Zia Mody recalls brush with patriarchal mindset

Top corporate lawyer Zia Mody became a grandmother last month after her second daughter Aarti gave birth to her first child. Mody herself has three daughters —Anjali, Aarti and Aditi. And perhaps in anticipation of the newest addition to the family, Mody reminisced her own journey towards motherhood.

Speaking at a gender conference in Mumbai some time back, the lawyer recalled the time she delivered her third daughter and her subsequent brush with society’s patriarchal mindset. “I will never forget this incident. I was in the hospital, having just delivered my third daughter and since there was no private room, I was sharing one with a few other women. There, I met a Kashmiri lady, who started crying when she heard that I had a third daughter. That was the most depressing hour,” Mody said. “I screamed at my husband for not getting me a private room,” she added in jest.