Law School Policy Review (LSPR) in collaboration with the NLS Feminist Alliance had the pleasure of hosting Ms. Barkha Dutt who is a renowned Indian Television Journalist, an author and a feminist at National Law School of India University on 21st August, 2018. She has been the recipient of many awards including the Padma Shri which was awarded to her in the year 2008.
It was an extremely enriching, interactive discussion, where she shared with the students the challenges she faced as a young, female, journalist in a male dominated field. She engaged the students on the challenges that women face in today’s world, be it at the workplace or at home, and the roadblocks that she encounters every day in her profession. Ms. Dutt spoke about growing up as the daughter of Prabha Dutt, who was the first Indian woman war reporter, and a strong feminist influence on her life. She also told us about the difficulties she faced with her superiors being unwilling to let her report in a war zone (during the Kargil war) for the sole reason that she was a woman.
The discussion that followed focused on the patriarchal construct of masculinity and its harmful effects on men. She also addressed intersectionality of feminism with caste and class and cautioned us all to remember the privileged position that we often speak from. She also spoke of the intergenerational differences in the feminist movement, and how we must not allow the fault lines in our beliefs to undermine the movement at large. All in all, it was an extremely refreshing perspective. And lastly, she also invited everyone for the “We The Women” event that shall happen in the last week of September/First week of October 2018 in Bangalore.