| Dear readers. In my last newsletter for 2022, I have a quiz that looks at the many gender developments of the year. How closely were you watching?
Thank you for reading. Stay safe and see you in 2023. The Year-Ender Gender Quiz 1. Droupadi Murmu was appointed India’s first tribal, and second woman, president. Of which state was she earlier the governor? 2. “Women, life, freedom” is the slogan of Iran’s ongoing women-led protests sparked by the death of a 23-year-old woman while in the custody of the country’s so-called morality police. Can you name her?  (Source: BBC) 3. The rollback of this 1973 decision by the US Supreme Court was a huge blow to abortion rights in that country. What is the 1973 decision known as? 4. In October, the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced pay parity for women cricket players. But which country’s cricket board was the first to introduce equal pay for women cricketers in July this year? 5. Ariana DeBose took an Oscar for best supporting actress for West Side Story. It made big news because she was the first _____ to win it. First what?  (Source: Entertainment Weekly) 6. The Indian Olympic Association got its first woman head ever. Who is she? 7. It took 232 years for the United States to appoint Ketanji Brown Jackson the first black woman judge of its Supreme Court. In India, how many women judges do we have in the Supreme Court at present? 8. Ela Bhatt, who died in November, founded the world’s largest organisation of informal women workers. Name the organisation. 9. Which of the following countries was not led by a woman in 2022? -
Honduras -
Iceland -
Finland -
Italy 10. Which mega international clothing brand signed a legal agreement to end sexual violence--the first such anywhere in Asia’s garment industry--in response to a demand made by women workers at its Tamil Nadu-based supplier? 11. She’s the youngest prime minister in her country’s history. In August, a leaked video of her dancing at a private party went viral, prompting a backlash with the hashtag, #Dance like ____. Who is she? 12. This country became the first ever to ensure universal access to free period products: -
New Zealand -
Norway -
Bangladesh -
Scotland 13. The Delhi high court in 2022 heard arguments for and against criminalizing marital rape. The verdict? -
Marital rape will be recognized as a crime from January 1, 2013 onwards -
The case was dismissed -
The judges couldn’t agree and the issue will now be decided by a larger bench 14. Geetanjali Shree’s novel Ret Samadhi (Tomb of Sand) is the first work translated from Hindi to win the International Booker Prize. Who is the American writer who translated it into English? 15. By the end of the year, the Taliban in Afghanistan had banned women from: 16. Unless she returns to the court as she has hinted at, Serena Williams played the final match of her career at: -
The US Open -
Wimbledon -
Australian Open -
Canadian Open 17. S Phangnon Konyak of the BJP was named her party’s nominee for its lone Rajya Sabha seat from this state which had never before sent a woman to the upper house. Name the state. 18. True or false? By the end of 2022, homosexuality was no longer a crime in the following countries: -
Singapore -
Barbados -
Pakistan -
St Kitts and Nevis
19. Where in Karnataka were six school girls first denied entry into their classrooms for insisting on wearing a head scarf over their uniform, leading to wider protests all over the state? 20. This life-sized bronze statue unveiled in November in west London, not far from where she lived and worked, is of which beloved writer?  (Source: Timeout.com) Answers 1. Mahsa Amini
2. President Murmu was earlier governor of Jharkhand.
3. Roe v Wade. By striking it down, the US Supreme Court turned back abortion rights in 26 American states, impacting 36 million women of reproductive age.
4. New Zealand
5. She became the first openly queer woman of colour to win an Oscar in the category.
6. P.T. Usha
7. At year’s end there were three women judges in India’s Supreme Court.
8. SEWA or the Self-Employed Women’s Association with 2.1 million women in 18 states in India.
9. Iceland
10. H&M. The agreement was signed following the murder of a Dalit woman worker by her male supervisor.
11. Sanna Marin
12. It’s Scotland where women comprise 45% of its Parliament.
13. It’s (iii). There was a split verdict with Justice Rajiv Shakhdher saying the exception in India’s rape law (forced sexual intercourse with a wife provided she is over 18 cannot be termed rape) is unconstitutional while Justice C Hari Shankar rejected the plea to criminalise marital rape, saying it was the job of Parliament to do so. The issue will now be decided by a larger bench.
14. Daisy Rockwell
15. It’s (iv), all of the above
16. After telling Vogue in August, “I have to move on from playing tennis,” Williams played what is believed to have been her last match at the US Open. A month later she said she had not retired but was ‘evolving’ away from tennis.
17. Nagaland
18. True, true, false, true
19. Udupi
20. Virginia Woolf
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