Calling out patriarchy in rural Rajasthan

Last month, a panchayat in Jalore, Rajasthan, announced a ban on camera phones for daughters-in-law and young women in 15 villages, effective January 26.

- Lalita Panicker

It decreed that these women would be allowed to use feature phones instead of smartphones. The panchayat disguised this piece of patriarchal bias asa move taken to protect eyesight and also to keep women from becoming distracted and not carrying out their regular household chores.

The village elders were in for a shock when women pushed back against what they saw as a move to control them. The elders were forced to revoke the ban and then tried to cover up saying that this had been a suggestion, not a diktat.