Dear Express reader, The week began with an arrest that raised concerns, again, about individual freedoms being threatened by arbitrary state action — 22-year-old environmental activist from Bangalore, Disha Ravi, was charged with sedition over a toolkit tweeted by celebrity climate campaigner Greta Thunberg on the farmers’ protests. Mid-week, a court verdict in the defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani brought against her by former Union minister and editor MJ Akbar, after she alleged sexual harassment by him during a job interview 20-odd years ago, acknowledged the woman’s right to speak out at any time, gave primacy to her word, and sent out a reassuring message. In the seesaw that India’s democracy often is, one theme is becoming apparent: Women are, more and more, at the centre of the story, or the controversy. Women are increasingly claiming public spaces and making themselves seen and heard, in the workplace and at protest sites. Regardless of the outcomes — in the Disha Ravi case, serious questions have been raised about state heavy-handedness and weaponisation of law to crush dissent, but the case is still in court, while in the Priya Ramani case, Judge Ravindra Kumar Pandey has given us all a moment to celebrate — the greater visibility of the woman on democracy’s centrestage is immensely heartening. This has not been easy, nor is it a smooth or even process across public spaces. As a reporter, while covering elections, for instance, including the voices of women voters has always been a special challenge. I have found that getting women to talk about their political choices requires more time and greater persistence. It means cutting through the men in the group and seeking out the women who are watching silently or shyly at the outer fringe during a conversation at a tea shop or under the peepul tree in the village clearing. It means, sometimes, going inside small huts and homes to talk to the women in the middle of household chores. It means, each and every time, a longer conversation because you need to get past many more hesitations and a greater reluctance to speak about politics and/or to talk about political choices with a stranger. But I have found, in my recent election trips, that including women in my election stories is becoming easier — not because my skills at drawing them out and making them talk are becoming any sharper, but simply because I find more women who are willing to talk, confidently, inside the comfort and privacy of domestic spaces, and also outside their homes, in the presence of men. As opinion editor, it was brought home to me and my colleagues on the edit-oped team some time ago, that simply being fair-minded and open to all views was not going to be enough to redress the gender imbalance on the opinion pages. To get more women writers on the pages, I and my colleagues would have to proactively reach out to more women writers, and commission them to write for us, rather than merely wait for pieces to come in on their own. We have made a special effort, and will continue to do so, but I do think that here, too, our task is being made progressively easier. More pieces by women writers do make their way into our inbox than they did previously. From Greta Thunberg to Disha Ravi, from Priya Ramani to the large number of women who broke their silence on sexual harassment helped by what came to be known as the MeToo movement, from the women who are pushing up the female turnout figures in successive elections to the women who write opeds in the Indian Express and help us make our pages more credible and more equal spaces, something’s happening. In times when there is much talk of democratic backsliding, the women are up to some good. That’s a happy note to end on. Vandita | 
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