Battling colour and gender prejudices

Kerala chief secretary Sarada Muraleedharan red-flagging a comment comparing her stint in office with that of her predecessor—incidentally, her husband, V Venu—is telling of how insidious and pervasive colour and gender biases are, especially where they intersect.

- 

Muraleedharan's time in office was termed "as black as her husband's was white" in comments on social media; implicit in this comparison is an unnecessary allusion to the two's complexions. And given women are disproportionately the target of colour bias in the country, the offensive comment is also deeply sexist.