Three faces of courage

One was blown out of her car by a grenade as she was covering the Kosovo conflict. The other was stabbed because she is the only woman crime reporter in her country. And the third has been fighting fundamentalist forces for 24 years. Last week, it was a victory for women journalists all over the world when the trio took the stage to receive the Courage in Journalism award from the International Women’s Media Foundation. For war photographer Anja Niedringhaus (second from left in picture), who has covered every major conflict from the Balkans to the Iraq war, the guiding philosophy has been to show people the true images of war. Crime reporter Sumi Khan (extreme right), who works for the Daily Samakal in Bangladesh, said the attempt on her life made her more determined than ever. After a three-month hiatus because of the injuries, she is back to exposing political conspiracies and planned attacks on minority groups. And Shahla Sherkat (extreme left), who runs the magazine Zanan in Tehran, vowed to keep fighting for women’s rights despite being labelled “anti-Islamic” by a Tehran court recently. Needless to say, a spunky troika and a credit to their journalistic sorority.

AIDS answer

If African women bear the scourge of AIDS, they will also play a big part in its relief. A special gel known as PRO 2000 (a microbicide), which has been developed by British scientists, will be tested on 10,000 African women to assess its effectiveness in protecting a person from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. The study is part of a ?42 million programme funded by the Department for International Development and the Medical Research Council. Developed by a US company, tests have shown that PRO 2000 can block the entry of HIV in human cells and also protect animals from infections.

Hair apparent

In a landmark decision last week, the Tirumala-Tirupati Trust Board (TTD) finally decided to appoint women barbers for tonsuring women devotees at the Kalyanakatta, the place where pilgrims are tonsured, in Tirumala. The board’s chairman, Dr T Subburami Reddy, conceded that there was some opposition to the move but said the “final decision was unanimous”. The Kalyanakatta has around 400 male barbers now, but the advent of women there will bring relief to female devotees who expressed reservations about being tonsured by men.

Storm in a wok

British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay seems to have put his foot firmly in his mouth. In a comment that will no doubt enrage many of his female fans, Ramsay told Radio Times that “women can’t cook to save their lives”. He said that while more men were learning how to cook, women were more likely to know how to prepare cocktails than dinner. “When women eat, they cheat ? it is ready meals all the way,” said Ramsay tartly. Well, watch this column for what legions of female chefs ? Delia Smith, Madhur Jaffrey and others ? have to say about Ramsay’s outburst.

‘GLAMOUR’ GAL

Glamour magazine has given an award to Mukhtaran Mai (picture right), whose gangrape in a Pakistani village triggered an international outcry. Mai is in the US after being selected, alongside the likes of Catherine Zeta Jones and 11 others, for the magazine’s Woman of the Year award which will be presented to her on November 2. Says the magazine, “She showed incredible courage and optimism in the face of terrible violence.” Of course, this will add further grist to the mill of President Musharraf and his cohorts who think that in Pakistan women use rape as a visa to a foreign country.

Overheard: That almost 20 per cent of working wives earn more money than their husbands and in most cases, those with ‘high-profile’ jobs are the chief breadwinners of the family too.