Women share their stories about witch hunts at ANANDI, a Gujarat non-profit group that supports vulnerable women. Image by Seema Yasmin. India, 2017.
Women share their stories about witch hunts at ANANDI, a Gujarat non-profit group that supports vulnerable women. Image by Seema Yasmin. India, 2017.

The death of a child, a disease outbreak in a village, bad weather, a meager harvest. These are some of the reasons women in India are accused of sorcery, branded as witches, and hunted. Public health and development failures thus become exacerbated by forces of patriarchy, misogyny, and the caste system. Some states have outlawed witch hunts, but the practice continues with thousands of women hunted each year; hundreds are tortured and murdered.

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Three women grouped together: an elderly woman smiling, a transwoman with her arms folded, and a woman holding her headscarf with a baby strapped to her back.

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Gender Equality

Gender Equality