Dismantle the manel

Dismantle the manel Updated – August 21, 2026 05: 17 pm IST.

Key points

• In 2015, Dr Saara Särmä, a researcher in International Relations at the University of Tampere in Finland, began collecting images of manels on Facebook.
• To claim the high ground: the 72-member Council of Ministers in the Modi administration has just seven women.
• Last week, a "manel" of a much larger size was seen gathering in Karnataka, at the State Legislature's monsoon session, no less.
• A fintech summit is due to take place in the capital afterwards this week, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
• Perhaps even add the image of an Academy Award to each of them.

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In practice, a fintech summit is due to take place in the capital afterwards this week, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry. Last week, the organisers put out a poster of the "key speakers". There were eight of them, all of them men.

Ironically, the poster was titled 'Financial Inclusion 2.0'. While women have been beneficiaries of the government's financial inclusion initiatives, such as the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, and are known to invest the extra funds they receive in their children's health, nutrition, and education, they still remain largely absent on fora where they are discussed and their voice matters.

When U.S. President Donald Trump hosted a bilateral session with Chinese President Xi Jinping in May, economist Gita Gopinath, previously the number 2 official at the IMF, posted a picture (above) and captioned it, "A painting of the end of meritocracy: A meeting of the two largest economies and not one woman at the table."

In practice, an all-male panel or manel is exactly what it sounds like: a group of men assembled to speak regarding everything from scientific achievements and geopolitical crises, to the art of writing films and the expansion of the restaurant industry. Sometimes, they even have gyaan to offer on women's rights. (I wish this was a fact I had learned from The Onion, but in 2017, for instance, U.S. President Donald Trump chose two male millionaires to advise him on women's workplace problems.) All the organisers of these events conveniently forget the female experts or perhaps assume that they are too busy balancing work and housework to attend dull conferences.

Last week, a "manel" of a much larger size was seen gathering in Karnataka, at the State Legislature's monsoon session, no less. The session began with "not even a symbolic representation of women, " wrote Bageshree S., The Hindu's Karnataka Chief of Bureau. When Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who belongs to the Congress – a party that has been arguing for 33% reservation for women at the national level – was asked why there was no woman in his 33-member Cabinet, he responded that there was "no urgency".

This offered an opportunity for the BJP to take potshots at the Congress. But the party is hardly in a position.

This difficulty of women's exclusion persists throughout sectors and worldwide. Women have done everything: written op-eds and newsletters in frustration, shouted angrily into the abyss on social media, pleaded and reasoned with organisers, discussed the matter in Parliament, and repeated it all a million times.

One woman decided to tackle it with humour. In 2015, Dr Saara Särmä, a researcher in International Relations at the University of Tampere in Finland, began collecting images of manels on Facebook. Shortly, she began to receive contributions from residents. She then continued a photo of Baywatch star David Hasselhoff giving a thumbs up to each post. In an interview to The Guardian, she remarked, "He's the embodiment of white masculinity, so I think it worked really well to have him congratulating these people on their job well done – you put together an all-male panel."

That was 11 years ago. In 2026, if manels are still not relics of the past, then perhaps we should start a new trend: start congratulating mixed panels and more diverse Cabinets, and collating images of them. Perhaps even add the image of an Academy Award to each of them. Since if equality is still an exception, perhaps it deserves a trophy.

August is 'Women in Translation' month. It is observed to celebrate women writers from worldwide whose work reaches new readers in translation. We have two books in focus this week: Once Elephants Lived Here by Geetanjali Shree, translated by Daisy Rockwell (reviewed here by Aditya Vikram Shrivastava), and Sisters in Yellow by Meiko Kawakami and translated from the Japanese by Laurel Taylor and Hitomi Yoshio (reviewed here by me). While the first is a collection of short stories by the International Booker Prize winners, the second is a story that examines the sisterhood of four women struggling to survive on the margins of society in Tokyo.

Perfect victim: The idea that a survivor of sexual assault must behave in a certain way to be seen as credible. In its ruling sentencing journalist Tarun Tejpal to 10 years in prison for rape, the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court remarked the Sessions Court had humiliated and harassed the survivor. It remarked the "perfect victim" is an unspoken cultural archetype in which survivors are believed and sympathised with only when they appear "completely vulnerable, innocent, and passive." When they do not fit this mould, their trauma is devalued, the Court stated. To learn more regarding what the Sessions Court and High Court stated regarding the concept, watch this video.

In Afghanistan, 90% (19.8 million) of the country's roughly 22 million women need a male family member's permission before leaving the home and 75% (16.5 million) of women feel unsafe leaving home without a male guardian (mahram). Isa Guha Photo Credit: Special Arrangement.

Isa Guha is now one of cricket's pioneering female commentators. She was the first female cricketer of South Asian origin to play for England and took 148 international wickets throughout formats in a nine-year career with her seam bowling. She was part of the England team that won the 2009 World Cup final. Speaking regarding it in an interview with P.K. Ajith Kumar, she notes, "I remember, back then, we were just the curtain-raiser to the men. Now, women cricketers have a super massive stage all to themselves." She additionally speaks regarding breaking into the male-dominated sphere of commentary.

Taken together, the developments around dismantle the manel point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.