The First Women’s Studies Research Centre: A History of Women’s Studies and Its Progenitors

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-233
Author(s):  
Maithreyi Krishnaraj
Keyword(s):  
Women's Studies ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Women's Issues ◽  
Women’S Studies ◽  
Master's Thesis ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The University

The beginning of Women’s Studies has a special history in India. It owes its origin not only to some stalwarts but also to the historical times in which its birth took place. Its location in the SNDT Women’s University in Mumbai was at the initiative of Dr Neera Desai, a Professor of Sociology at that university. Her own work on women’s issues in her Master’s thesis and her involvement in the women’s movement gave her the background for envisaging that a women’s university should engage with analysis of women’s condition and not just teach women other academic disciplines. It was with this motive, that the Research Centre for Women’s Studies was set up in 1974, a year before the publication of the report Towards Equality of the Government of India. The university - originally begun at the initiative of the educationist Shri Dhondo Kheshav Karve received a handsome grant from the industrialist Shri Damodar Thackersey and got named after his mother Shrimathi Nathibai Damodar Thackersey hereafter SNDT Women’s University. The Centre with the involvement of able and farsighted administrators at this university spearheaded the development of this Centre, which became the torch bearer for raising women’s issues.

scholarly journals Institutionalisation of Women’s Studies Research Centre, Gauhati University: A Struggle for Space and Identity

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-28
Author(s):  
Dipmala Dutta ◽  
Polly Vauquline
Keyword(s):  
Women's Studies ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Subsequent Development ◽  
Northeast India ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Women’S Studies ◽  
Vice Chancellor ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University

Institutionalisation of Women’s Studies (WS) in India although started in the 1970s, it took a decade further to cross the threshold of Northeastern States. The  isolation  which the Northeast of India has always faced in the social, economic and political spheres was also reflected  in the case of establishment of the Women’s Studies Centres as the then Vice Chancellor Dr. Deba Prasad Barooah had to struggle against the University Grants Commission for establishing it in Gauhati University. Again, the narrative of WSRC, GU do not find mention in the book Narratives from Women's Studies Family: Recreating Knowledge where experiences of 17 centres from across the country are illustrated. This paper investigates all such structural difficulties, negligence and struggle faced by one of the first Women’s Studies Centre of Northeast India, established in Gauhati University (GU), since its conceptualisation to inception in 1989 till the present. It attempts in revealing the experiences of the Directors, yielding the efforts behind the setting up of the centre, the role played by different individuals both internal and external of the University towards the establishment of the Centre, the catalysts that prevented the premature decay of the Centre and most importantly the struggle for space, identity and recognition the constraints faced to obtain them. To achieve these goals oral history method was applied to explore the experiences of the previous directors and the author (2nd author) herself. The narratives illustrate the history of struggles, challenges and the subsequent development over a span of more than twenty five years. The paper documents the support the University provided despite being a patriarchal institution for fostering of the WSRC, which in gradual years took steps to produce the Department of Women’s Studies. It will also look into the progressive role Women’s Studies played not only in the varsity internally but also at the external front through research and advocacy by inducing new panoramic view towards and discussion of women’s issues in a multidimensional framework.

Scripting Women’s Studies: Neera Desai on Feminism, Feminist Movements and Struggles

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-306
Author(s):  
Veena Poonacha
Keyword(s):  
Women's Studies ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Western India ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Major Work ◽  
Women’S Studies ◽  
Feminist Politics ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University ◽  
Feminist Movements

Neera Desai’s pioneering effort to introduce women’s studies into the university system was born out of her commitment to women’s equality. She visualized women’s studies as a movement within the academia to challenge the theoretical rationale for oppressive socio-economic and political institutions and structures. Seeking to excavate the intellectual and ideological moorings of this remarkable woman, this paper reviews her last major work, titled, Feminism as Experience: Thoughts and Narratives (2006). The exploration reveals not only her academic interest in the study of movements, but also her intimate connect with the groundswells of feminist politics in India for over six decades. Against this rich and varied history of twentieth century Indian women’s movement in Western India, Neera Desai, presents the oral histories of women, who were in the forefront of the struggle. This paper, then examines her earlier work, entitled The Social Construction of Feminist Consciousness: A Study of Ideology and Self Awareness among Women Leader (1992) to uncover the changing frames of her research.

scholarly journals Assessing Gender/Women's Studies: A Comparative Perspective

1970 ◽  
pp. 27-34
Author(s):  
Nahla Abdo
Keyword(s):  
Women's Studies ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Feminist Movement ◽  
Women's Issues ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Women’S Studies ◽  
Large Sector ◽  
The University

The academization/institutionalization of Women's Studies has emerged as a result of the need to legitimize, develop, and further promote the feminist movement. Western feminists have considered this phenomenon the culmination of their long struggle: as enabling a credible and legitimate voice to a large sector of society that has long been silenced. Bringing women's issues and concerns to the University has accorded feminist academics a platform to undertake research, publish studies, and develop different conceptual and methodological tools to deal with traditionally ignored social phenomena.

Women's Studies in the University

2002 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vidyut Bhagwat
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Women's Studies ◽  
The State ◽  
Institutional History ◽  
University System ◽  
Women’S Studies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Uncertain Future ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

This paper charts the institutional history of the Centre for Women's Studies in Poona, which was established in 1987 by the University Grants Commission. It does so both from the macro perspective of the impact of changes in the policies of the state since the time of its establishment and from the perspective of the micro-politics of everyday life within the university system. The paper provides important glimpses of how a particular centre has been able to grow and survive in spite of severe problems and an uncertain future.

Formation and Development of the Pre-Professional Training System of Foreign Medical Applicants in Ukraine (Historical and Educational Aspect)

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 95-98
Author(s):  
Iana Proskurkina
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Students ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Training System ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Effective System ◽  
History Of ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The University ◽  
History Of Formation ◽  
Educational Aspect

Abstract The growing number of foreign applicants looking forward to getting education in Ukrainian medical universities makes us find the ways how to improve and make effective the pre-professional training system of foreign medical applicants for further education. The article deals with the issues of the history of formation and development of the preprofessional training system of foreign medical applicants in Ukraine. On the ground of the electronic databases of the official websites of higher educational establishments, the data on years of opening first offices of the dean, departments and preparatory faculties for foreign medical applicants in Ukrainian medical universities are analyzed and systematized. Also the data on the setting up preparatory faculties at other universities who carry out licensed training of foreign students of the medical profile are presented. The data on the operating and management of such institutions in the system of the University administration are generalized. It’s revealed that during the years of its functioning the pre-professional training has changed, in particular the system was commercialized and the institutions involved in training foreign applicants have been reorganized. The modern trends in teaching foreign medical students at the preparatory faculties of the Ukrainian medical universities are displayed. Based on the analysis of the data it is concluded that the system of the pre-professional training of foreign medical applicants was set up in the 50s-60s years of the twentieth century. During this time, some positive experience in the preparation of future international medical specialists has been gained. The system of the pre-professional training of foreign medical applicants has been comprehensively improved and an effective system of managing foreign medical applicants has been created.

The Unfinished Sexual Revolution

1971 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Revolution ◽  
Editorial Note ◽  
Memorial Lecture ◽  
Human Welfare ◽  
The World ◽  
Control Clinic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

Editorial note. March 17th, 1971 was the fiftieth anniversary of the opening by Marie Stopes of her birth control clinic in Holloway, London, the first of its kind in the UK and possibly in the world. In recognition of this notable event, the Board of the Marie Stopes Memorial Foundation, in conjunction with the University of York, has established a Marie Stopes Memorial Lecture to be given annually for a term of years. The first of the series was delivered on 12th March in the Department of Sociology, University of York, by Mr Laurie Taylor of that department. In introducing the speaker, Dr G. C. L. Bertram, the Chairman, emphasized the great contribution made by Marie Stopes to human welfare and gave a brief history of the clinic, which was soon moved to Whitfield Street. On Marie Stopes' death in 1958 the Memorial Foundation was set up to manage the clinic, still in Whitfield Street, and as a working monument to a great women.Mr Taylor's script is printed below as delivered and it will be seen that the lecture was a notable one. Not only that, but it was delivered with the verve of a Shakespearean actor and the members of the large and appreciative audience will not readily forget the occasion.

scholarly journals Prospects of Federalism in Pakistan

2018 ◽  
Vol III (II) ◽  
pp. 356-368
Author(s):  
Muhammad Tariq ◽  
Muhammad Shoaib Malik ◽  
Ghulam Qumber
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
Form Of Government ◽  
Economic Interaction ◽  
History Of ◽  
Distribution Of Powers ◽  
The Government ◽  
Set Up

Federalism is created by a state having heterogeneous population with a desire to have provisions for adequate distribution of economic resources within a democratic form of government. The economic interaction is usually guaranteed by the constitutional arrangement of the land. The desire for the creation of a federation may be the economic interaction, interdependence on each other by the Centre and federating units. Proper distribution of powers between the Centre and Federating Units flourish when the residuary powers are vested in the federating units. The 18th Constitutional Amendment made a landmark in the history of Pakistan as it introduced a paradigm shift in the democratic set-up of the country. This shift had long been cherished by most of the mainstream political parties as it gives an opportunity to the ruling parties to complete the tenure of the government.

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