Again, I am not in the best of capacities to discuss about gender equality in India, so feel free deleting my reply Ruya if required. Still, without responding directly to Sneha, I just wish to suggest that India not a lost cause where feminism is concerned just like Pakistan.
Why do I say this? Just a month or two ago, Jagat Prakash Nadda the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare committed his government in support of ensuring maternal and child health and providing quality of care in health services. Of course, this is partially made possible because tens of thousands of signatories were collected from rural women all over South Asia particularly India by the Indian Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development supported by White Ribbon Alliance which only quite recently established a more formal presence in India: http://whiteribbonalliance.org/media/govt-committed-to-ensuring-maternal-child-health-nadda/
Progress of gender equality in many parts of South Asia is agonisingly slow at times.
As long as we do not give up on our women, at times we do regress, but together we can make progress. :)
Another example of a patriachal South Asian society is Afghanistan. Just this year, the incumbent President of Afghanistan visited Singapore and our Prime Minister pledged support of redeveloping Afghanistan, which is not easy because mindsets have to change, it is not easy seeing the slight increase in literate Afghani women in the past two years.
On my end I will continue supporting White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, together we hope to bring about positive progress in terms of feminism, we most probably are not giving up on the UN Sustainable Development Goals #5 i.e. Gender Equality.
Cheers!
Lin
Singapore
