Flavia Agnes is an Indian women's rights lawyer
with expertise in marital, divorce, and property law.
She has published articles in the journals ''Subaltern Studies'', ''
Economic and Political Weekly
The ''Economic and Political Weekly'' (''EPW'') is a weekly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all social sciences, and is published by the Sameeksha Trust. In January 2018, academic Gopal Guru was named the new Editor of the journal. Guru wil ...
'', and ''
Manushi
''Manushi: A Journal about Women and Society'' is an Indian magazine devoted to feminism as well as to gender studies and activism. The magazine was founded in 1978 by Madhu Kishwar and Ruth Vanita
Ruth Vanita is an Indian academic, activis ...
.'' She writes on themes of minorities and law, gender and law, law in the context of women's movements, and on issues of domestic violence, feminist jurisprudence, and minority rights.
Flavia Agnes began working in the field of women in law in the 1980s, which was at the beginning of the second phase of the women's movement,
and since 1988, Agnes has been a practicing lawyer at the
Mumbai High Court
The High Court of Bombay is the high court of the states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily at Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), and is one of the o ...
. Her own experience with domestic violence inspired her to become a women's rights lawyer. She also advises the government on law implementation and currently advises the
Ministry of Women and Child Development in
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
. Along with Madhushree Dutta, Agnes is the co-founder of MAJLIS, meaning 'association' in Arabic, "a legal and cultural resource centre"
that campaigns for and provides legal representation for women on issues of matrimonial rights, child custody etc. Since its inception in 1990, MAJLIS has provided legal services for 50,000 women.
Early life
Flavia Agnes was born in Mumbai. She grew up in
Mangalore
Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...
,
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
in a small town called Kadri, where she lived with her aunt. As one of six children, Agnes was the only child to stay in Mangalore.
On the eve of her
Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams, her aunt died, and Agnes went to
Aden
Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...
, Yemen, and worked as a typist. Her family returned to Mangalore
after Agnes' father's death. After Agnes' father's death in her teenage years, the females in her family, particularly her mother and her aunt, became increasingly influential during her upbringing.
Personal life
Agnes, a Christian, was considered a religious minority in India.
Her religious affiliation affected various domains of her life, such as her marriage and her political motivations.
Her mother had urged her to have an arranged marriage.
Although she has not publicly disclosed the details of her marriage problems,
she reportedly had a bad marriage and tried for a divorce. The divorce proceedings took much longer than anticipated. As a Christian, Agnes was not entitled to 'divorce on the grounds of cruelty' under the
Christian Marriage Act and had to ask for a
judicial separation
Legal separation (sometimes judicial separation, separate maintenance, divorce ', or divorce from bed-and-board) is a legal process by which a married couple may formalize a separation while remaining legally married. A legal separation is gra ...
.
The church provided an outlet for Agnes to become politically active.
She became inspired by engaging in church lecturers and listening to outside speakers,
particularly one entitled: "Christ the Radical" that covered the anti-rape movement.
This event in particular led to Agnes joining the
Forum against Oppression of Women later on.
Education
Prior to her marriage, Agnes had only completed her SSC exams. Agnes' greater involvement in the women's movement led her to study further to obtain meaningful employment, live independently and secure custody of her children. As a result, Agnes completed the
Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women's University (SNDT) entrance exam and completed a
Bachelor of Arts (BA) in
Sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
with Distinction in 1980.
[
Agnes then completed an ]LLB
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
in 1988 and began to practice law at the Mumbai High Court. She later completed her LLM
A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...
from Mumbai University
The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai.
The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed ...
in 1992.[ She received an MPhil from National Law School of India University, Bangalore (NLSIU) in 1997. For her thesis, which was later published by ]Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, she worked on law and gender equality, examining the politics of personal laws in different religious communities, particularly those affecting women.
Subsequent to her M.Phil., Agnes became a guest faculty at NLSIU. She is also a member of the visiting faculty at National Academy of Legal Studies and Research, Hyderabad (NALSAR) and Jindal Global Law School
O.P. Jindal Global (Institution of Eminence Deemed to be University), is a private university located at Sonipat in Haryana. It was established in 2009 as a philanthropic initiative of its founding chancellor, Naveen Jindal in memory of his fa ...
. She has also taught in medical schools.
Work experience and recognition
Among other practicing lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
s, she was concerned with women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
, particularly, women's economic
An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
rights. Her goal was to solve women's inequality
Inequality may refer to:
Economics
* Attention inequality, unequal distribution of attention across users, groups of people, issues in etc. in attention economy
* Economic inequality, difference in economic well-being between population groups
* ...
and impoverishment within the Indian economic structure, especially regarding property ownership. She acknowledges that some Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
women were not allowed any property, and other women were allowed a small amount in the pre-colonial and civil time in India under the British law. Women eventually gained more independence before marriage, but not in the sense of property law.
Recognition
In August 2018 Power Brands awarded Flavia Agnes the Bharatiya Manavata Vikas Puraskar for being a beacon of hope for millions of marginalized and disenfranchised women and children – giving them voice and strength to fight back, for her contribution to feminist jurisprudence, human rights law and gender studies in India, and for the work of her organisation, Majlis.
Views
Death penalty
While death in the Indian judiciary system is handed out in cases described as "rarest of rare", Agnes and her team of lawyers at MAJLIS have been prominent critics of the death penalty and oppose it for all cases.
Sometimes their opposition has been controversial as they opposed it for the accused in both the Nirbhaya case and the Shakti Mills case. Agnes talks of a class bias when it comes to convicting rape accused and points out that as per the rules o
Section 376E
(which allows death penalty for cases of rape) the accused must be "unrepentant repeat offenders". In both the aforementioned cases, that was not the case and according to Agnes, this type of judgement serves to "dilute" the 'rarest of rare' premise.
Agnes is also against the concept that rape is worse than death or that a woman who is raped is a "zinda laash" (walking dead) pointing out that not only does this concept demean women but if rape is equated with murder, "more women will be killed after they are raped. Even worse, less number of women will report rape, particularly if it is committed by a near and dear one."
Sexual assault of men
Agnes has voiced opposition to making rape laws gender neutral, expounding that criminalizing rape of men 'harm women more than men.' Agnes also said 'we omen's groupsopposed it when they made child rape
Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whethe ...
laws gender neutral.
The Global Feminisms Project
Flavia Agnes is a part of the Global Feminisms Project, an archive created in 2002 to explore women scholars and activists around the world. The initial Project focused on four countries: China, India, Poland, and the United States, and was headed by the University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
's Abigail Stewart, Jayati Lal, and Kristin McGuire. Three additional country sites (Nicaragua, Brazil and Russia) have been added. The project currently consists of seven countries and 79 interviews
An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" r ...
. The interviews are focused on the women's experiences and their feminist activism.
References
Further reading
* POCSO
Child sexual abuse laws in India have been enacted as part of the child protection policies of India. The Parliament of India passed the ''Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Bill (POCSO), 2011 regarding child sexual abuse on 22 M ...
Articles by Flavia Agnes
at ''The Asian Age
''The Asian Age'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper with editions published in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. It also prints an "international edition" in London. It was launched in February 1994.
The same publishing company also prod ...
''
Articles by Flavia Agnes
at ''The Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...
''
Articles by Flavia Agnes
at ''The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
''
Articles by Flavia Agnes
at ''Economic and Political Weekly
The ''Economic and Political Weekly'' (''EPW'') is a weekly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all social sciences, and is published by the Sameeksha Trust. In January 2018, academic Gopal Guru was named the new Editor of the journal. Guru wil ...
''
External links
Majlis
The Global Feminisms Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agnes, Flavia
1947 births
Living people
Indian women's rights activists
Scholars from Mumbai
SNDT Women's University alumni
University of Mumbai alumni
Women educators from Maharashtra
Educators from Maharashtra
20th-century Indian lawyers
20th-century Indian women lawyers
21st-century Indian lawyers
21st-century Indian women lawyers