“औरत देवी होती है…” I have heard this line countless times growing up, in homes, in communities, in conversations that glorify women as symbols of strength, sacrifice, and purity. But somewhere during my fieldwork as a Swar Fellow, I started questioning, “What happens when this same ‘devi’ does not fit into society’s expectations?” What happens […]
Author: seemahtiwarii
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A Year of Unlearning
For the longest time, I believed gender was something stable. Something you are given, like a name, and then expected to carry without question. It lived quietly in everyday instructions. Sit like this. Speak like that. Don’t laugh too loudly. Don’t take up too much space. Dream, but not too far. Fear, but silently. I […]
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No Dowry, No Alimony?
Sometimes a simple conversation stays with you longer than you expect. During one of my field interactions, a group discussion was happening around marriage and traditions. At one point, the girls in the room very confidently said something that felt hopeful. They said they do not believe in dowry and that this practice should not […]
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Pondering Over Happiness
We live in a world that constantly asks for explanations. Why do you like this, or what do you gain from it? How is this productive?Somewhere between growing up and fitting in, we start believing that even our happiness needs to justify itself. That joy must be logical. Useful. Impressive. But the truth is that […]
In the face of conflict, war, pandemics, and climate-induced disasters, life continues quietly and often invisibly. Among the most overlooked realities in these emergencies is that pregnancy and childbirth do not pause. Women continue to conceive, carry, and give birth, even as their worlds are disrupted in profound and often devastating ways. Humanitarian crises force […]
Sexual violence disproportionately affects women. That is not debatable. Structural inequality, patriarchy, and power imbalance make women more vulnerable in measurable ways. Any legal reform must start by acknowledging that reality. But here is the question that has been quietly growing in policy discussions: Should sexual offence laws be fully gender-neutral? Under current Indian law, […]
I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Every time a brutal rape case shakes the country, the public response is immediate and intense- “Hang them.” It feels like the only proportionate response to something so deeply violent and violating. And I understand that reaction. Sexual violence is not an abstract crime. It is a […]
At twenty, I left Delhi. Not because I hated it. Not because I was running away. But because something inside me knew that comfort can sometimes become a cage. Delhi was everything I knew. The cafés where the staff remembered my order. The friends who knew my stories before I finished telling them. The noise, […]
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Feminism is for Everybody
Before joining the Swar Fellowship, I had read bell hooks’ Feminism Is for Everybody and admired its simplicity and clarity. But only after spending months in the field did her ideas start feeling real. Hooks talks about feminism not as a theory, not as something meant for a classroom or an elite group, but as […]
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Innocent Until Proven Guilty?
The more I read criminal law, the more I realise how fragile balance is. On one side, there are survivors of sexual violence who already face stigma, disbelief, and social pressure. On the other side, there is a foundational principle of criminal law: the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Sometimes these two ideas […]
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