THE MISOGYNY WARS

From online trolling and character assassination to toxic masculinity and workplace harassment, the speakers at We The Women weighed in on what matters to them

- AKANKI SHARMA

When New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern and Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon stepped down, it turned the spotlight on the pressures that women leaders face. In India, too, the discussion was carried forward by politicians like the BJP’s Kushboo Sundar, who was recently appointed to the National Commission for Women. At the sixth edition of We The Women—an event organised by award-winning journalist Barkha Dutt on March 4 in Jaipur—Sundar, a former actor, pointed out that men always find outspoken, bold, strong, and beautiful women intimidating, and thus try to subjugate them in various ways.

“Men think beauty and brains don’t go hand-in hand, especially in politics,” she said, recounting an incident when two former ministers started changing their lungis in a room in which she was the only woman. “I had to tell them, ‘Excuse me. There is a woman in the room’,” she said. “The response was that I had to get used to this if I was to be in politics.” The event, of which THE WEEK was a sponsor, featured women from different walks of life, from actors like Vidya Balan and Janhvi Kapoor to royals like Gauravi Kumari, princess of Jaipur. There were community leaders, business icons and Army officers elaborating on what it means to be a woman in their respective fields.