India's forgotten women

Spotlight on poverty

INDIA’S FORGOTTEN WOMEN Director: Michael Lawson

Many people avoid portrayals of poverty in the media, and I have to admit I am one of them: I shy away from seeing others in desperate plight.

But, in July, I went to a screening in Leicester Square of India's Forgotten Women, a documentary showing poverty in India which made me realise how important the media is in putting such issues on our radars — and opened my eyes to some of the worst suffering imaginable.

Unaware

I was shamefully unaware of the degrading caste system in India which oppresses thousands of women who are at the bottom of the ladder. They are known as the ‘Dalits’ or ‘untouchables’, a section of society forced to work and live in horrific circumstances simply because of their inherited social position. The documentary pointed out the contradictions between the democratic Indian government, and the ancient caste system which abuses so many.