Project Featuring Indian Women Wearing Cow Masks Combats Sexism

Is it safer to be a cow that a woman in India? This is the question which the Dehli based artist Sujatro Ghosh is posing with his powerful photography project featuring women in cow masks.

India is a Hindu country and imposes harsh penalties on those found to have harmed cattle, however many believe that violence committed against women is not treated with such severity.

According the government, a rape is reported every 15minutes in India however justice is not always served. Rape cases can take many years to go through court and often result in no charge being given. Many women are angered by seeing abusers walk free whilst those found to have harmed a cow sentenced to extremely harsh sentences which can even include the death penalty.

"I am perturbed by the fact that in my country, cows are considered more important than a woman, that it takes much longer for a woman who is raped or assaulted to get justice than for a cow which many Hindus consider a sacred animal," said Sujatro Ghosh

The photography project is a way of protesting this double standard and drawing attention to the issue of gender based violence.