1) The stats don’t lie: nearly 2.4 billion women don’t have the same economic rights as men. Around 2.4 billion women of working age are not afforded equal economic opportunity and 178 countries maintain legal barriers that prevent their full economic participation, according to the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law report.

2) The Global Gender Gap Index for 2022 was released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), and it ranks India at 135 out of 146 countries. In 2021, India was ranked 140 out of 156 countries.

4) In 2022, the theme of International Women’s Day 2022, which is annually announced by the UN was “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”. A most pertinent question. This is what the UN said when the theme was announced: “The year 2022 is pivotal for achieving gender equality in the context of climate change, and environmental and disaster risk reduction, which are some of the greatest global challenges of the twenty-first century. Without gender equality today, a sustainable future, and an equal future, remains beyond our reach.”

6) India’s first tribal president was elected in 2022, Draupadi Murmu. She is also the second woman to hold the post after Pratibha Patil.

8) While ASHA workers have been repeatedly invoked in the NEP, their working conditions have only worsened: Like in 2021, Anganwadi workers have been demanding their rights from the government.

12) The Karnataka hijab case occupied the news waves in the first half of the year. Finally, the Supreme Court offered a split verdict offering little respite to the petitioners, and it will now be read by a larger bench.

15)The Supreme Court held that anyone conducting a two-finger test on a rape or sexual assault survivor is guilty of misconduct. The bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Hima Kohli termed it “patriarchal” and “sexist.”

16) Many women journalists shattered stereotypes and the glass ceiling this year, but
press freedom continues to dwindle in India, as Sanna Irshad Mattoo was repeatedly stopped from leaving India to receive awards. Other journalists too bore the brunt.

18) Abortion debates marked both the Indian and the global networks, with wide-ranging changings in reproductive law in both countries. In US, Roe v Wade was in the news for most of the year, while in India, the amendment to the abortion law made news.

19) Iran was in the news – the entire year almost. With contentious claims around the protests and counter-claims from the ruling government, Mahsa Amini’s unfortunate custodial death led to countless protests that still continue, with little resolution.

21) Gangubai Kathiawadi, a rare Bollywood hit in the year of misses highlighted the issues around prostitution and the dark realities of the industry, while…
22) Many other films have broken the mould this year, including multiple films from Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada cinema. There have been films that debate burning women’s issues, political concerns and other unusual themes.

23) Andrew Tate, the social media influencer was all over the news this year internationally, with many debates around whether this new-age “Alt Right” movement fuels misogyny or not. As of December end, he has been arrested by Romanian authorities on charges of human trafficking.