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Village Women’s Patch Work In Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

by Avani Bansal 08/12/2024

written by Avani Bansal

By Avani Bansal

https://youtu.be/zAlocxtcir4

Jaisalmer Fort in Rajasthan is one of the few ‘living forts’ in India, where several people who once worked for the king who ruled the palace, have built their own restaurants and hotels inside the fort, making it a tourist’s delight.

As per local stories, when the Government of India decided to take over all the forts, the king of Jaisalmer decided to give parts of the Fort to the people who worked there. This is how several people came to have a part of the fort as their own private places.

Today, the fort is a bustling marketplace with several Rajasthan delicacies and traditionally renovated ‘havelis’/hotels wooing tourists at unimaginably affordable prices.

We came across Bhavani Singh’s ‘The Desert Gallery’, which is located right at the entrance of the fort wall. The beautiful and colourful patch work (a traditional art form done by women mostly) laden wall hangings were unmissable. We paused to speak to Bhavani Singh and learnt a great detail about this work.

In this video Bhavani Singh shares his own story, how he got motivated to work towards preserving this traditional art form and interestingly – how the different colours used in the patch work denote different castes in desert areas. Blue, he informs us, is worn by Brahmin women, red by Rajput women, so and so forth. Also the detailing in the work is much revealing of the religious group and sub-group which has produced it. Bhavani shared with us how the value of these hand-made items is reducing as there are very few who appreciate this art form. He says that it is mostly foreigners who buy these items in large quantities but because of COVID, all the artists have greatly suffered for the last two years. All this patch work wall hangings are made by women in the villages who sometimes take months to produce them. Bhavani shares that he ensures that parts of the profits are shared with these women so they are incentivised to continue evolving this art form.

Do watch this video and if you like any of this work, you can directly contact Bhavani Singh at +1 91 9414763000. You can also check out their page at Instagram @desert_art_gallery.

08/12/2024 0 comments 34 views

7 Years of Recognizing Women

by Guest Author 08/12/2024

written by Guest Author

Mahak Shinghal

The seventh edition of the Digital Women Awards and Summit [hereinafter, “digital women awards”] took place from November 21^st – 23^rd 2021.

The digital women awards were established in 2015 with a goal of celebrating and recognizing entrepreneurs or digital women. The focus of the awards is on the growth and success of women using the internet and impacting their own lives so that they become financially independent and self-reliant in more ways. The awards are open to any woman who is working in the digital space as an entrepreneur and who has achieved excellence in their field.

The awards bring together all those women who are united by their success and have a passion for digital. For Indian women entrepreneurs, no dream is too small or big, no number is too big to achieve.

For the past seven years, SheThePeople’s Digital Women Awards has done just that – celebrating the spirit of entrepreneurship among Indian women and how they have managed to overcome barriers of economy, region, language, and access to write a success story that will be cherished for decades to come.

“Women are climbing the corporate ladder and a large number turning entrepreneurs. They will be the key driving force of our economy in the decades ahead. I believe the work SheThePeople is doing with Digital Women Awards especially recognition is a meaningful step towards encouraging women, making them independent and turning contributors to the economy,” said Akila Urankar, Director at Business Standard Private Limited and jury member for the awards.

This year’s edition celebrated and recognized talent under eight categories – Leadership, Disruption, Digital Marketing, Impact, E-commerce, Content, COVID Pivot, and Solopreneurs.

The jury applicants in each of these categories include – Rajiv Anand, who is the Executive Director (wholesale banking) Axis Bank; Akila Urankar, who is Director at Business Standard Private Limited; Rashi Narang, who is Founder at Heads Up For Tails; Shaili Chopra, who is founder of SheThePeople, Sapangeet Rajwant, who is senior Vice-President of Viacom18; and Aparna Hegde, who is Founder and manager trustee of ARMMAN.

“Women are great examples of leadership, excellence and entrepreneurship, all of which SheThePeople.TV stands for.” expresses SheThePeople’s Founder, Shaili Chopra. She continues, “our mission is to continue to build this platform for future leaders who will shape the Indian digital eco-system and the Digital Women Awards is one of the key steps in achieving that goal.”

India has one of the biggest gender gaps on the internet. Through the awards and putting women’s stories on the map, the previous edition and this edition inspires many women to think out of the box and do something of their own. In the post-pandemic era, almost everything has gone digital which has increased the ease of doing business for women to a great extent. It has also enabled women to come up with more innovative ideas and approaches which has changed the entrepreneurial perspective in India.

Winners of the Digital Women Awards 2021 –

NAME	COMPANY
Kunika Rathore	The Unknown Agency
Lubna Naseem	DezignApe
Sapna Shahani	Blurb Goa
Mrinalini Shastry	Six Yards Plus
Sinal Shah	Petsy Online
Akanksha Savanal	A Curve Story
Dolly Singh	Content Creator
Saumya Pankaj	The India Craft Project
Anjalee Das	Cookiee and Craft
Shweta Dalmia	Climapreneur
DVL Padma Priya	Suno India
Monika Shergill	Netflix
Babita Gupta	House of Neeba
Raina Shariff, Viinii Doshi, Poonam Sanghvi	Oui Oui
Hansika Jethnani	Funky Maharani
Gayatri Gandhi	Joy Factory
Sneha Bagrecha	IndieGood
Shivi Kapil	Empathy Design Labs
Daisy Tanwani	Pinklay
Chaitsi Ahuja	Brown Living
Madhavi Adalja	Resin Creator
Avni Aggarwal	Sundari Handmade
Chandni Agarwal	The Little Tags
Kamiya Jani	The Curly Tales
Anjali Bawa	Voila Expert
Ruchi Garg	Venue Look
Agrima Wadhwa	The Square Knot
Nisha Mehta	Little Birdie
Namrata Sharma	The Sandook
Sandhya Sravya Malla	Little Souls Wardrobe
Gaargi Prehar	Puplords Barkery
Chindu	Kalavai
Priyanka Yadav	Khwabeeda
Bhargavi	Veebhaboutique

08/12/2024 0 comments 37 views

Women Rights To Contraception In India And Preventing Unwanted Pregnancy In India

by Guest Author 08/12/2024

written by Guest Author

By Advocate Meenu Padha and Varushi Yadav

Introduction

It would not be wrong to argue that in India, the concept of human rights was first introduced and systematically institutionalised in 1950 when our country’s Constitution came into force. Many governmental programmes and methods have been created to supplement the rising acknowledgement of an individual’s rights, and the human rights movement has witnessed significant progress and success.

In India, the issue of reproductive rights remains uncertain. While the importance of both men and women’s rights to choose and control their own reproductive functions has grown in prominence, the concept’s introduction in India is particularly difficult due to the country’s complex social structures, where procreation is frequently seen as a social expectation and individual rights are often overlooked. Reproductive rights, in a broader sense, have received greater attention in recent years. This is due, in part, to the unwavering efforts of civil society organisations, who have emphasised the importance of international treaties in the Indian context.

Experts have pointed out that reproductive rights are an intrinsic aspect of human rights in general, as well as our Constitution on a national level, and that India owes them to all its women and those who identify as such. Reproductive rights and a larger human rights framework are mutually interdependent. Reproductive rights receive their meaning and force from long-recognized human rights, just as human rights cannot be realised without championing women’s reproductive rights. However, how the two are combined in practice is unclear. Indeed, explaining to an Indian audience that reproductive rights pertain to everyone, regardless of age or marital status, is a tough notion to grasp. It’s no surprise, then, that reproductive rights have yet to be fully established, despite the fact that they are an inalienable component of every human being.

Miserable Condition That We Need To Be Aware Of

In India, one woman dies every 15 minutes during pregnancy and childbirth due to lack of healthcare. Despite the fact that India legalised abortion over five decades ago, access is highly limited, and one woman in India is believed to die every three hours as a result of unsafe abortion. Despite national legislation prohibiting the marriage of girls under the age of 18, India continues to have the highest number of child weddings; and despite regulations and initiatives ensuring women’s maternal healthcare, India is responsible for 20% of all maternal deaths worldwide. Several states have established coercive population policies that bar families with more than two children from assistance programmes, government jobs, political engagement, and access to education and health care – all without ensuring that couples have access to a full range of contraceptive treatments.

Furthermore, Indian women face one of the world’s highest rates of HIV/AIDS infection and discrimination if infected, as well as forced abortions of female foetuses, trafficking for forced prostitution, custodial rape in government institutions, workplace sexual harassment, and harmful cultural practices that seriously undermine reproductive health. As numerous national and international stakeholders battle to give meaning to essential ideas such as women empowerment, rights, and choice, the right to reproductive health, including abortion, takes on special significance in the Indian context. A woman, for example, should have the freedom to choose whether or not she wants to marry, who she wants to marry, whether or not she wants to have children, how many children she wants to have, and the spacing between them. This is significant because, while both the male and female contribute to procreation, it is the female who is biologically responsible for ensuring the baby’ complete growth.

In the past, India’s reproductive health legislation and policies have failed to embrace a rights-based approach. Simply put, based on the various definitions of reproductive rights, they can be said to include some or all of the following rights: the right to safe and legal abortion; the right to control one’s reproductive functions; the right to access in order to make reproductive choices free of coercion, discrimination, and violence; and the right to access education about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases. The need for us to recognise and address these as rights has become even more apparent in the midst of the pandemic when women have been left to suffer as a result of massive changes in family and social dynamics, disruption in peer support, and a lack of health facilities – because they have not been informed and empowered to demand what is due to them.

According to a new survey issued, over 139 million women and girls in India currently use contemporary contraception techniques. The progress made in family planning over the last eight years is detailed in a study issued by FP2020, a global collaboration that supports the reproductive rights of women and girls.

Reproductive Laws And Rights One Should Be Aware Of

In 2021, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Act 2021 was passed with certain amendments in the MTP Act including all women being allowed to seek safe abortion services on grounds of contraceptive failure, increase in gestation limit to 24 weeks for special categories of women, and opinion of one provider required up to 20 weeks of gestation. Abortion can be performed until 24 weeks of pregnancy after the MTP Amendment Act 2021 has come in force by notification in Gazette from 24th September 2021. The government’s public national health insurance funds, Ayushman Bharat and Employees’ State Insurance cover abortion completely, with the package rate for surgical abortion set at Rs 15,500 which includes consultation, therapy, hospital stays, medication, Ultrasonography, and any follow-up treatments. The package rate for medical abortion is Rs1,500 which includes consultation and Ultrasonography.

Despite the fact that safe abortions are a state-mandated service, only around a quarter of abortions are performed at public health institutions. The majority of public health services in rural areas do not provide safe abortion services due to a lack of resources and equipment. Despite the fact that this law allows women to get safe abortions under specific circumstances, there are still a number of obstacles to overcome.

Covid 19 Impacts On Contraception And Safe Abortion Services

During COVID-19, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) deemed contraception and safe abortion services to be essential health care. COVID-19, on the other hand, has increased the existing difficulties in obtaining these services. Abortion is a health care service that saves lives and protects the health and well-being of women and girls. Understanding how organizations have adapted their safe abortion care programmes to maintain service delivery while seeking to protect their clients, staff and communities from contracting COVID-19, is vital, Covid-19 has wreaked havoc on many aspects of our lives across the globe, reproductive health and family planning are no exception. Over the last 18 months, access to women’s health care services, including contraception, family planning and abortion, has been severely disrupted. As a result, an estimated two million women have experienced unwanted pregnancies. Furthermore, a survey conducted by the World Health Organization suggested a 68% disruption to family planning and contraceptive services across 105 countries.

Although still reeling from the effects of the sudden pandemic onset, the health system over the last year attempted to adapt to meet the growing need for effective women’s care and foster preparedness. One shining example of this was the sudden rise in the provision and adoption of online teleconsultations and digital resources. Availability and accessibility posed two critical components that needed strengthening in care delivery. With the advent of digitalization in the country, spearheaded by the government’s flagship Digital India initiative, we have advanced every day, reaching women from more remote and far-flung corners of rural India with digital platforms. Due to a decline in in-clinic consults, travel restrictions, and overburdened infrastructure and practitioners, Covid provided a significant obstacle to getting such treatment, adding to existing limits in women’s health — social stigma, misinformation, lack of understanding, and family pressures. The health system was forced to prioritize temporary contraceptives like condoms and the oral contraceptive pill above longer-term choices like intra-uterine contraceptive devices (IUCDs) and sterilization, especially during the first lockdown, which limited the basket of treatment options for women.

Conclusion

The social backdrop in India substantially influences women’s reproductive behaviour, defining the pressures, limits, and options available to them. Gender-biased norms and practices that regulate family matters severely limit women’s ability to exercise their reproductive rights. At a higher level, there are various apparent inconsistencies in how policies are made, services are offered, and how demographic trends and aspirations concerning family size and composition impact contraception and abortion demand. Despite the fact that India was one of the first countries in the world to adopt legal and regulatory frameworks ensuring access to abortion and contraception, women and girls still face major obstacles to fully exercising their reproductive rights – it is time to change that. Let us vow to support and steer reproductive rights on this Human Rights Day, not only because we want healthier women, but also because we want empowered women and girls.

08/12/2024 0 comments 26 views

Capitalism & Its Effect On Women

by Guest Author 08/12/2024

written by Guest Author

By Pooja Bhattacharjee

Capitalism is an economic system in which means of production are privately owned and the decisions with respect to production (what, how and when to produce) are largely determined by the forces of the free market that are largely based on profits.

Capitalism structurally oppresses, restricts, and inhibits the access of marginalized individuals, minority communities, and differently abled persons by regulating the opportunities available to them. Based on such structures of inequities, it further exacerbates sexism, casteism, ableism, and racism. The commodification of women’s labour is at its peak, courtesy of the unequal power structures normalized by capitalism.

Feminism is a socio-economic and political ideology focused on dismantling gender discriminatory structures. It’s about fighting for and creating equality and a good life for everyone, regardless of their sex, gender, race, ethnicity, education, income, religion, or where they live. These goals cannot be achieved in capitalism. Using minority communities and individuals to generate economic and social value in service of reinforcing inequitable social stratification, race and social difference generate economic and social value for feminism when women are lauded for “overcoming” struggles based on gender, race, disability, and so on to fit themselves into a one-size-fits-all notion of feminist progress.

The focus for improving institutional sexism in the workplace is thus placed upon improving the gender pay gap. Solutions to alleviate the problem have been widely debated and disputed. Some argue that women should be remunerated for their ‘household chores’ (which would hardly serve to de-gender the concept of housework and thus maintains the sexist ideology that is associated with it); others say that working hours need to be more flexible to accommodate working mothers, while yet others argue men should simply help out more at home. Women on average do about twice as much housework as men. All of these arguments have their merits and de-merits but none of them really get to the crux of the issue. In order to be paid the same as men, we first have to fight the institutional sexism which exists at almost every level of society.

Many sectors such as automation, information technology and other outgrowths of capitalism are allowing women to compete and win in traditionally male-dominated fields. But observing that some women are quite empowered in capitalism does not imply that the path has been laid and that if we just follow it the goals of feminism will be reached.

Further, capitalism has set up a system of high working hours for low wages for its labourers and has established a pre-set power role between the owner of the factors of production and the individuals who sell their labour. Given the inherently oppressive and exploitative nature that capitalism entails, and the toxicity that is involved with it, the skewed power relation is only amplified when a woman is selling her labour for which she is paid a wage that significantly undermines the value of contribution made by her. The problems associated with capitalism is particularly biased towards women, there’s always some achievements or standards that they are not meeting, or a role model that capitalism strives them to be. This article achieves to streamline a discussion around the so-called role fulfilment mechanisms which we have become so adept at.

The Superwoman Effect

Superwoman – though a term associated with women empowerment and celebrates the achievements of women in corporate and on the domestic front, is often misused by capitalism and society to expect sacrifice from women. Gender, class and literature examines the superwoman phenomenon and the impact it has on the women and the stress level which is induced by capitalism. By definition, a superwoman is someone who, ‘takes on the roles of mother, nurturer and breadwinner out of economic and social necessity’.

The superwoman or supermom is associated with a woman who can juggle traditional role expectations associated with being a female and the role and expectations of career advancement and upward social mobility. In her book ‘The Second Stage’ (1981), Betty Friedan describes the superwoman expectation as the double enslavement of women by capitalism since it requires a sacrifice, either at home or work, to be a superwoman.

Girlboss Culture

Girlboss is similar to Superwoman, it provides an aspirational narrative to the struggles. While it is a good thing to work hard and have dreams and work towards achieving your dreams; the idea of social change projected by capitalism through Girlboss defines the narrow constraints of capital accumulation and its associated preservation of hierarchies and inequities. Girlboss feminism emerges from colonial legacies and structures of power that are predicated on maintaining inequalities based on race, ability and normative gender expression.

Success is the headliner of girlboss feminism. ‘The Girlboss Platform’, started in 2016, represents the cultural shift toward marketing personality as a component of successful capitalist subjectivities. It uses motivational content by merging personal and professional upgrades to attain success, the personal becomes a vital selling point in girlboss culture. A pattern of desirable personality traits emerges through the platform’s user engagement, highlighting the role of collective intelligence in shaping conceptions of the ideal empowered woman.

Through these ideas of superwoman and girlboss, capitalism is selling this narrative claiming that anyone can attain wealth, regardless of gender, race, ability and so on – so long as you work hard, think positively and rise above any obstacles thrown at you. By leveraging mediated spaces to perpetuate such aspirational narratives, girlboss feminism naturalizes and obscures the conditions of severe inequality endemic to capitalism.

In her analysis of beauty and lifestyle bloggers, Brooke Erin Duffy highlights the role of authenticity in capitalism. Duffy notes that authenticity represents the demands for self-promotion created by emotional capitalism, defined by Eva Illouz as ‘the complicated intersections of intimacy and political/economic models of exchange’. Girlboss users respond to emotional capitalism’s norms of engaging what is personal and intimate as modes of profitability. This profitability centres on reinforcing gendered expectations of women’s capacity for expressing vulnerability, pointing to how emotional capitalism operates through structures of gender essentialism. Women are expected to be vulnerable and emotional capitalism engages this norm as an opportunity for extracting value. Through the repetitive selling of their own relatability and authenticity, Girlboss users structure the marketing of personality traits as a key feature of gaining influence.

Lastly, to overcome sexism it is necessary to combat this system as a whole, rather than focusing specific issues. The whole system must be critiqued and examined. The incredible technological and scientific advances of the past forty years could have been channelled toward dramatically reducing poverty, improving health care outcomes and the ecological sustainability of our production processes and ensuring security in the supply and distribution of clean water, nutritious food, and adequate housing. These are things that all people value. These are also things that would greatly empower women who suffer disproportionately from the lack of these things.

08/12/2024 0 comments 27 views

Shadow Pandemic – The Lurking Ghost called “Domestic Violence”

by Srinivas Rayappa 08/12/2024

written by Srinivas Rayappa

The imact of the Covid-19 pandemic has not been gender neutral. There has been a differential impact on women, which is cause of serious concern. Emerging data and reports from those on the front lines, have shown that women and girls have been subjugated to all types of violence, especially domestic violence.

If one were to wade through the annals of history, it is noticeable that violence against women tends to increase in any emergency, including epidemics. Immense stress, disruption of social and protective networks, economic vulnerability and dwindling access to services can exacerbate the risk of women being susceptible to violence.

Understandably Covid-19 has dominated the world’s agenda. Especially in the case of COVID-19, prolonged isolation, restricted physical movement and work-from-home measures to contain the spread of the virus have a particularly acute impact on women. The risk of women and their children being exposed to violence has dramatically increased as members of the family spend more time in close contact. Household stress intensifies, and the risk grows even greater when families also have to cope with potential economic uncertainty or job losses.

Closures of schools and child care facilities have increased the burden on parents, especially women. Distance learning or virtual classrooms often requires the supervision of parents or caretakers. Despite the penetration of internet globally, some families still don’t have access to a reliable internet connection, and childcare obligations may fall on friends, neighbors, or family members while parents work or are in search for work. Some occupations are considered essential and physical presence at work is mandatory while others have the freedom to work virtually. The cumulative stress of balancing work, child care, and children’s education has led to a rise in child abuse. Teachers, child care providers, and clinicians are having fewer interactions with children and families which is significantly reducing the opportunity to assess or recognize any signs of child abuse.

“Before the pandemic, 1 in 3 women would already experience gender-based violence in their lifetime. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this already critical issue”, cites an extremely concerned Melissa Alvarado, UN Women Specialist.

A staggering increase in the number of cases of domestic violence have been reported globally including the developed world. Several reports suggest that cases of domestic violence have tripled in countries like France, Cyprus and Singapore. In France, police reported a nationwide spike of about 30 percent in domestic violence. Christophe Castaner, the French interior minister, said he had asked officers to be on the lookout for abuse.

The Eastern Mediterranean Region has the second highest prevalence of violence against women (37%) worldwide. This is due to structural systems that maintain gender inequalities at different levels of society, compounded by political crises and socioeconomic instability in the region. The Covid-19 pandemic has only aggrevated the situation.

In India, where domestic violence has been a perennial problem, there has been a sharp rise in cases ever since the stringent lockdown was announced by the government. National Commission for Women’s (NCW) data showed that domestic violence complaints doubled after the nationwide lockdown was imposed in India. Tamil Nadu Police have reported an increase in domestic violence complaints. They received approximately 25 calls every day during the lockdown period and registered at least 40 such cases. Similarly, Bangalore Police reported a spike in complaints from 10 calls to 25 calls every day from the victims of domestic violence.

In Spain, the emergency number for domestic violence received 18 percent more calls in the first two weeks of lockdown than in the same period a month earlier.

Around 42% of the Australian practitioners noted an increase in first-time family violence reporting by women.

Mahase reported a 60% increase in emergency calls related to violence against women by their intimate partners in Europe.

Similarly, Agüero (2020) found a 48% increase in helpline calls related to domestic violence in Peru.

In China, a Beijing-based NGO dedicated to combating violence against women, Equality, witnessed a a sudden surge in calls to its helpline, when the government locked down cities in Hubei Province, which was the epicenter of the pandemic outbreak.

A study on Ethiopian women found that almost one in four women experienced any form of domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Housewives aged less than 30 years, and with arrange marriage were at greater odds of experiencing domestic violence

At the heart of it, domestic violence has always been about power and control. Home isolation, however quintessential to prevent the spread of the virus, is giving still more power to the abuser. The isolation has also shattered support networks, making it far more strenuous and sometimes even impossible for victims to get help or escape. Sexual harassment and other forms of violence against women continue to occur on streets, in public spaces and online. Survivors have limited information and awareness about available services and limited access to the much needed support services.

In some countries, resources and efforts have been diverted from violence against women response to immediate COVID-19 relief, thus compounding the problem.

One interesting study reveals that the stricter the lockdown, the greater the risks of domestic violence. The most stringent lockdown was enforced in South Africa. Amongst other bans, liqour and cigarettes were strictly banned during the country-wide lockdown. One study claims that this has adversely affected the mental health of men and the incidences of domestic violence has increased significantly in South Africa. The magnitute of the problem is so significant that women are having to leave their homes along with their children to nearby shelter homes and distress centers. However, the fear of getting infected with the Covid-19 virus at these centers is dissuading others to tolerate the abuse and abuser at home.

Some advocates have raised concerns about a potential increase in intimate partner violence (IPV) ever since people were confined to their homes and personal movement was limited. Stay-at-home orders, even though rightly intended to protect the public and prevent widespread infection, has left many IPV victims trapped with their abusers. One in 4 women and one in 10 men experience IPV, and violence can take various forms: it can be physical, emotional, sexual, or psychological. Studies show that people of all races, cultures, genders, sexual orientations, socioeconomic classes, and religions experience IPV.

A Glimmer of Hope:

Not all seems to be lost though. Women are being creative about how they seek support. In some places women are going to Pharmacies and grocery stores to reach out for help. In some countries they are setting up pop-up crisis centers at pharmacies and grocery stores to help women subject to harrassment reach out for the much needed help. This is especially helpful when the abuser has confiscated the victims’ phone and other forms of communication are not accessible.

UN Women, the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, has launched the Shadow Pandemic public awareness campaign, focusing on the global increase in domestic violence amid the COVID-19 health crisis.

The French Government has allocated 20,000 hotel rooms for abused women. Additional Control rooms have been setup by the French Police to distress calls.

Dr. Kemi DaSilvaIbru, a qualified physician with more than 15 years of experience in private practice, dedicates her time to addressing the needs of girls and women. Her unmitigated passion for women’s rights and protection led her to found Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF) in Nigeria. The foundation addresses the prevalence of rape and gender-based violence through intervention and treatment for girls and women and by providing effective educational and community-based initiatives. She has been helping women and children who have been subjected to physical and sexual abuse during the pandemic.

Community gatekeepers who are at the forefront of rescuing abused women and children opine that the perpetrators get moved to the shed instead of the survivor. This indeed is a wise suggestion. Why should the abused person bear the brunt of shifting to a different location while the abuser gets away with the crime.

Despite all these praiseworthy initiatives during these precarious times, women subject to domestic violence are trapped at home with their abusers and the perpetrators are at a ear-shock distance. Phones and other assets of the victims have been confiscated making it very hard for them to seek support or help. The abusers are using the stringent lockdowns as an excuse to prevent their victims from moving out of their homes.

Ironically, since the pandemic erupted, it is heartwrenching to know that home is no longer the safe place for women, the true homemakers.

08/12/2024 0 comments 37 views

Nurses – The Unsung Heroes & Nursing – The Unthankful Job

by Elsa Joel 08/12/2024

written by Elsa Joel

By Dr. ELSA LYCIAS JOEL

From time immemorial women have been considered to be better caretakers. Nothing unusual about it. History has provided us with many examples of women as nurses and their contributions to our communities. Be it the lady with the lamp or the angel of the battlefield or sojourner truth or the first black woman general of USA or the first lady of nursing, there is no dearth of inspiration. All of us, at least when pandemics hit us come to know what the word ‘nurse’ stands for. The word is derived from the fifth-century post-Classical Latin nutrice a wet-nurse hired to provide an infant with breast milk when the infant’s mother would not or could not do so. Etymologically it is related to our modern word nourish.

As Britain prepares to celebrate Florence Nightingale’s 200th birthday on May 12, the whole world cling to nurses as their saviours and would not let go of them. In today’s scenario, despite intensive care many die. That doesn’t stop anyone from believing that nurses are a courageous lot under the most adverse conditions. Uncomplaining resilience and calm professionalism displayed by them make known that they should be considered essential elements of all societies, at all times. With a long history, they are everywhere as members of the largest health care profession in diverse settings and fields. Stories of army nurses have reinforced the fact that they do their best withstanding hardships at the front and have been awardees of ‘The Purple Heart’. We all know how vulnerable they are under the present circumstances as a vital link between the patient and the rest of the healthcare system. Raincoats and helmets in lieu of coveralls and masks, claps and clanging pots instead of PPEs and a pay raise, it’s a struggle day in and day out. Being around critically ill patients even when the surge hits is an act of self-denial. A listening ear and a calming touch even as they keep their senses alert for one small subtle change to determine what or who needs to be called reflects their flexibility, innovativeness, patience and adaptability.

Severe shortages of nurses characterizing the current and post pandemic periods is a result of governments’ lethargy and unpreparedness of governments in addition to an uneven battle with the deadly virus in turn threatening the delivery of health services to the public. Though nursing’s image takes on an heroic cast during pandemics and wars, the reality for most nurses is that the work is incredibly demanding with few financial rewards and poor working conditions. Nursing fails to keep up economically with other occupations. For the sake of four words – Humanity, Fortitude, Devotion and Sacrifice which describe this profession the best and for these words to ring true, the cracks in the current edifice of healthcare safety should not continually grow. For those thousands who died on duty leaving their colleagues and families shaken, their contributions are acknowledged as essential to victory against this evil called COVID19. If we think, nurses report for work in the most challenging of circumstances anyway, because that is their job we should rethink. Well, it’s also because they believe that respect for the inherent dignity and of human lives is a fundamental principle of their profession.

While nurses are looked upon as those holding the fort and expected to go on and on their psychosocial well-being is a concern. At these times, even behind a mask the nurses are not wholly successful in altering their outward demeanour and the presentation of what they see as their ‘detached’ face does not serve to mask feelings of exhaustion, demoralisation, anger or sorrow. Recently, with too many failings and deaths to handle, however, nurses find themselves having to perform a different kind of emotion management than that prescribed by their profession. They have to present the detached face of the professional career as fear of losing grips them. Next moment, they also have to handle intense joy on liberating someone from a ventilator, when another one stabilises and could breathe on her/his own again. ‘Smiling happiest faces’ also means they have to work hard on their emotions especially with families of patients whose expectations of a quality service have been raised beyond anything better than the best. An impending doom or an existing gloom, the overall effect is physically and psychologically palpable. Wobble rooms are indeed “rainbow rooms” that offer peace and quiet plus a space to have a safe conversation. Above all, nurses need not go home thinking, ‘I could have been the kindest to so and so’.

If we think nurses’ experience alternate between periods of intense activity, sleep and anxiety, we are wrong. It’s much more than that. Underpaid, under- resourced and overworked, they are barely holding it together. Patients who arrive in severe shock, others very sick demanding a high level of nursing care and many others on the verge of death needing a kind look or words of comfort, surrender themselves with ‘that’ look in their eyes. ‘Stoicism’ is the ruling word in times of profound upheaval, risk, and strain. Is there anything more traumatic than seeing the one you cared for in the previous shift with lot of hopes and prayers, in a body bag hours later? These soldiers who display courage in the face of duty are more than deserving of a ‘Maidstone Medal’ or “The Christiane Reimann Prize”. What’s more, they put the wellness of others before their own, and many accept their fate with incredible dignity. Bold voices clearly articulate ethical positions with an astute understanding of human rights, careful discernment of human rights violations and bold acceptance of professional responsibility. When push comes to shove, many expose racism despite knowing the ordeals ahead with their livelihood at stake, as more than life savers who are willing to advocate for victims and to collaborate with right thinking people in finding solutions to ethical and racial issues. Whatever, deafening sounds of oxygen will accompany them for years to come.

Forget Covid19 for a moment. In normal circumstances, to smooth the often turbulent path of interaction between patient and an overworked health specialist, nurses become able to tolerate differences, willingly keep aside potential perceptions and whole heartedly contribute to shared care plans even when multiple patient handoffs play foul in establishing a trusting and collegial relationship. Nurses must re-define stressful situations, carry on and do their job in any situation with or without resources. There seems to be no recognition anymore of the collective goodwill involved in providing a service, many a time selfless one. A bad job is definitely not excusable, but others involved with nurses ought to understand and appreciate the struggles or shortcomings. At the end of the day, they don’t feel like heroes but rush back home as a daughter, wife, mother, lover or a friend to feel belonged, to care and be cared for.

Still, everybody fights, nobody quits.

08/12/2024 0 comments 30 views

Are Covid patients dying due to Heart Attack?

by Guest Author 08/12/2024

written by Guest Author

08/12/2024 0 comments 20 views

KK Shailaja: Kerala Health Minister’s Commendable Fight Against Coronavirus

by Saba Rajkotia 08/12/2024

written by Saba Rajkotia

Saba Rajkotia

As the number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in India continue rising, Kerala, which had some early success in dealing with COVID cases, saw a steep rise in COVID cases with more and more people flying in the State. Kerala’s mortality rate still remains one of the lowest as the state has now tweaked its strategy to deal with COVID cases.

It’s important to note the role of Kerala’s Health and Social Welfare Minister, Ms. KK Shailaja, in efficiently dealing with the COVID challenge.

Since the first case of Coronavirus was reported in Wuhan, China, Shailaja has been keeping a close eye on the development and spread of the virus. Taking into consideration the fact that many students from Kerala travel regularly to Wuhan for their studies, the Minister ensured that the State was well-equipped to deal with the arrival of the virus. Quarantine facilities were prepared and medical aid and equipment was made readily available. Furthermore, the Minister ensured that decisions were made according to scientific reasoning, and with the advice of subject experts.

Over a month before Modi declared a nation-wide shutdown across India in response to the threat of Coronavirus, Kerala had already declared a State-wide Emergency – in the first week of February. Shailaja recognised the gravity of the situation, and ensured that the State took the threat seriously. All public events were cancelled, movie theatres and schools were shut down and more doctors were sought out and appointed. Now, as the whole country struggles to deal with the effects of the lockdown, Shailaja is ensuring school children don’t miss out on their afternoon meals by serving them in their homes.

Shailaja has been open about her lack of trained medical knowledge, and she makes a conscious effort to ensure her people are well informed about the progression of the virus through her social media account (@shailajateacher) and daily conversations with the press. Since coming into power in 2016, Shailaja has faced multiple tragedies alongside the people of Kerala. In 2018, Kerala dealt with the outbreak of the Nipah Virus, followed by devastating floods in both 2018 and 2019. In the face of all this adversity, Shailaja stood out as a capable, compassionate and effective leader who was able to lead her State out of crisis.

In the aftermath of the floods, Shailaja did her best to ensure easy access to food and medication for the underprivileged sections of society. In order to avoid the onset of water-borne diseases, the Minister brought in homeopathic and ayurvedic doctors and through her meticulous planning she successfully avoided further disasters for the people of Kerala.

Shailaja’s commendable track record in resolving public health issues and compassionate approach to crisis management make her a reliable leader for the people in Kerala. In these scary and uncertain times, Shailaja inspires confidence.

08/12/2024 0 comments 39 views

“By Their Faith”

by Elsa Joel 08/12/2024

written by Elsa Joel

By Elsa Lycias Joel [A Poem To Honour Our Nurses]

More than just chosen
A messenger of faith
In times of dejection
There’s hope, she saith
Therefore, she comes by
To lift the broken
And never will deny
Love, a beautiful token.

Awakes a resting mind
She holds herself together
Great courage to find
To be that lifesaver
Never weigh the risks
Shoo! spirit of fear
Rises like a phoenix
Diligent in her warfare.

Against the invisible enemy
In her combat outfit
Architect of her destiny
She holds no regret
Leaving behind her beloved
At home, a fortress
She sees uncertainty ahead
No mission so beauteous.

Fear of losing out
Creeps up on her
Yet, the most devout
Lover, sister, daughter, mother
She waves and leaves
Two hesitant steps forward
Heavy sigh, she heaves
Stoicism, the good word.

Teary eyes so blurred
Nevertheless, a clear vision
Silent cries go unheard
To triumph, her determination
Ardent prayers guard her
As she treads mindfully
Compassion makes her stronger
Cést la vie, hopefully.

Thus sang the Nightingale
For all to know
With joy we hail
Chords, high and low
All around plaintful sadness
Go yonder, find solace
Embrace songs of gladness

08/12/2024 0 comments 27 views

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