Feminism in India

India is a country veiled in mystery to most women living in the West.

Bollywood actresses, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the Hindu goddess Kali - these are the images of Indian females we're most familiar with. Yet we know little about the daily lives of ordinary women like us.

Last year Sagarika Ghose, senior editor and primetime presenter at CNN IBN, the English-language Indian TV news channel, pulled back the veil in an op-ed for The Guardian:

Today, in India, "women's empowerment" is a government slogan; it is a feature of every party manifesto....Yet, in the first decade of the 21st century, Indian women - seemingly protected by law, celebrated by the media and nursed by activists - remain second-class citizens, most obviously in rural areas, but in some senses everywhere.

Feminism in India struggles against a patriarchal society in which women face oppressive gender restrictions. Writer, feminist and educator Sarojini Sahoo shares her thoughts in a conversation covering female sexuality, arranged marriages, dowries, bride burning, and her own attempt to portray women's emotional and intellectual lives through fiction.

Photo © Ami Vitale/Getty Images