Women studies or studying women

Women Studies in Academia

The SNDT Women's University pioneered the entry of Women's Studies into the Indian university system. The university, established in 1916, aimed at the establishment of gender equality through education. It established the Research Centre for Women's Studies (RCWS) in 1974 to undertake research, teaching, documentation, publication and community outreach activities aimed at gender equity. The RCWS soon became the model adopted by the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, for the development of Women's Studies centres within Indian universities.

Apart from policy, theoretical and field action research, the RCWS has contributed significantly to the publication of teachinglearning materials and the training of college/university teachers in Women's Studies. It conducts a postgraduate certificate and PhD courses in Women's Studies and will initiate an MA course in the coming academic year.

Women's Studies teaching programmes have developed only in the past five to seven years. Until recently, there was a debate whether this newly emergent area of study should be taught as a separate discipline or if it should become an integral part of other disciplines. However, in response to student demand, universities across the country have introduced both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Women's Studies. Despite variations, many of the courses on Women's Studies offered by Indian universities have certain common units of study. These include: feminism, feminist research methods, women's movement and participation in the larger socio-political process, women's writings, sexuality, family and kinship, legal status of women, issues of violence, citizenship, communalism, etc. Encoded in these courses is a critique of the gender-blindness of mainstream theories. Women Studies or Gender Studies? Another contentious debate has been the nomenclature of the discipline - should it be called Women's Studies or by a more inclusive terminology of Gender Studies? The argument for calling the discipline 'Women's Studies' is from the recognition that the discipline enquires into women's lived experiences and privilege women's voices. In contrast, the argument for terming the discipline 'Gender Studies' is because it is a more inclusive term, accommodating men, masculinity and other sexual minorities. These differences, however, do not change the theoretical frames of the discipline.

Indian scholars have produced some of the most exciting and innovative research in Women's Studies. The many Women's Studies courses offered in the Indian university system are located in the ground realities of Indian and other Third World countries. A student opting for Women's Studies in India will not lose out on the intellectual excitement. The job opportunities for students of Women's Studies are similar to those that are available to students with a liberal arts degree. Additionally, there are openings in research and development agencies as well as NGOs.