Gender-Based Violence, Legal Protection, and Intersecting Narratives: A Conversation with Flavia Agnes

Flavia Agnes is a leading advocate for gender justice because of her legal expertise in marital law, divorce, and property law and her activism as an Indian women’s rights lawyer. Her scholarly work on systemic and legal gender-based oppression has appeared in the journals Subaltern Studies, Economic and Political Weekly, and Manushi. Her book, My Story...Our Story of Rebuilding Broken Lives, released by her non-profit organization named Majlis, depicts how Agnes battled domestic violence while addressing the law’s restrictive abilities to offer protection. We conducted an interview through Google Meet with Agnes to discuss her work as a legal activist and her literary works, which fight against patriarchal legal systems. The discussion explores her ideas about feminist law, observations on the ways the Indian legal system fails women, and how personal narratives can create social transformation. Agnes reveals how marginalized women constantly face challenges which require reforms, community activism, and feminist alliances to erase violence and discrimination.