illness due to AIDS-related complications, the gregarious Queen front-man Farrokh Bulsara (known to the world as Freddie Mercury) breathed his last in his home in Kensington, London in 1991. Despite being the symbol of gay masculinity for over a decade, Mercury never explicitly confirmed his sexual orientation-for reasons that remain unknown but could stem from prevailing social stigma. Occluded from public discourse and shrouded in irrational fears, the legitimate problems of the LGBT+ community, including the serial killer of HIV/AIDS was still relegated to avoidable debauchery as opposed to genuine illness. Concerted activism throughout the 90’s-depicted on the big screen through masterpieces such as <i>Philadelphia,</i> alerted the Western public of this debacle, which lead to a hard-fought array of rights and a reduction of social ostracization at the turn of the century for the LGBT+ community across western countries. This includes over two dozen countries that have allowed same-sex marriages and a host of others that recognize civil union between same-sex partners in some form.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn1"><sup>[1]</sup></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On 6<sup>th</sup> September, 2018, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code – a colonial era law that criminalized “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” bit the dust in New Delhi, at the hands of five judges of the Supreme Court of India (<i>Navtej Johar v Union of India</i>).<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> Large parts of the country celebrated the restoration of the ideals of the Indian Constitution. It was freedom, not just for a community long suppressed, but for the ethos of our foundation that for a century suffered this incessant incongruity. The celebrations were tempered, perhaps by a recognition of how long this fight had taken, the unnecessary hurdles – both judicial and otherwise – that were erected along the way, and a realization of the continued suffering this community might have to tolerate till they truly earn the acceptance they deserve. While the judgment will serve as a document that signifies the sanctity of our constitutional ethos, in the grander scheme of things it is still but a small step, with the potential to catalyze a giant leap forward. For our common future, it is imperative that the LGBT+ community does not undertake this leap alone but is accompanied by the rest of the nation- a nation that recognizes the travails of this long march to freedom.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Long March to Freedom</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b> </b>Modelled on the 1533 Buggery Act in the UK, Section 377 was introduced into the Indian Penal Code by Thomas Macaulay, a representative of the British Raj. While our colonial masters progressed in 1967, the hangover enmeshed in our penal laws lingered on. Public discourse on this legal incongruity emerged initially with the publication of a report titled <i>Less than Gay: A Citizens Report on the Status of Homosexuality in India</i>, spearheaded by activist Siddhartha Gautam, on behalf of the AIDS Bhedbav Virodhi Andolan (ABVA) that sought to fight to decriminalise homosexuality and thereby move towards removing its associated stigma.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn3"><sup>[3]</sup></a> The ABVA went on to file a petition for this decriminalisation in 1994. The judicial skirmish continued in 2001 with the Naz Foundation, a Delhi-based NGO that works on HIV/AIDS and sexual health, filing a petition by way of Public Interest Litigation asking for a reading down of the Section. The Delhi High Court initially dismissed this petition – stating that the foundation had no <i>locus standi.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn4"><b>[4]</b></a></i> Naz Foundation appealed against this before the Supreme Court, which overturned the dismissal on technical grounds and ordered the High Court to decide the case on merits.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court held that Section 377 violated privacy, autonomy and liberty, ideals which were grafted into the ecosystem of fundamental rights guaranteed by Part-III of the Indian Constitution.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn5"><sup>[5]</sup></a> It stated that the Constitution was built around the core tenet of inclusiveness, which was denigrated by the sustained suppression of the LGBT+ community. It was an impressive judgment, not only because of the bold and progressive claim it made in a bid to reverse a century and a half of oppression, but also because of the quality of the judgment itself. It tied in principles of international law, along with both Indian and Foreign judgments in addition to citing literature on sexuality as a form of identity. For a brief while, faith in the ‘system’ seemed justified.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Hope, however, is a fickle friend. Four years from the day, an astrologer by the name of Suresh Kumar Koushal challenged the Delhi High Court’s verdict.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn6">[6]</a> Some of the reasons behind this challenge would defy any standard sense of rationality. These included national security concerns – as soldiers who stay away from their families<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn7"><sup>[7]</sup></a> may enter into consensual relationships with each other – leading to distractions that might end up in military defeats. Confoundingly, the Supreme Court’s verdict lent judicial legitimacy to Koushal’s thought process, as they overturned the <i>Naz Foundation</i> judgment and affirmed the constitutional validity of Section 377 on some truly bizarre grounds.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn8"><sup>[8]</sup></a> Indian constitutional tradition permits discrimination by the state only if classification is based on an <i>intelligible differential</i> between the group being discriminated against from the rest of the populace; having a <i>rational nexus</i> with a constitutionally valid objective. To satisfy this threshold, the Supreme Court stated, without any evidence, that there are two classes of people-those who engage in sexual intercourse in the ‘ordinary course’ and those who do not- thereby satisfying the intelligible differential threshold.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn9"><sup>[9]</sup></a> As pointed out by constitutional law scholar Gautam Bhatia, this differential makes little sense – an extrapolation of this idea could indicate that intercourse with a blue-eyed person was potentially not ‘ordinary’, since the probability of this occurring is rare.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn10"><sup>[10]</sup></a> The second justification was based on numbers. The Court argued that statistics pointed to the fact that only 200 people had been arrested under this law, which suggested that it was largely dormant and hence, discrimination doesn’t get established <i>per se</i>.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn11">[11]</a> In other words, a plain reading of the judgement might lead one to conclude that the random arrests of a small number of citizens would be constitutionally protected, so long it does not overshoot an arbitrarily determined <i>de minimis</i> threshold! The judgment seemed to drag Indian society ceaselessly into the past. This backward shift internally was accompanied by international posturing by India that opposed the recent wave of UN resolutions which sought to advocate LGBT+ rights.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn12"><sup>[12]</sup></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Thankfully, there remained a way to correct such Supreme Court induced travesties, through what is known as a curative petition, a concept introduced by the Court itself through one of its earlier judgements.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn13">[13]</a> Needless to mention, such a petition was duly filed before the Court.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn14">[14]</a> While this curative petition was under consideration, last August, a 9-judge bench of the Court spun some magic through a landmark judgment in <i>Just. (Retd.)</i> <i>K S Puttuswamy v Union of India</i><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn15"><sup>[15]</sup></a> which stated that the ‘right to privacy’ was a recognised fundamental right as per the Indian Constitution. The judgment in <i>Koushal</i> was singled out and criticised by Justice Chandrachud who asserted the fact that an entire community could not be deprived of the dignity of privacy in their sexual relations.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Strategically, this was a master-class. While the right to privacy cannot alone serve as the justification for allowing individuals to choose their sexual orientation, in several common law nations including the UK<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn16"><sup>[16]</sup></a> and the USA<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn17"><sup>[17]</sup></a>, privacy has served as the initial spark for legitimizing same-sex relations. A year before the privacy judgment was delivered, a group of individuals had filed a separate petition arguing that Section 377 violated their constitutional rights. The nature of this petition was intrinsically different<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn18"><sup>[18]</sup></a> from the Naz Foundation’s, since the Foundation had filed a ‘public interest litigation’ in a representative capacity whereas this petition affected individuals in their personal capacity, implying that the nature of the claim in each case was different.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The cold case file of this petition that crystallised into the iconic judgment delivered last week, was brought to the fore and listed for hearing in January 2018.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn19">[19]</a> Justice Chandrachud’s judgement in <i>Puttaswamy</i>, that tore apart the <i>Koushal</i> verdict, had no small role to play in the unfolding of this saga.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn20"><sup>[20]</sup></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">And so the hearings began. The government chose to not oppose the petition and allowed the court to decide the fate of Article 377.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn21">[21]</a> This was another convenient manoeuvre by the legislature, effectively shifting the ball into the judiciary’s court, shielding itself from potential pushbacks from its conservative voter-base. However, as public support for decriminalisation started pouring in from various quarters, leaders of religious groups were quick to make their opposition known, leaving the five judges on the bench to decide the fate of a community long suppressed through the clutches of an illegitimate law.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>“<i>I am what I am</i>”: The judgement, redemption and beyond </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“<i>The mis-application of this provision denied them the Fundamental Right to equality guaranteed by Article 14. It infringed the Fundamental Right to non-discrimination under Article 15, and the Fundamental Right to live a life of dignity and privacy guaranteed by Article 21. The LGBT persons deserve to live a life unshackled from the shadow of being ‘unapprehended felons</i>.”<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn22"><sup>[22]</sup></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Justice Indu Malhotra summed up her short judgement with this momentous pronouncement, adding that ‘<i>history owes an apology</i>’<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn23"><sup>[23]</sup></a> to the members of the LGBT+ community, for the injustices faced during these centuries of hatred and apathy. It seems fair to suggest that this idea of ‘righting the wrongs of the past’ became the underlying theme of the Supreme Court’s landmark verdict on the constitutionality of Section 377. Five judges, through four concurring but separate opinions, extracted the essence of the claim against this law – protecting the virtue of personal liberty and dignity. In doing so, it exculpated itself from the travesty of <i>Suresh Kaushal</i>, emancipating the ‘miniscule minority’ from their bondage before the law and took yet another step towards restoring faith in the ‘system’ of which the judiciary is currently positioning itself as the sole conscientious wing. Perhaps the only set of people shamed through this verdict were our parliamentarians, who on two separate occasions in the recent past had thwarted any chance of change when they opposed, insulted and ridiculed Dr. Shashi Tharoor while he attempted to introduce a Bill decriminalizing homosexuality on the floor of the House.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn24"><sup>[24]</sup></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Earlier in the day, the Chief Justice, authoring the lead opinion for himself and Justice Khanwilkar, began with the ominous pronouncement that ‘denying self-expression (to the individual) was an invitation to death’,<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn25"><sup>[25]</sup></a> emphasizing through his long judgement the importance of promoting individuality in all its varied facets- in matters of choice, privacy, speech and expression.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn26"><sup>[26]</sup></a> Arguing strongly in support of the ‘progressive realization of rights’,<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn27"><sup>[27]</sup></a> which he identified as the soul of constitutional morality, the Chief Justice outlawed the ‘artificial distinction’ drawn between heterosexual and homosexual through the application of the ‘equality’ doctrine embedded in Articles 14 and 15.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn28"><sup>[28]</sup></a> Noting that the recent criminal law amendment recognizes the absence of consent as the basis for sexual offences, he pointed out the lack of a similar consent-based framework in the context of non peno-vaginal sex, effectively de-criminalizing ‘voluntary sexual acts by consenting adults’ as envisaged within the impugned law.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn29"><sup>[29]</sup></a> The Chief Justice went on to elaborate that the right to equality, liberty and privacy are inherent in all individuals, and no discrimination on grounds of sex would survive the scrutiny of the law.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn30"><sup>[30]</sup></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Justice Nariman in his separate opinion charted out the legislative history behind the adoption of the Indian Penal Code. In his inimitable manner, he travelled effortlessly across time and space to source historical material and legislations, judicial decisions and literary critique from various jurisdictions to bolster the claim that the discrimination faced by homosexuals had no basis in law or fact.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn31"><sup>[31]</sup></a> For instance, referring to the Wolfenden Committee Report in the UK regarding decriminalisation of homosexuality which urged legislators to distinguish between ‘sin and crime’, the judge went on to lament the lives lost to mere social perception, including that of Oscar Wilde and Alan Turing.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn32"><sup>[32]</sup></a> Repelling the popular myth of homosexuality being a ‘disease’, he quoted from the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, the US Supreme Court’s seminal judgment in <i>Lawrence v Texas<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn33"><sup><b>[33]</b></sup></a></i> and several other studies on the intersection of homosexuality and public health, dismissing this contention entirely. Justice Nariman, invoking the doctrine of ‘manifest arbitrariness’<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn34"><sup>[34]</sup></a> to dispel the notion that the law treating homosexuals was ‘different’. Since it was based on sexual identity and orientation, such a law was a gross abuse of the equal protection of the Constitution.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Justice Chandrachud, having already built a formidable reputation as the foremost liberal voice on the bench, launched a scathing, almost visceral attack against the idea of ‘unnatural sexual offence’ insofar as it applied to homosexuality.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn35"><sup>[35]</sup></a> Mirroring the concern first espoused by Justice Nariman about the chilling effect of majoritarianism, he wondered aloud what societal harm did a provision like Section 377 seek to prevent. In fact, his separate opinion is categorical in its negation of the ‘intelligible differentia’ between ‘natural’ and ‘non-natural’ sex, sardonically stating the perpetuation of heteronormativity cannot be the object of a law.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn36"><sup>[36]</sup></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As an interesting aside, his judgement in <i>Puttaswamy</i> famously introduced a section called ‘discordant notes’<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn37"><sup>[37]</sup></a> which led an introspective Court to disown and overturn disturbing precedent from the past, most notably the Court’s opinion in the <i>ADM Jabalpur</i>,<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn38"><sup>[38]</sup></a> decided that the right to seek redressal for violation of Fundamental Rights remained suspended as a consequence of the National Emergency.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In a similar act of constitutional manipulation, he delved into a critique of the Apex Court’s judgement in the <i>Nergesh Meerza</i><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn39"><sup>[39]</sup></a> case. This was a decision which upheld the discriminatory practice of treating men and women as different classes of employees by Air India, denying the women employees certain benefits ordinarily available to men. The Court in <i>Nergesh Meerza</i> read the non-discrimination guarantee in Article 15 narrowly to understand that discrimination based on ‘sex alone’ would be struck down. He held that since the sexes had differences in the mode of recruitment, promotion and conditions of service, it did not tantamount to ‘merely sex based’ categorization and was an acceptable form of classification. In his missionary zeal to exorcise the Court of past blemishes, Dr. Chandrachud observed that interpreting constitutional provisions through such narrow tests as ‘sex alone’ would lead to denuding the freedoms guaranteed within the text. Though not the operative part of the judgement, one hopes his exposition of the facets of the equality doctrine and fallacies in reasoning in <i>Nargesh Meerza</i> will pave the way for just jurisprudence to emerge in sex discrimination cases in the future.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn40"><sup>[40]</sup></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Reverting to the original issue, the judge addresses several key concerns voiced by the LGBT+ community through their years of struggle. He spoke of bridging the public-private divide by ensuring the protection of sexual minorities in the public sphere as well, wherein they are most vulnerable. Alluding to his opinion in <i>Puttaswamy</i>, he declares that <i>all people</i> have an inalienable right to privacy, which is a fundamental aspect of their liberty and the ‘soulmate of dignity’- ascribing the right to dignified life as a constitutional guarantee for one and all. Denouncing the facial neutrality<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn41"><sup>[41]</sup></a> of Section 377, insofar as it targets certain ‘acts and not classes of people’, his broad and liberal reading of non-discrimination goes beyond the semantics of neutrality and braves the original challenge- fashioning a justice system with real equality at its core.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Shall History Absolve Us?</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Where to from here then? Can the 500 pages of this iconic judgment magically change the social norms that define the existence of LGBT+ communities in modern Indian society? If the reception of this judgement by the conservative factions within society is anything to go by, the answer is clear enough. Yet, the role of this judgment – in an ecosystem of other enablers – might just be a crucial first step. As noted by Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig, law can create, displace or change the collective expectations of society by channelling societal behaviour in a manner that conforms with its contents.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn42"><sup>[42]</sup></a> An assessment of the impact of <i>Brown v Board of Education </i>on African-Americans offers an interesting theoretical analogy.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn43"><sup>[43]</sup></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The unanimous decision of the US Supreme Court in <i>Brown </i>marked a watershed moment in American history that struck down the ‘<i>separate but equal</i>’ doctrine which served as the basis for segregation between communities of colour and the dominant White majority in American public schools. While this ruling initially faced massive resistance, it laid the edifice for progressive legislation such as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Act a decade later.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn44"><sup>[44]</sup></a> While its true impact on evolving acceptable standards of social behaviour remains disputed with valid arguments on all sides, <i>Brown</i> kick-started a counter-culture that sought to wipe out the toxic norms that the Jim Crow-era had birthed in the 1950s. Along with subsequent decisions by the US Supreme Court, it acted as the catalyst that morphed the boundaries between ‘us’ and ‘them’. Republican Senator Barry Goldwater attempted to stifle this counterculture in 1964 by undertaking a sustained campaign that opposed the dictum in <i>Brown</i> not in opposition to African-Americans but instead in opposition to an overly intrusive federal government that was taking away from the cultural traditions and values, particularly of the South.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn45"><sup>[45]</sup></a> In the past few years, cultural apathy seems to have taken a more sinister turn as recent incidents of police violence and the rebirth of white supremacist movements indicate.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Lessons from a different context in an alternate society can never be transposed in another without substantial alterations. Discrimination is intersectional and a celebration of identity is a recognition of intersectionality. Therefore, the path ahead for the LGBT+ community lies in crafting a strategy that works for them – a strategy that can draw from lessons learned in other contexts. Last week’s judgment could morph into a point of reference for a counter-cultural movement that works to remove the stains of oppression. The key challenge is carrying this message to swathes of the populace who, goaded by leading public figures, continue to treat homosexuality as an unnatural phenomenon<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn46"><sup>[46]</sup></a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Being a majority Hindu nation, one possible medium of communication could be reference to ancient Hindu scriptures that do not ostracize individuals based on their sexual orientation but treat them as fellow sojourners on their path to <i>Nirvana, </i>the idea of spiritual emancipation, a central tenet of Hindu belief.<a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftn47"><sup>[47]</sup></a> Strategically, using this framework as a dangling carrot for religious conservatives may be a potential conversation starter but comes riddled with potholes, as the same scriptures could be interpreted to justify subjugation of women, for example. A more holistic approach might be reading these scriptures into the overarching foundation stone of society -The Indian Constitution, which is not a rigid, static document – stuck in the time of its inception – but is a dynamic one that responds to and triggers the Indian social and political journey. The burden of a constitution, as reiterated by Chief Justice Misra and Dr. Chandrachud is to ‘draw a curtain’ on the past of social injustice and prejudice and embrace constitutional morality, a cornerstone of which is the principle of inclusiveness. Inclusiveness driven by rhetoric in political speeches and storylines on the big screen. Inclusiveness that fosters symbiosis between the teachings of religious scriptures and that of Constitutional Law Professors – an inclusiveness that begets the idea of India, which is a fair deal for all Indians.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>…And Justice for all?</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In the aftermath of this decision come further legal challenges. Legally, while the ‘right to love’ has been vindicated, the right to formalise this union through societal recognition remains to be established. This judgement paves the way for the acceptance of homosexual relationships, but not necessarily the right to marry for a homosexual couple. There are passages within Justice Chandrachud’s visionary analysis which directly address this concern, and advocate for the ‘full protection’ of the law being extended to the LGBT+ populace. It will certainly be instructive for future courts, and one tends to remain hopeful that the long march to freedom for the LGBT+ community and its supporters will not come to a screeching halt through judicial intervention or State action. If anything, the wings of government should bolster these efforts, in view of this verdict.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">That said, social acceptance seldom waits on the sanction of the law.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The outpouring of public support which was witnessed through public demonstrations, social media advocacy and concerted efforts from so many quarters to bring down this draconian law needs to continue and consolidate. There are evils yet, and the path to genuine inclusiveness in this country (as in most others) is littered with thorns. And even greater resistance is likely to emerge when tackling some of these issues, which tend to hit closer home than others.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While this judgement entered into detailed discussions on the issue of consent, it remained disquietingly silent on a most contentious subject, perhaps because it was perceived to be beyond the terms of reference. The exception of marital rape carved out in the Indian Penal Code, which keeps married relationships outside the purview of rape laws, remains as a curse – a reminder that gender equality in this nation will only come at tremendous human cost. The institution of family, that sacrosanct space which even the most liberal courtrooms in India have sought to protect, stands threatened. Malignant patriarchy will raise its head and claim its pound of flesh before the dust settles, and in the interest of freedom, it shall be up to the Apex Court to ensure that it settles on the right side of history. Else, all our progress, howsoever incremental, may be undone by this one stain on our collective conscience.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">*<i>Agnidipto Tarafder is an Assistant Professor of Law at the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata, where he teaches courses in Constitutional Law, Labour Law and Privacy.</i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">*<i>Arindrajit Basu recently finished his LLM (Public International Law) at the University of Cambridge and is a Policy Officer at the Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore</i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">_________________________________________________________________________________________</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> Gay Marriage Around the World, Pew Research Centre (Aug 8, 2017) <i>available at </i>http://www.pewforum.org/2017/08/08/gay-marriage-around-the-world-2013/.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> W. P. (Crl.) No. 76 of 2016 (Supreme Court of India).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref3"><sup>[3]</sup></a> Aids Bhedbav Virodhi Andolan, Less than Gay: A Citizen’s Report on the Status of Homosexuality in India (Nov-Dec, 1991) <i>available at</i> https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1585664/less-than-gay-a-citizens-report-on-the-status-of.pdf.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref4">[4]</a> P.P Singh, 377 battle at journey’s end (September 6, 2018) <i>available at</i> https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/section-377-verdict-supreme-court-decriminalisation-gay-sex-lgbtq-5342008/.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref5"><sup>[5]</sup></a> (2009) 160 DLT 277; W.P. (C) No.7455/2001 of 2009 (Delhi HC).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref6">[6]</a> Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty,<i> It is like reversing the motion of the earth</i>, The Hindu (December 20, 2013) <i>available at </i>https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/it-is-like-reversing-the-motion-of-the-earth/article5483306.ece.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref7"><sup>[7]</sup></a> <i>Id</i>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref8"><sup>[8]</sup></a> (2014) 1 SCC 1 (Supreme Court of India).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref9"><sup>[9]</sup></a> Ibid, at para 42.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref10"><sup>[10]</sup></a> Gautam Bhatia, The unbearable wrongness of Koushal v Naz Foundation, Ind Con Law Phil (December 11, 2013)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref11">[11]</a> <i>supra</i> note 8, at para 43.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref12"><sup>[12]</sup></a> Manjunath,<i> India’s UN Vote: A Reflection of Our Deep Seated Anti-Gay Sentiments</i>, Amnesty International (Apr 20, 2015) <i>available at </i>https://amnesty.org.in/indias-un-vote-reflection-societys-deep-seated-anti-gay-prejudice/.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref13">[13]</a> The concept of curative petitions was laid down in Rupa Ashok Hurra v. Ashok Hurra, (2002) 4 SCC 388 (Supreme Court of India).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref14">[14]</a> Ajay Kumar, All you need to know about the SC’s decision to reopen the Section 377 debate, FIRSTPOST (February 3, 2016) <i>available at </i>https://www.firstpost.com/india/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-scs-decision-to-reopen-the-section-377-debate-2610680.html.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref15"><sup>[15]</sup></a> 2017 (10) SCC 1(Supreme Court of India).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref16"><sup>[16]</sup></a> The Wolfenden Report, Brit. J; Vener. Dis. (1957) 33, 205 <i>available at </i>https://sti.bmj.com/content/sextrans/33/4/205.full.pdf.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref17"><sup>[17]</sup></a> Griswold v Connecticut, 381 US 479.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref18"><sup>[18]</sup></a> Gautam Bhatia, <i>Indian Supreme Court reserves judgment on the de-criminalisation of Homosexuality</i>, OHRH Blog (August 15, 2018) <i>available at </i>http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/the-indian-supreme-court-reserves-judgment-on-the-de-criminalisation-of-homosexuality/.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref19">[19]</a> Krishnadas Rajagopal, Supreme Court refers plea to decriminalize homosexuality under Section 377 to larger bench, The Hindu (January 8, 2018) <i>available at </i>https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/supreme-court-refers-377-plea-to-larger-bench/article22396250.ece.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref20"><sup>[20]</sup></a> <i>Puttuswamy</i>, paras 124-28.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref21">[21]</a> Aditi Singh, Government leaves decision on Section 377 to the wisdom of Supreme Court, LIVEMINT (July 11, 2018) <i>available at </i>https://www.livemint.com/Politics/fMReaXRcldOWyY20ELJ0GK/Centre-leaves-it-to-Supreme-Court-to-decide-on-Section-377.html.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref22"><sup>[22]</sup></a> <i>supra</i> note 2, at para 20.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref23"><sup>[23]</sup></a> Ibid.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref24"><sup>[24]</sup></a> Express News Service, Lok Sabha votes against Shashi Tharoor’s bill to decriminalize homosexuality again, Indian Express (March 12, 2016) <i>available at </i>https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/decriminalising-homosexuality-lok-sabha-votes-against-shashi-tharoors-bill-again/.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref25"><sup>[25]</sup></a> Navtej Johar v. Union of India, W. P. (Crl.) No. 76 of 2016 (Supreme Court of India) at para 1.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref26"><sup>[26]</sup></a> Ibid, at para 2.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref27"><sup>[27]</sup></a> Ibid, at para 82.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref28"><sup>[28]</sup></a>Ibid, at para 224.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref29"><sup>[29]</sup></a> Ibid, at para 253.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref30"><sup>[30]</sup></a> Ibid.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref31"><sup>[31]</sup></a> Separate Opinion, RF Nariman, paras 1-20.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref32"><sup>[32]</sup></a> Ibid, at paras 28-9.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref33"><sup>[33]</sup></a> Ibid. <i>Lawrence v Texas</i>, 539 US 558 (2003), discussed in paras 108-09.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref34"><sup>[34]</sup></a> Ibid, at para 82.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref35"><sup>[35]</sup></a> Separate Opinion, DY Chandrachud, at para 28.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref36"><sup>[36]</sup></a> Ibid, at para 56-7, 61.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref37"><sup>[37]</sup></a> Supra note 20, at para 118-9.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref38"><sup>[38]</sup></a> <i>ADM Jabalpur v Shiv Kant Shukla</i> (1976) 2 SCC 521. (Supreme Court of India)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref39"><sup>[39]</sup></a> Air India v Nergesh Meerza (1981) 4 SCC 335. (Supreme Court of India)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref40"><sup>[40]</sup></a> Supra note 25, at paras 36-41.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref41"><sup>[41]</sup></a> Ibid, at paras 42-43, 56.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref42"><sup>[42]</sup></a> Lawrence Lessig,<i> The Regulation of Social Meaning</i>, 62 University of Chicago Law Review 943 ,947 (1995)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref43"><sup>[43]</sup></a> Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref44"><sup>[44]</sup></a> David Smith, <i>Little Rock Nine: The day young students shattered racial segregation, The Guardian</i> (September 24, 2017) <i>available at </i>https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/24/little-rock-arkansas-school-segregation-racism.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref45"><sup>[45]</sup></a>Michael Combs and Gwendolyn Combs, <i>Revisiting Brown v. Board of Education: A Cultural, Historical-Legal, and Political Perspective</i> (2005).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref46"><sup>[46]</sup></a> Poulomi Saha, RSS on 377: <i>Gay sex not a crime but is unnatural</i>, India Today (September 6, 2018) <i>available at </i>https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/rss-on-section-377-verdict-gay-sex-not-a-crime-but-is-unnatural-1333414-2018-09-06.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.sociolegalreview.com/377-bites-the-dust-unpacking-the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-judicial-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-india/#_ftnref47"><sup>[47]</sup></a> S Venkataraman and H Varuganti, <i>A Hindu approach to LGBT Rights</i>, Swarajya (July 4, 2015) <i>available at </i>https://swarajyamag.com/culture/a-hindu-approach-to-lgbt-rights.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/socio-legal-review-national-law-school-of-india-university-agnidipto-tarafder-and-arandrajit-basu-377-bites-the-dust'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/socio-legal-review-national-law-school-of-india-university-agnidipto-tarafder-and-arandrajit-basu-377-bites-the-dust</a>
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No publisherAgnidipto Tarafder and Arindrajit BasuGenderInternet Governance2018-10-18T00:39:34ZBlog Entry'I feel the pain of having nowhere to go': A Manipuri Trans Woman Recounts Her Ongoing Lockdown Ordeal
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/a-manipuri-trans-woman-recounts-her-ongoing-lockdown-ordeal-covid19
<b>"My life and work in Bengaluru came to an abrupt halt with the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown this March. We no longer had jobs and were forced to plan our departure from the city." -- As told to Santa Khurai, Manipur-based queer and Nupi Manbi activist, artist and writer. Compiled by Aayush Rathi, a cisgender, heterosexual man, and researcher with Centre for Internet and Society, India. This account is part of an ongoing CIS research project on gender, welfare and surveillance in India, and is supported by Privacy International, UK.</b>
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<p><em>Originally published by <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/india/i-feel-the-pain-of-having-nowhere-to-go-a-manipuri-trans-woman-recounts-her-ongoing-lockdown-ordeal-8494321.html" target="_blank">Firstpost</a>, June 20, 2020.</em></p>
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<p>In 2015, I left my home state of Manipur for Bengaluru.</p>
<p>My name is Sarik*; I prefer to be known as Siku. I am a Nupi Manbi (trans woman).</p>
<p>Other Nupi Manbi had told me that Bengaluru is tolerant of transgender individuals, and that it is easy to find decent, well-paying jobs here. I contacted friends who had already moved here and relocated with their help.</p>
<p>Immediately, I found work at a fabric dyeing factory. The salary meant I could send some money home, my family was able to invest some of the funds in a monthly marup [revolving informal credit collective], and I was able to dream of someday having enough to buy a piece of land in Manipur.</p>
<p>I wasn’t to know at the time that just five years later, the happiness and hope would both prove fleeting.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>I grew up in a small locality of Imphal East District, the youngest of three siblings. My mother had passed away, my father is a priest and story-teller, and my older brother worked as a traditional cook. As a result, our lives were fairly hand-to-mouth.</p>
<p>The frequent shifting of homes was very difficult for me, but I had no choice in the matter. I used to earn money by assisting other transgender friends in their tailoring works. While I worked hard in order to set aside enough money to own a small piece of land, it proved impossible with my meagre earnings.</p>
<p>After years of struggle, I decided to move to a big city with the aspiration to earn more.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>My life and work in Bengaluru came to an abrupt halt with the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown this March.</p>
<p>We no longer had jobs and were forced to plan our departure from the city. The Manipur government had announced measures that would allow stranded citizens to return to the state, so we began the formal process for our repatriation.</p>
<p>On 14 May 2020, three of us left Bengaluru in a special train that was organised for returnees to Manipur. Four days later, we were in Manipur.</p>
<p>When we reached Imphal, all returnees were first assembled at Modern College in Porompat, Imphal East. From there, we were sent to our respective constituencies to be quarantined. In the process, I was separated from my friends.</p>
<p>I was taken to Wangkhei Girl School as my permanent address falls under this constituency. At the quarantine centre, I was allocated a room shared by six other men. All the inmates were also sharing a toilet. This made me very uncomfortable; my body was undergoing changes due to hormonal effects.</p>
<p>In my discomfort, I reached out to transgender activist Santa Khurai, highlighting the need to set up a separate quarantine centre for transgender people. She immediately created a WhatsApp group for all the transgender people housed at different quarantine centres, keeping us updated about a separate quarantine centre for us. On the evening of 20 May, we rejoiced on seeing photos of the quarantine centre set up for transgender people. That night was the end of my terrible stay at the common quarantine centre.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>On 21 May, I was shifted to the quarantine centre for transgender people at Ideal Blind School, Takyel. There, I was reunited with two of my friends. We stayed there for 17 days, receiving support from Santa Khurai through telecounseling. Before the quarantine period concluded, we were tested for COVID-19. We did not receive the results, but were advised to go back home. We were provided an acknowledgment in the form of a medical document. The relatives and parents of the other two trans girls had come to pick them up, but since my family doesn’t own a vehicle and it was not possible to hire on, I called a transgender friend to drop me home. I could sense some animosity in the neighbourhood, and decided not to step out from the house.</p>
<p>On the morning of 4 June, local governing bodies and clubs including Meira Paibi [a women’s rights group] thronged my house. A large crowd gathered in the temple shed. The club and Meira Paibi leader called my family members out and we were made to sit in the middle of a large group of people. They asked me to produce the result of the COVID-19 test, and I showed the acknowledgement given to us at the quarantine centre. People in the crowd passed the paper to each other disapprovingly, arguing that I hadn’t been declared COVID negative. One of the local club leaders called the police and doctors. The doctor who was in charge of the facility for transgender persons responded to the call, and validated my discharge from quarantine.</p>
<p>After few hours, even the police arrived and said that I could stay at home. However, the locals pressured the cops into taking my family — including my frail father who is in his 80s — to the police station.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>We were finally allowed to leave the police station after several rounds of interrogation. My father, my brother (along with his wife and son) were taken back home by the police, while I was separately dropped off at a hotel in Gandhi Avenue, Thangal Bazar. I was advised to check in the hotel at around 3 pm; the charge was Rs 1,000 per day. When I asked the man who would pay for the room, he said, “Let’s see. At least you will be safe to stay here as the locals didn’t accept you coming home. You stay here until the test result come out.”</p>
<p>I called Santa in desperation, who consoled and reassured me. In the meantime, I had also called my sister to ask if some clothes could be brought for me. Her response alarmed and frightened me: My sister told me that my family were not being allowed to enter the house. The gate had been locked and they were instructed to stay at a quarantine centre as they were exposed to me. The news shocked me and made me desperate in wanting the test result to come out expeditiously, so that it would at least prevent any further hardships for my family.</p>
<p>Now I’m staying at the hotel. I fear going back to the house, the hostility of the locals, my family being attacked, my old father being forced to stay at a quarantine centre. I feel the pain of having nowhere to go. It is also infuriating to think that this could have been completely avoided had the officials not been in a haste to make us leave the quarantine centre, and had let us stay till the actual test results were received.</p>
<p><em>* Name changed to protect identity</em>.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/a-manipuri-trans-woman-recounts-her-ongoing-lockdown-ordeal-covid19'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/a-manipuri-trans-woman-recounts-her-ongoing-lockdown-ordeal-covid19</a>
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No publisherSanta KhuraiGenderCovid19ResearchGender, Welfare, and PrivacyResearchers at Work2020-06-22T11:42:39ZBlog Entry