In the grand, often male-dominated archives of history, resistance is often measured by the size of a protest or the intensity of a battle. However, in the valleys of Kashmir, a different, more enduring form of struggle is taking place—waged in homes, fields, and silence—unfolding slowly across generations. This is the "everyday resistance" of women, a quiet but revolutionary force that turns the domestic sphere into a fortress, and culture into a shield.

For the women of Kashmir, resistance is not merely an occasional act of defiance; it is a way of being. As International Women’s Day draws close, attention often settles on figures like Asiya Andrabi, Fehmeeda Sofi, and Naheeda Nasreen, whose struggle, unlike them could not be incarcerated in Tihar jail. Beyond the prison walls, millions of other women are carrying out a silent rebellion in their kitchens, their courtyards, and shared spaces. Away from the headlines, they are performing the "survival labour," transmitting memory, sustaining the community and ensuring that despite decades of conflict, the Kashmiri identity is not just surviving—it is thriving.

The home as a political space

In a militarised environment, the boundary between the private and the public blurs. For a Kashmiri woman, the home is not external to conflict but embedded within it, a site of constant negotiation and adaptation. Scholars of Marxist feminism have often argued that "social reproduction"—the work of cooking, cleaning, and raising children—is what keeps a society running. In Kashmir, this labour is profoundly........

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