Sisterhood and Strife

Women have been especially vulnerable in times of violence, and this is true of the conflict between Hindus and Muslims in the area of Bombay, India. Though some professional women have joined in the conflict, many women have put themselves at risk to save others from attack, such as Hindus in Lahuji Salvi Nagar, a Bombay slum, who helped save their Muslim neighbours from danger in the riots. Some feminists look down on ordinary women with no education, classing them as backward, but these women have the potential to become useful in the movement, and the behaviour of elite women in joining the conflict should not be a cause for sorrow.