A mission to make India gender equal
Public policy researcher and journalist Bhanupriya Rao was already working to raise awareness about women’s issues when COVID-19 hit India in 2020. Realising that the pandemic was only going to deepen existing inequalities, Rao and a team of investigative journalists launched BehanBox – 'voices of sisters' in Hindi – a digital media platform whose mission is to make India gender equal through in-depth, data-driven reporting about public policy.
The platform’s first offering was an investigative series on female health workers putting in long hours without protective gear or adequate compensation.
'The coverage received widespread attention, even from the highest levels of government,' says Rao. 'The series proved that there was a real appetite for our stories.'
BehanBox quickly developed a reputation for high-quality reporting on issues such as women’s political participation and gender-based violence. They also offer a podcast, Local Diaries, to reach women in rural India.
'We work to give women the information they need to become equal participants in our democracy,' says Rao.