Women should not be NPCs

My children started using the term 'NPC' a few years ago. It originates from video games, and stands for 'non-playable-character,' which means that when the game offers you a choice of characters whose identity you can assume in order to play the game, NPCs are not on the list.

- ANUJA CHAUHAN

This is because NPCs are typically side-characters, somebody with a few stock lines and actions. They are there to keep the plot moving, but definitely not key or consequential in any way.

“God, he's such an NPC,” my son will say when someone strikes him as colourless, or mindless, or has nothing to say for himself. So, why do I get the feeling that many of today's right-wingers seem to view women the same way—who hold up half the sky, as Mao Zedong said—as NPCs?