Rahila Gupta

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Rahila Gupta (2008)
Occupation	Author, Journalist
Twitter	@RahilaG

Rahila Gupta is a writer and freelance journalist for The Guardian and New Humanist, and as member of the Management Committee of Southall Black Sisters^[wp] a leading feminist activist.

She is co-writer of Kiranjit Ahluwalia's autobiography and as a member of the Southall Black Sisters^[wp] (SBS) she played a significant role in ensuring that a woman, who had fired and killed her husband in his sleep, was stylized as a heroine.

Articles

• Sexual violence in Indian cities, openDemocracy on 29 November 2012
• Sexism and misogyny: what's the difference? (An Australian dictionary has changed its definition of misogyny to reflect the fact that it is now used to mean "entrenched prejudice against women", not just hatred of them. Six feminists tell us what the term means to them: Naomi Wolf, Julie Bindel, Nina Power, Rahila Gupta, Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, Bidisha), The Guardian on 17 October 2012
• We are still failing non-British victims of domestic violence (Changes to spousal visa rules will help some domestic violence survivors - but many on other visas will continue to suffer), The Guardian on 2 April 2012
• Mere posturing from the Tories on forced marriage (With good reason, the supreme court has declared unlawful a ban on under-21-year-old spouses coming to the UK), The Guardian on 13 October 2011
• "Gender neutrality" weakens efforts to tackle violence against women (Men's solidarity is welcome, but a march in high heels verges on mockery that takes attention away from victims of violence), The Guardian on 4 December 2012
• Red tape or a red rag?: the Equality Act in the UK, openDemocracy on 26 August 2013
• Power structures and the politics of knowledge production, openDemocracy on 8 July 2013
• Transgender: the challenge to feminist politics, openDemocracy on 16 April 2013
• Women and LGBT rights: the Achilles' heel of Christian knights, openDemocracy on 18 March 2013
• Away from prison: the distance travelled, openDemocracy on 12 December 2012
• The value of a woman's life, openDemocracy on 6 December 2012
• Sexual violence in Indian cities, openDemocracy on 29 November 2012
• Can a story save a life? Women and the Arab uprisings, openDemocracy on 27 November 2012
• Taking a flawed stand against orientalism, openDemocracy on 12 November 2012
• No exceptions: one law for all, openDemocracy on 7 November 2012
• The issues that divide: building a diverse feminist movement, openDemocracy on 20 September 2012
• The great unmentionable in disability politics, openDemocracy on 31 July 2012
• The hijab or the bikini: the shaping of young girls' sexuality, openDemocracy on 17 May 2012
• UK migration: a hierarchy of injustices, openDemocracy on 1 May 2012
• Faith: know thy place, openDemocracy on 10 March 2012
• Has neoliberalism knocked feminism sideways?, openDemocracy on 4 January 2012
• Lush - cosmetic or real?, openDemocracy on 23 May 2011
• Feminism and the soul of secularism, openDemocracy on 8 March 2011
• Dangerous liaisons, openDemocracy on 23 June 2010
• The religious lobby and women's rights, openDemocracy on 19 April 2010
• The pull factor, openDemocracy on 19 June 2008
• The UK's modern slavery shame, openDemocracy on 26 November 2007

Books

Enslaved (2008)

Autobiography - The cover picture shows the murderer celebrating herself. In the background, a newspaper headline: "Camp­aig­ners claim victory after retrial accepts ...: Judge frees wife who burnt brutal hus­band to death"

• As co-writer with Kiranjit Ahluwalia: Circle Of Light. The Autobiography of Kiranjit Ahluwalia., HarperCollins^[wp], 1997, ISBN 0-00638329-7
• From Homebreakers to Jailbreakers: Southall Black Sisters, Zed Books, 2004, ISBN 1-84277440-9
• Provoked. The Story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia., HarperCollins India, 2007, ASIN B00E3FXIMU
• Enslaved. The New British Slavery., Portobello Books, 2008, ISBN 1-84627066-9

Book description

Enslaved The New British Slavery

Slavery in Britain did not end with Wilberforce. They may be largely invisible to us, but living in our midst are thousands of slaves. Rahila Gupta seeks out five escapees and persuades them to tell us their stories in this compelling and revealing book. We meet a pregnant child from Sierra Leone who was locked up in a London house as a domestic slave; a Russian teenager trafficked into prostitution; a Chinese man, living in fear of the Triads; a religious Somali woman who had to exchange sex for food; and, a young Punjabi woman forced into marriage and repeatedly abused by her husband. These are the stories of those who have escaped, through a combination of courage, timing, luck and the humanity of those who helped them. Their testimonies are harrowing but we cannot leave them unheard.