India, March 12 -- The latest data from global institutions paint a troubling picture-economic and political inequality persist, gender-based violence remains rampant. "Accelerated Action" must become a force for real, urgent change

The calendar page has turned and March 8, International Women's Day (IWD), fades into the rear-view mirror. Yet, the echoes of pronouncements - of "Accelerated Action" - the very theme of IWD 2025 - still reverberate. Newspapers, policymakers, and government and international organisations have once again performed their ritual - churning out reports and issuing platitudes, all while the chasm of the gender gap yawns wider. They speak of strengthening the "fairer sex" - a term that dares to confine the boundl...