Women’s studies in the country has since its inception attempted to uphold and advance truth – factual, personal, social and restorative, Gita Sen, feminist scholar and Distinguished Professor, Public Health Foundation of India, has said.
She was delivering the inaugural address on ‘Role of women’s studies in supporting social movements: creating a shared public memory’ at the four-day 17th national conference of the Indian Association for Women’s Studies (IAWS) at Government College for Women, Vazhuthacaud, here on Thursday.
Referring to a talk by the Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, a couple of years ago, Prof. Sen said it was important to understand what truth and power meant, especially in today’s so-called post-truth world where power arrogates to itself a monopoly not only on what is considered factual or forensic truth but also the other three – personal, social and restorative. Such conferences were important to acknowledge their importance and celebrate the fact that women’s studies have advanced all four truths.
Women researchers should be part of social movements, for that will make it make it possible to uncover, examine, and analyse data and evidence and understand women’s truths through their experiences of the personal, engage in public dialogues and discussions on policies and programmes, and set all of these in historical, social, economic, and political contexts, said Prof. Sen.
In engaging with all kinds of truth, women’s studies had been digging deep into the nature of power – its structural basis in laws, economics, resource distribution, and knowledge and its mobilisation, how it works, how it is cemented through social norms and beliefs, how it is enforced through threat and violence, and how can it be changed. “Women’s studies in India has believed it can be changed by working on all the above,” said Prof. Sen.
She pointed out that women’s studies included work outside boundaries of departments and sectors, such as in education, sexual and reproductive health and rights, labour, and Dalit studies. Major contributions had been made to intersections of gender and caste and class, disabilities, sexual orientation, sociology and politics, and more. The big question though was if women’s studies was fit for purpose now.
Prof. Sen delved into it through the illustration of women and work. It was important to value women’s work through national surveys but also raising the issue constantly outside women’s studies where male-dominated agendas still reigned and gender differences were often veiled and suppressed. While the studies had understood intersections between gender, caste, wealth and, religion, there was much that one did not know, had not examined, and did not understand, Prof. Sen said.
Researcher and IAWS senior member Leela Gulati, who is a pioneer of women’s studies in the State, was felicitated on the occasion.
Sonajharia Minz, professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) who was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Sido Kanhu Murmu University in Jharkhand, delivered the Madhuriben Shah Memorial Lecture on ‘Intersections vs intersectionality: a model of resilience.’
The autobiography of the late K. Saradamoni, social scientist and pioneer in Dalit and gender studies, In Search of Answers was released by IAWS former president Meera Velayudhan by handing over a copy to Kumkum Roy, former faculty member of the Centre for Historical Studies at JNU.
IAWS president Ishita Mukhopadhyay, IAWS general secretary Mini Sukumar, Planning Commission of India former member Syeda Hameed, and Government College for Women Principal Anuradha V.K. also spoke.
