By Manjira Majumdar
Despite the fact that there has been a marked rise in women candidates contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, at least in some parts of the country, the “mainstream” media has still not paid much attention to the political aspirations and expectations of women cutting across class, caste and communities.
The coverage given to a Marie-Antoinette type remark such as Asansol (Bengal) candidate Moon Moon Sen’s lament about her late bed tea on polling day (April 29) and, earlier, Hema Malini doing a farm girl routine with sickle in hand, will probably result in greater recall value among newspaper readers than more substantive issues concerning women and electoral politics.
However, the web media have done much better on this front by focusing on several aspects of the intersection between elections and gender, through news, analysis and opinion pieces. Here is a sampler for those who may have missed some of these important stories.
The CNN-Network 18 series has already been highlighted on this blog: https://nwmigenderwatch.wordpress.com/2019/05/02/what-do-women-want/
Scroll.in has a series titled ‘Half the Vote’ spotlighting women’s issues within its overall coverage of the elections: The Election Fix: https://scroll.in/tag/Half%20The%20Vote
The Wire’s multimedia presentation on women and politics is available here: https://thewire.in/politics/watch-womens-participation-in-electoral-politics
The News Minute has done a comprehensive series examining the elections through a gender lens. In the impressively wide range of gender-related election stories published by TNM, the four southern states have been particularly well-covered. The TNM links below have been compiled in no particular order:
- In a first, voters in Kerala could choose transgender as gender identity
- Commit to gender equality: Women’s groups’ open letter to 2019 candidates
- Misgendered in her voter ID, trans woman voter from Kerala files complaint
- Lok Sabha 2019: Only 27 women to contest from Karnataka
- Meet the two women journalists traversing over 3000 km in south India this election
- Women will be given preference at TN polling booths, men will have to wait longer
- Is Karnataka’s feudal region ready to elect two women candidates?
- In Telangana, major parties still don’t think that women can be in the Assembly
- What the Congress and BJP manifestos offer women voters this election
- UDF’s K Sudhakaran expresses medieval views again, ad claims educating women a waste
- Meet Tamanna, the first trans woman contesting Andhra Assembly elections=
- Rejected 11 times before getting voter ID, B’luru trans woman to vote for first time
- ‘JD(S) leader said he will morph my photos’: Sumalatha Ambareesh alleges
- Pembilai Orumai complaint on Gomathi: Latest in the once powerful group’s internal rift
- ‘As a trans woman, my hope is on LDF’: Daya Gayathri, a first-time voter in Kerala
- Saritha S Nair cannot contest Lok Sabha polls: Returning officers reject nominations
- These tactics won’t scare the DMK: Kanimozhi after I-T searches at her house
- I-T checks at Kanimozhi’s residence over, officers return empty-handed
- The struggle is double for women in politics: Karur Cong candidate P Jothimani to TNM
- Vijay fan’s snub to AIADMK: Will AIADMK-BJP pay for alienating Thalapathy lovers?
- I am a novice but I am learning the ropes in managing elections: Sumalatha to TNM
- ‘I support UDF’s stand on Sabarimala’: In Conversation with UDF candidate Ramya Haridas
- BJP lies to the nation, Cong has no vision, elect strong regional parties: TRS leader Kavitha Kalvakuntla interview
- On the election trail with Kaliammal, the NTK candidate from Chennai-North
- Ground report: Sterlite a key issue as Kanimozhi and Tamilisai face off in Thoothukudi
- All you need to know about the Women’s Reservation Bill
This is, of course, not a comprehensive listing. Please do add links to other online sources of gender-related coverage of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2019 in the comments section to make it more complete.
