Shayara Bano is breathing a sigh of relief following the recent enactment of a law banning polygamy in her small state in India. This milestone represents the culmination of years of effort, including her own landmark lawsuit against the practice, which she brought before the Supreme Court of India. Bano, a Muslim woman whose husband […]
Category Archives: women
women, India
Indian Women Transitioning to New Careers: From Nurse to Electrician, from Housekeeper to Driver
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Indian Women Transitioning to New Careers: From Nurse to Electrician, from Housekeeper to Driver Manjulata Patel, 40, has experienced a significant change in her life by transitioning from a nurse to an electrician in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Previously, Patel worked at a small hospital earning $47 a month, barely enough to rent a dilapidated apartment […]
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I traveled to Nepal in August through a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to cover child marriage in the country. Here is the two-part series I wrote for GlobalPost. Child marriages burden young Nepalis DOLAKHA, Nepal — Suntali Thami grew up in a tiny village here in this remote district set in […]
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LAMAHI, Nepal – United States President Barack Obama set up the Global Health Initiative to take a more comprehensive approach to improving health care in developing nations. In particular, his administration has given great weight to saving the lives of women and to supporting countries’ priorities in health care. But there’s one exception: abortion. In […]
My blog for The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting: The ride there was actually quite lovely. It was coming back when we realized just how harrowing doing something as basic as driving to town can be for the people of Nepal’s rural areas. Pulitzer Center intern Anna Tomasulo and I arrived Monday night in Dolakha, […]
For GlobalPost’s Global Pulse Blog: GHORAHI, Nepal — Asmani Chaudhary grew up dirt poor in a village in Nepal’s Terai region, which runs along the border with India. A member of a long-disadvantaged Nepali community called Tharu, Chaudhary was raised in a mud hut that housed her entire 30-member extended family. Now, at age 37, […]
MUMBAI, India — “Chai Baby,” “Baby Masala” and “Made in India.” These are a few of the many blogs written by infertile Westerners trying to start a family through surrogacy in India. For the most part, the blogs tell tales of frustration, nervous anticipation and joy. Commercial surrogacy has boomed in recent years as a […]
MUMBAI, India — A poor girl in northern India is a member of the lowest caste. She winds up in jail after fleeing her alleged rapists. These alleged rapists are powerful men. What are the odds the story gets better from here? Slim, to say the least. “Here child marriage is rampant, abuse of minor […]