Ashes to Light: How patriarchy shapes women's everyday lives in hidden ways

From architectural designs that disregard women's needs to being treated lightly at work, this book is a compendium of the many everyday forms of discrimination that women face

Ashes to Light: Stories of Hope Towards Gender Justice

By Priyadarshini Bhattacharya

Published by Penguin

463 pages  ₹599

 

A new anthology throws light on subtle, everyday forms of gender-based conditioning and violence that goes unnoticed. The essays in the book, by several well-known personalities from diverse fields ranging from culture to politics, law, academia, sports, art and media, dwell on the experiences of its contributing authors. Through the compendium, Priyadarshini Bhattacharya aims to talk about violence that hides in plain sight. She writes as a bureaucrat on the margins, “one who watches from the peripheries, listening to the stories that slip through the cracks of reports and policy briefs”. 

Seema Anand narrates several stories that reiterate the idea that a woman’s worth is tethered to a man’s, no matter how flawed or undeserving he may be. “Misogyny isn’t political radicalisation. It is an inherited poison, seeded in the stories you hear as a child,” she writes. Payal Hathi and Kanika Sharma write that women’s health has long been defined by anyone but women themselves. Sukriti Paul Kumar explains that the failure to listen, see and acknowledge has been a fundamental problem within patriarchy. “To decode humour, to decode silence, to decode the everyday violence that slips unnoticed into language – requires awakening,” she writes. 

Shraddha Pandey writes that important tasks are often not given to women at work, because of how they are perceived. As a woman working in the police force, she observes that a woman’s career is often challenged by personal milestones that are seen as liabilities. “Any skill, expertise or potential she brought to the table was summarily dismissed, overshadowed by a bias that reduced her to her biological functions,” she writes. 

Deepa Mehta says women have historically been marginalised in the arts. “Their entry into cinema has been a slow but silent revolution,” she writes. Ratna Pathak Shah recalls a song from her childhood about the importance of a brother, and a special fast she had to keep that would guarantee her a good husband. Even though she grew up in the company of independent, strong-minded women, and girls in her family were educated, marriage was seen as their ultimate goal. After marriage, Kiran Rao felt as though her individual identity was lost. “It is a blatant marker of patriarchy that our identities are defined by our forefathers, while our mothers’ names and identities are erased,” she writes. 

Saswati Bhattacharya writes about how menstruation is historically associated with shame. Conversations about women’s bodies or sexuality often remain stifled, she points out. “While blood is glorious in the battlefield and a tragedy in accidents, it is shameful when it seeps from the womb,” she writes. Girija Borker writes about the struggles that women and girls face on their daily commute. In her research, she found that across geographies and modes of public transport, women share a narrative of harassment and fear. “The other aspect of such fleeting violence is that while it may last only minutes, its impact lingers, sometimes for a lifetime,” she writes. 

Even after undergoing 10 surgeries, acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal is unable to fully close one of her eyes. According to her, acid attacks lead not just to physical scars but lasting emotional injury. “For we have been deprived of love and acceptance by a society that prioritises physical beauty above all else,” she writes. In 2006, Ms Agarwal filed a public interest litigation addressing acid attacks in the Supreme Court. 

While relating various incidents and observations from his childhood, Pushpesh Pant talks about inequalities in the treatment of women and girls in matters related to food and the kitchen. He also highlights the endless ritual fasts prescribed for women for the long life of their husbands, the welfare of their children or the prosperity of the household. “The growing girl child was never fed like a boy,” he adds. 

Preeti and Kabir Vajpai explain how gendered violence in architecture manifests in subtle yet systemic ways in designs that often disregard women’s needs. In their practice, they have often observed how men dominate decisions about spaces primarily used by women. They further add that the erasure of women’s voices in urban planning is devastatingly evident. “Architectural design and planning that disregards women’s needs have profound consequences on their emotional, physical and psychological well-being,” they explain. The authors also provide actionable solutions for gender-responsive architecture. 

Mary Kom writes that despite the obstacles she faced, she set out to prove that motherhood and ambition could share the same stage. Through Rugby India, Rahul Bose explores the role, participation and importance of women and girls in sports. “A level playing field doesn’t just appear, it has to be built,” he writes. 

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The reviewer is a New Delhi-based freelance writer