In India, putting women's voices to press
| Delhi
鈥� A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
As India wrestles with female infanticide and other issues related to women鈥檚 rights, one publisher has been pushing to get female voices heard.
Go beyond a strip of high-end boutiques in Delhi, into an alley past a cow resting beneath a tarp, and climb up the stairs of a nondescript building. There, titles from the publisher Zubaan (meaning 鈥渢ongue鈥� or 鈥渓anguage鈥� in Hindi) are stacked on towering shelves.
The nonprofit imprint sprang from Kali for Women, India鈥檚 first feminist publishing outfit established more than 20 years ago. Zubaan has published books that its founders say would not otherwise see the light of day.
From the narratives of domestic-violence victims and women in India鈥檚 troubled zones to the stories of far-off villages and prostitutes, Zubaan has tried to cover the spectrum of Indian women鈥檚 voices. That has resulted in dozens of historical and academic texts, novels, autobiographies, and other nonfiction works in English, Hindi, and additional Indian languages. The enterprise is not always profitable, and sometimes critics find the content of the books too marginal. Yet founder Urvashi Butalia, a well-known figure in India鈥檚 women鈥檚 movement, says all women have something important to say and listening to them can lead to a 鈥渂etter world.鈥�
