Her Turn in the Upper House

A single nomination could correct over 60 years of exclusion and signal that J&K's democracy finally includes half its people.

- Muskan Shafi Malik

As Jammu and Kashmir prepares for another round of Rajya Sabha nominations, the question of representation returns. Will a woman finally be sent to the Upper House?

For more than sixty years, the answer has been the same. No.

The gap shows how deeply power in the region continues to resist sharing space with women, even as they hold up much of society's weight through decades of upheaval.

Women have been the region's unacknowledged leaders. They've kept communities together when systems broke down. They've led panchayats, run self-help groups, and carried forward social work in the hardest years of displacement and violence. They've been the backbone of families, schools, and relief efforts.

But when it comes to the formal arena of politics, where decisions are made and voices can shift outcomes, their presence fades away.