32 Emergence of Women’s Studies in India

Anurekha Chari Wagh

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Introduction:

 

As students of sociology, it is important to understand, what does women’s studies stands for. It stands for a discipline and knowledge system, that is movement for justice, recognition and emancipation from subordination, it challenges the philosophical underpinnings of knowledge – that endorse gender inequity and critique existing paradigms, especially the tools, concepts, and techniques in all intellectual disciplines. It is argued that the aim of women’s studies is to interrogate the dominant mainstream perspectives. Some feminist even argue that the mainstream is more often than not ‘male-stream’ (Rege 2000). To this end the attempt is to formulate new methodologies and definitions, which could assimilate gender consciousness into mainstream. By reworking methodologies, the endeavor is to challenge and transform the construction of the ‘gendered social reality’. It is in this manner that women’s studies, is political and synonymous with the women’s movement. Additionally it not only challenges the dichotomy between thought and action, but also seeks to change people’s mind sets and values but also provides frameworks for projects and policies.

 

bell hooks (2000) states that it is important to question the popular notion that feminism is opposing men, and thus should work towards establishing that feminism is for everybody. Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression. What has happened is that men and women have been socialized into accepting sexism, and thus it is important to recognize that women ‘are’ and ‘can’ be sexist. Patriarchy as a social, political, economic and cultural system pushes men and women to be violent, aggressive, dominating, controlling and oppressive. So questioning patriarchy and dismantling it would lead to setting foundations for equality within society. In this context the question is whether people used to wield power bestowed as a result of circumscribing to patriarchal ideology would let go of power so that it could be shared (hooks 2000).

 

Feminist education according to hooks, should focus on researching on groups, theorize so as to deal analytically with sexism and patriarchy, and push for publishing and dissemination. Further they should also focus on women’s writing and seek not only to understand contemporary challenges faced by women but also ‘rewrite’ history from the perspective of an approach that questions sexism and sexist exploitation. Feminist knowledge building is thus a political exercise of: one, establishing respect for women’s academic work; two, recognition for work done by women in the past, present and future; three, respect not only theory but also experience and four, end gender bias in curriculum (hooks 2000).

 

One crucial manner in which feminist knowledge has been generated and disseminated is with the growth of women’s studies within academic and research institutions. While focusing on the emergence of women’s studies, the module seeks to make students aware of the relationship between Knowledge, power and politics, how disciplines gets shaped through policies and programmes and what is the nature of relationship between people’s movements and knowledge.

 

In India, the initial conceptualization of what women’s studies refers to could be drawn to the first Indian Women’s Studies Conference on, Bombay, April 1981, where it was stated that ‘women’s studies does not mean merely focusing on women’s experience, problems, needs and perceptions in the context of development and social change with a view to integrating this neglected area within the scope of higher education. It has to be viewed as a critical instrument to improve our knowledge, which at present remains partial and biased, projecting a view of social reality derived from a male perspective’ (Desai et al., 1984: 2). Thus the first role of women’s studies is to discover, to acquire and to accumulate knowledge about women (Mazumdar 1982: 5)

 

The module while analyzing the emergence of women’s studies will address the following questions:

 

How did the emergence of women’s studies helped to counter the gender blind analytical frameworks, methodologies and theoretical, perspectives within sociology?How has the women’s movement impacted and gave direction to the growth of women’s studies and how the latter then influenced campaigns and programmes of women’s movement in India?

 

In analyzing emergence of women’s studies the focus should be on: 1. Interrelationship of women’s movement and women’s studies; 2. The nature of women’s studies emerging from women’s studies centers; 3. The kind of women’s studies that has been developed and nurtured within ‘mainstream’ and ‘malestream’ (Rege 1994) disciplines and 4. The role played by government policies and autonomous government institutions such as ICSSR and UGC in shaping women’s studies. Such analysis is important as there is very close relationship between academic and activism; where they not only draw strength from each other but in many contexts also has been at loggerheads with each other.

 

Strong differences within activism, understanding of feminism as ‘feminisms’ and as Sharma (2003) states that ‘institutional location’ of feminist practices have become sites of contest. As Datta (2007: 53) states that ‘non-existent’ invisible women has been made not only visible but also audible. Feminist research highlights how the existing concepts including family, household, work, and employment are constructed in such a manner so that their contribution is rendered worthless and made invisible. Redefining and reconceptualization of concepts, theories and analysis has shifted the disciplinary boundaries of a number of disciplines and by of an interdisciplinary approach has made women’s studies a holistic one as it focuses on interconnections.

 

Section 1: The Context of Emergence of Women’s Studies

 

Mazumdar and Sharma (1979: 113) state that ‘the aim of women’s studies is to seek to search for answers to women’s problems within the historical cultural framework of a society, evolution of policies and strategies for development and address the gaps and biases embedded within concepts, theories and methodology of social research’. According to them the standardized indicators used by established social science disciplines are limited in their approach. Therefore they fail to analyze the complex experiences of women within the larger society. Women’s studies, is generally used to denote research and teaching and probe into historical, cultural and contextual determination of status and also seek out women’s presence voice and expression in history, literature and creative arts (Chitnis 1991).

 

What were the limitations of earlier studies and research on women? Mazumdar and Sharma (1979:113) argued that the earlier research on women often perceived them as a universal category and focused on the position of women within elite and high caste women. Thus research was essentially based on detoriation of status and experience of social evils like dowry, child marriage, sati, purdah and many more. It was the growth of nationalist movement that was a political movement for independence that argue Mazumdar and Sharma that resulted in shift as far as perspectives in women’s studies are concerned. Now women’s issues were projected within the larger discourse of the principles of equality of rights, status, opportunities for participation in process of national development. Such shifts lead to increased visibility and emphasis on research and debate on women’s issues (Mazumdar 1981). Chitnis (1991) highlights the role of:

 

·        The Government of India

·        The United Nations

·        ESCAP

·        The World Bank

·        International Labour Organization

·       ICSSR in raising the discussion on different aspects of women’s lives, economic status, health, education and fertility.

 

She further adds that the research generated on women was critical of government policies and programmes, which highlighted issues of women’s oppression and raised the need for ‘alternative’ to current policies and programmes pushed for the institutionalization of women’s studies in India. Further highlighting the role of Gandhi in shaping women’s political participation, Mazumdar and Sharma contend that he pushed for women’s historic role as women were projected as ‘potential vanguards of a radical but non-violent process of social transformation’, (pp 114) and this pushed for a fundamental redefinition of sex roles. What was unfortunate was that such a historically significant shift had little impact on the work of mainstream social scientists who continued their research without engaging with the political social development that were emerging in the world outside.

 

Desai (et al., 1984) stated that historically studies on women had generally emerged in context of engagement with Social reform movement of the 19th century and later within nationalist movement. They write, ‘these studies were done primarily by indologists, social historians, social workers, sociologists and anthropologists…..and influenced by the ideologies, concerns and contradictions of the Social reform Movement’ (1984:2). Mazumdar and Sharma (1979, 1994) while analyzing the kind of research undertaken state that up to the 1950s there is a focus on general surveys, focusing on women’s roles and states with narrow perspective of family, kinship and community and on women and education. Post 1950s, focus shifted to reforms in personal and labour laws. One did not really find much research on the role of women in agriculture.

 

As Chaudhuri (2012:21) states that emergence of feminism in India has to be understood in the following contexts:

·        History of colonialism and emergent Indian Nationalism;

·        Its subsequent advance within the trajectory of independent India’s state initiated development;

·        Transformed context of globalization and India’s own success story in it;

·        The growing assertion of marginalized castes1 and communities which has led to a complex deepening of the democratization process in India.

 

Section 2: Growth of Women’s Studies in India

 

The political context of post -1975 researches was distinctly different as the Towards Equality Report 1974, provided the framework to situate women’s studies in India and believed to be the ‘watershed in the field of women’s studies in the country’ (Desai et al., 1984; Datta 2007). Mazumdar (1994:42) states that ‘the guiding principles of the committee are significant; they could well be read as the manifesto of women’s studies in India’2. According to her the report defined a new set of agenda for women’s studies in India, as it pushed the discipline to take cognizance of the diversity, change and plurality within the country. It is

1  The Indian caste system is a system of social stratification and social restriction in India in which communities are defined by thousands of endogamous communities. Contemporary India is marked by vibrant assertion of marginalized castes (Chaudhuri 2012: 21)

 

2  Guiding principles of Committee on the Status of Women in India (CSWI) include: Equality of women is necessary as a basic condition of social, economic and political development of the nation; Improvement of employment opportunities and earning power should be given the highest priority in order to release women from, their dependent and unequal status; Society owes a special responsibility to women as mothers; safe bearing and rearing of children, therefore is an obligation that must be shared by the mother, father and society; The contribution made by an active housewife to the management of a family should be accepted as economically and socially productive and as essential for national savings and development; Marriage and motherhood should not become disabilities, preventing women from fulfilling their full and proper role in the task of nation building, in which society, including women themselves, must accept their due responsibilities; Disabilities and inequalities, of which women are victims, cannot be removed for women only, such action must form part of a total movement for the removal of all inequalities and oppressive social institutions; Some special measures will be necessary to move in the direction of the goals set by the Constitution and to transform de jure equality into a de facto one (Mazumdar 1994: 42-43).

important to note that, the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), an autonomous agency sponsored by the Government of India that adopted in the early seventies that the status of women in India is a priority area when it commissioned studies for the CSWI and took it forward by promoting a new initiative of Women’s studies in 1976 (Desai et al., 1984: 4; Chitnis (1991). The programme on women’s studies, “seeks to promote social science research to understand women’s lives and problems and the manner in which they are being affected by the process of social change, economic modernization and population dynamics’ (Mazumdar 1978: 16).)

 

Addressing the challenges highlighted in the report, ICSSR in the programme women’s studies identified three objectives: one to identify and work for needed policy changes; two, to persuade the social science community to reexamine the methodology, concepts, theories and analytical apparatus of social research from the entire arena of social investigations; and three to revive the social debate on the women’s question, which had emerged as a major issue during the freedom struggle but has faded in the post Independence period (Mazumdar 1994: 43).

 

Such a policy significantly changed the perspective of research where issues of power and inequality structuring the lives of women in India were addressed by new studies organized under the newly emerging discipline of women’s studies. The idea was to use research generated through women’s studies as a tool for action. This could be done by gathering data on the invisible groups of women working in unorganized sectors; through generating research that could be used to change policy; question dominant methodologies within social sciences to understand why women’s concerns were not addressed earlier and finally to bring into central focus, ‘the women’s question’, which argues Mazumdar had been allowed to disappear since the 1920s (Mazumdar 1982: 8). Chitnis (1991) states that women’s studies, is generally used to denote research and teaching and probe into historical cultural and contextual determination of status and expression in history, literature, and creative arts.

 

Desai (et al., 1984: 4) states that the priority areas identified for research during the first phase included:

 

·        Changes in occupational structure: emerging trends

·        Evaluation of development programs;

·        Patterns of family organization and socialization practices

·        Causes and consequences of excess of female over male migration

·        Women’s movement

·        Role in the decision-making process

 

In this context the pioneering efforts of the S.N.D.T Women’s University Research Unit on Women’s Studies, established in 1974 needs to be mentioned. Rege (1994: 2042) states that, ‘the efforts of the SNDT sociology department, in offering courses on “women and Society’ at a time when there was no acceptability from the mainstream have been path breaking’. One of the important idea underscoring the National Conference on Women’s Studies was a recognition that an transformation of structures, of ethos, of quality and behavior, through the unity of scientific studies, mobilizing action, and spreading awareness’, which made the conference more of a movement and not limited to conference proceedings (Mazumdar 1981:16).

 

Further what was importance in the National Conference on Women’s Studies 1980, that the decision to form Indian Association of women’s Studies was taken (Mazumdar 1981). Desai et al., (1984: 5) state that ‘the objectives of the Indian Association of Women’s Studies (IAWS), include i. developing and disseminating information; organizing specific action programs; assisting institutions to develop programs of teaching, research and action….the association seeks to break the isolation between academic activities and social action by opening its membership to all engaged in teaching, research and action for women’s development. The Association seeks to provide a broad base for initiating and advocating expansion of women’s studies’.

 

Section 3: Institutionalization of Women’s Studies

 

A striking feature of Women’s Studies is that it is an area that seems immediately intelligible and cognizable because its focus on women is stated upfront in the very act of naming the field (Pappu 2008). Neera Desai’s early characterization enables us to comprehend how the field of Women’s Studies was conceptualized in its founding moment. She points out that Women’s Studies is “to be understood as an instrument for women’s development and also as a necessary input to deepen the knowledge base of various disciplines…. women’s studies has to be understood not merely in the context of research and teaching but also action” ( Desai 1986: 20). Desai further clarifies that Women’s Studies is neither a separate discipline nor a particular topic but an effort to orient knowledge bases and functions in all disciplines towards a deeper engagement with the situation of women. While earlier studies on women were carried out by privileging the male point of view, which was also the mainstream point of view, Women’s Studies in contrast sought to center women in order to understand the reasons underlying their unequal status in the society so that the conditions of inequality could be challenged (Pappu 2008).

 

Although Women’s Studies emerged from an academic context, it was closely linked to the women’s movement of the late 70s and the early 80s. Many scholars and researchers associated with Women’s Studies were also active members of the women’s movement and vice versa. This blurring of boundaries between the academic and the activist spheres resulted in the institutionalization of Women’s Studies both in the university and non-university locations. This institutionalization therefore took place prominently through the forms listed below (Pappu 2008):

 

·        Women’s Studies Centres established by the University Grants Commission within Universities

·        Women’s Studies Cells within specific University departments and in Colleges (in comparison with the Centres, the Cells have limited autonomy as well as mandate, which in turn impacts on their budgets and programmes

·        Women’s Studies in non-university locations in the form of autonomous or non-governmental organizations

 

Individual scholars located either within specific institutions or working as non-affiliated researchers too have made extremely critical contributions in the field. As Sharma (2003) states the early studies were making ‘invisible’ women visible’ and the challenge was to question many assumptions – data, concepts, methodology and theories’. Thus an analysis of the growth of women’s studies in India, highlights the impact of women’s movement in post-Independent India. Jain and Rajput (2003: 18), state that ‘the growth of this discipline was propelled by an interest in equity and justice and drew inspiration from grass-root level experience of women’s organisation’. In analysing the relationship between women’s movement and women’s studies, Desai (2002) argues that since women’s studies was envisioned as ‘the intellectual arm of the women’s movement’; some analysts feel that the ‘transformative’ role of women’s studies has often remained elusive as gate keepers within the academy question the credentials, quality and relevance of women’s studies. Further feminists are also accused of ‘ivory tower’, scholarship or diluting the radicalization to gain academic respectability (Sharma, K 2003). While women’s studies in India was, born out the women’s movement but its disjuncture with activism in recent years has created an uneasy alliance in networking between scholars and activists (Sharma, A 2017). Since 1986-87, the UGC invited proposals from Universities to establish women studies centers. Thus as John (2005: 56) states, that institutionalization of women’s studies has taken the shape of research centers and women’s studies centers in Universities’. John (2006, 2008:11) ‘initially there were only four centers. Some of them began as independent from all disciplines while others started as part of a particular department; such an attempt was referred to as ‘sprinkle effect’ by Bhatia (2012:04), where the attempt was made to introduce components of women’s studies within existing disciplines. The aim of the research centers include among others:

 

·        To raise awareness on gender issues

·        Do independent gender based research and community action

·        Conduct interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research

 

Sharma (2003: 4565) states that ‘right from beginning, women’s studies underscored the necessary and integral connection between feminist scholarship and feminist practice in shaping issues and agendas….and (there) is a deliberate focus on gender inequalities and an emphasis as an emancipatory agenda’. But on the other hand the politics of mainstreaming women’s studies within institutions of higher education had to confront the power of patriarchal academy and knowledge hierarchy as feminist scholarships was placed within a web of complex relationships’. Such a concern is also reflected in CWDS (1994), where it mentioned that being placed within inflexible organizational structures of universities, women’s studies is pushed either to the margins or becomes a site of struggle within scholars vying for accolades and staking territorial claims over areas of study.

 

Such an argument is reiterated by Datta (2007), where she states that women’s studies in its quest for institutionalization, women’s studies has become more system oriented structured under rigid university system. Rege (2000) states that women’s studies organizationally exist as a semi-separate space, with one of exclusion and inclusion, where women’s studies allows greater experience of feminist ideas and practice while in relation to the disciplines remaining as an outsider. Because of such institutional location concerns have also been expressed regarding pedagogical dimension of women’s studies and intergenerational transfer of knowledge and insights gained over decades (John 2002). The impact of Women’s Studies on the academy has also been widely acknowledged. For instance the well-known sociologist Andre Beteille states:

 

Few developments in recent years have generated as much enthusiasm in the Indian academic world as women’s studies. New areas of enquiry have been opened up in literary studies, in philosophy, sociology, psychology, history, political science and other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Established concepts and methods are being put to question, and what were once accepted as facts now no longer appear as such. (1995: 111)

Sharmila Rege draws attention to Beteille’s concern with Women’s Studies:

 

Beteille (1995) commenting on feminism in the academia, begins by granting that developments in women’s studies have generated enthusiasm in the academic world. However, assuming that all of women’s studies is not exclusionary, he concludes on a different note. He argues that unless diverse viewpoints, the perspectives of both the sexes, are accommodated, women’s studies would damage the credibility of the very institutions in which they are located. (2003: 18)

 

In the first two decades following institutionalization, Centres of Women’s Studies, together with the women’s movement, had a significant role to play in influencing policy decisions of the government, whether in relation to the field of education or the general polity. Drawing upon their research, some of these Centres (such as the Centre for Women’s Development Studies in Delhi, Institute of Social Studies Trust in Delhi / Bangalore and Anveshi in Hyderabad) have also played a critical role in shaping policy decisions in areas such as women and work, education, population control, political participation (reservations), violence against women etc. Key interventions in law also resulted from the work taken up under the rubric of Women’s Studies (Pappu 2008).

 

Additionally in the context of institutionalization Sharma (2003: 4566) states that women’s studies face contradictory institutional pulls and pressures. One not to develop as a separate discipline and yet intervene within the higher education, and respond to agendas of international agencies (gender sensitization, training programmes, income generation activities, issue based campaigns, etc). Sharma (2003) argues that ‘institutional locations may itself become a site of contest’. As Majumdar (1999) feels that the real feminist dilemma is balancing the politics of protest with the politics of construction and reform.

 

Datta (20007) lays that the challenges faced by women’s studies: conservative university environment, impacts of market forces on women’s studies, disjuncture with activism, the uneasy alliance and chasm between scholars and activists, ghettoisation and the exclusionary nature of women’s studies. Further the major developments in 21t century feminism has been the emergence of the dalit bahujan feminist movements and studies and dalit women’s identity and caste, class and gender as intellectual priority in women’s studies.

 

What one needs to recognize is that the process of institutionalization of women’s studies as centres and teaching bodies has had varied experiences in universities. While on one hand one can see the volatile and sporadic growth of women’s studies and still face innumerable challenges in establishment of independent degree of higher education (John 2008, Datta 2007). In recent times Women’s Studies continues to deal with, the challenge of establishing the validity of its interventions at the level of the methodological and the conceptual. The issue of ghettoization is another concern of women’s studies. As Pappu (2008) argues that is ironic that where Women’s Studies had sought to impact disciplinary thinking and knowledge production as a whole, it has over a period of time come to be regarded only as a specialized topic.

 

Conclusion: Broad Trends within Women’s Studies in India

 

In conclusion one can observe broadly trends within women’s studies in India:

 

One, although the experiences of grassroots organizations are important for the women’s studies, their impact on academic discourses remains negligible given the conservative institutional structures within which women centers operate (Datta 2007).

 

Two, within the women’s studies centers teaching is sometimes the weak point as most of the centers lack full teaching strength, teaching materials, lack of funds, lack of personnel and institutional apparatus to establish itself as an autonomous discipline (Mitra et a., 2013).

 

Three, women’s studies in India critically engages with other disciplines. The interdisciplinary nature of women’s studies, has facilitated women’s studies centers to integrate gender issues and perspectives into other disciplines. Further collaborative researches have started dismantling barriers between social sciences and humanities department, emphasizing on interdisciplinarity as the strength of women’s studies (Mc Call 2005 cited in Mitra et al., 2013).

 

Fourth, the strength of the women’s studies centre lies in its vibrant syllabi. At some of the centers the syllabi are creative and strive towards balance between theory and practice. Specifically in centers of Pune and Jadavpur there is an explicit connection between feminist theory and local, regional, national and global feminist networks (Mitra et al., 2013).

 

Finally, the challenge faced by women’s studies lies in interlinking the personal with the political. As Jain and Rajput (2003: 23) state that women’s studies involves a ‘double journey’. The internal journey where the person can herself grows into what can be informally called a feminist and the second is the external journey where one teaches it formally in institutions.

 

In conclusion one can state that feminism is a contested term, which is shaped by multiple perspectives, strategies and construction of varied meanings and agendas. This is well reflected if one analyses the varied, complex and intersecting ways in which women’s studies has institutionalized in India.

 

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