Gender Justice on Campus

June 10, 2019

Female enrollment in higher education rose to an all-time high of over 47 percent, according to a 2018 Government of India report.  Yet, “the closing gender gap hides ongoing gender inequalities,” noted Dr. Leena Pujari, Head of the Department of Sociology at K. C. College, Mumbai, citing the persistence of gender-based discrimination, harassment and violence that impedes academic institutions from becoming inclusive, respectful and nurturing spaces for all. 

Dr. Pujari was speaking at an event organized by the Columbia Global Centers | Mumbai held on May 2, 2019 as part of the Center’s initiative on Higher Education Reform.  The program entitled, ‘Gender Justice on Campus: Towards an Inclusive University’, explored the current frameworks for building gender-just universities and colleges in India by showcasing the University Grants Commission-instituted Women’s Development Cells and other organizational, regulatory, and curricular interventions to ensure gender safety and promote gender sensitization in institutions of higher education.

Drawing from experience of over fifteen years as convener of K.C. College’s Gender Issues Cell, Dr. Pujari presented a timeline of legal and institutional developments that informed mechanisms for gender security on campuses in India and outlined how they translated to realities that were enmeshed in an interplay of gender, class, caste, regional and power dynamics.  She shared the resistance and challenges in building sustained pedagogic and dialogue-driven interventions in her college, and gauged their success through parameters such as increased student participation and ownership of programs.  Despite these successes, she stated that sexism and misogyny could not be rooted out through standalone programs and emphasized the need for paradigm shifts among students, staff, and management that embraced “norms of respect, norms of unacceptability of abuse of power, of bodily integrity and bodily autonomy.”

The presentation was followed by a panel discussion moderated by the Center’s Director, Dr. Ravina Aggarwal, featuring Dr. Pujari, Dr. Gita Chadha, Professor of Sociology and Chairperson of the University Women’s Development Cell at the University of Mumbai, and Dr. Nandita Shah, Co-founder and Co-director of Akshara Centre, a non-profit women’s rights organization that has conducted a seminal study on gender parity in educational campuses. The panel began by discussing the mandate, formation and composition of mechanisms like the Women’s Development Cells for broad gender sensitization and Internal Committees that addressed sexual harassment cases in colleges affiliated to the University of Mumbai, totaling more than 750.  Dr. Chadha shed light on complexities encountered in actualizing the envisaged functions of such mechanisms, pointing to vast differences the capacities and resources devoted to gender issues among colleges, compounded by widespread institutional and individual caste and class biases.  Dr. Shah, who has been part of Internal Committees in several colleges, seconded the difficulties in recognizing gender justice as a lens on campus, which is a pivotal first step towards building consciousness around problematic behaviors and attitudes.  Various best practices and methodologies of building meaningful engagement with different constituencies were discussed across curricular and extra-curricular channels in which the role of dialogue, participation, and experience was listed as key.  Dr. Shah described Akshara Centre’s programs, including workshops, short films, and games, that encouraged self-reflectivity and explored themes such as masculinity, personal space and its violation, gendered labor, and sexual harassment. She emphasized the need to build sustainable mechanisms within institutions that were both innovative and inclusive to foster broader impact on campus.  Dr. Pujari also elaborated on specific interventions, such as a short course on gender studies, promulgated by her college’s Gender Issues Cell that helped transform classrooms into safe spaces for deliberation.

Further discussions addressed research gaps on gender and higher education in India and the scope of initiatives possibly driven by the social sciences and Women’s Development Cells in addressing these gaps.  The role of social media and digital platforms as alternative spaces that disrupted traditional modes of knowledge transmission, created more democratic forums and carried a different type of weight outside traditional campus structures were also addressed. Panelists agreed that a proliferation in concerted, imaginative, and engaged institutional-driven efforts to cultivate a gender-positive culture in higher education was needed.  The panel discussion was followed by a question and answer session where members from the audience raised questions around guidelines for redressal, dealing with sexist content in prescribed textbooks, support structures for students including counseling, building awareness around consent, and the importance of emphasizing gender sensitization among male students.