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From BAPS-Paris to Kochi, the same patriarchy: protect women by removing them

Calling women 'precious' just to force them into the shadows isn't respect. It's an embarrassing confession of fragile male restraint.

One doesn’t think about a global debate on gender when one talks about the Eiffel Tower. Yet this week, one of the world’s most famous landmarks became the backdrop for an uncomfortable question about the existence of women in public spaces—a question that keeps rising again and again, like acid reflux.

If women are so respected (in our culture, society and religion), why are they always being asked to be removed from sight?

The controversy began when female staff at the Paris landmark were reportedly asked to step aside for a visit by the Hindu denomination Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), whose strict celibacy rules require them to limit interactions with women. This “request” prompted protests from the workers’ union, closure of the monument for a day; it even united French politicians in their outrage and resulted in an apology from the group.

Just days earlier, halfway across the world, Kerala’s Grand Mufti Aboobacker Musliyar stirred a........

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