Eesha Pandit

Eesha Pandit is a writer and activist who believes in social justice movements, the power of intersectionality, feminism, sisterhood and the power of art. Her writing can be found at The Crunk Feminist Collective, Feministing, The Nation, Salon, Rewire, Feministe and In These Times. She’s also a longtime human rights activist and most recently served as Executive Director of Men Stopping Violence. She’s also worked with Breakthrough, Raising Women’s Voices, the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program, Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard and Amnesty International Women’s Human Rights Program. She serves on the board of the National Network of Abortion Funds.

Biologically Determined: Indian Women Required to Reveal Details of Their Menstrual Cycles

Eesha Pandit

After significant outrage by women civil servants in India, the Indian government says it will review new appraisal forms requiring female civil servants to offer information about their menstrual cycles.

Last week, the BBC reported that the health ministry of the Indian Government sought information about the details of female employees' menstrual cycles and when they last sought maternity leave. The offending questions are after the jump.

Young People Make Strife: Problems with the Youth Bulge Theory

Eesha Pandit

An article in last week's New York Times discusses a study recently published by Population Action International (PAI) which suggests that,

... it is no simple coincidence that 80 percent of the civil conflicts that broke out in the 1970s, '80s and '90s occurred in countries where at least 60 percent of the population was under 30, and that almost 9 of 10 such youthful countries had autocratic rulers or weak democracies.

The PAI study finds one thing that is consistent among strife-ridden nations like Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and Congo is that they all have very young populations.

William L. Nash, a retired Army major general who directs the Center for Preventive Action of the Council on Foreign Relations, says: "You've got a lot of young men. You've got a lot of poverty. You've got a lot of bad governance, and often you've got greed with extractive industries. You put all that together, and you've got the makings of trouble."

Dispatches from the Revolution: Part 3

Eesha Pandit

In the third and final installment of my coverage of From Abortion Rights to Social Justice: Building a Movement for Reproductive Freedom, a conference hosted by the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program (CLPP), I had the opportunity to sit down with Shana Griffin. Shana works with INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence and is the Interim Director of the Women's Health and Justice Initiative in New Orleans.

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