Education and Beyond: Analysing the Struggles of 21st Century Women in a Central University (original) (raw)
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Silence : Women in Higher Education in Pakistan
2016
Pakistan has a fairly short history of just over 50 years, becoming independent from British colonial rule in 1947. It shares a much older history with India; however their recent relationship has been turbulent because of disputes over the territory of Kashmir. Despite this, the country has made some economic progress. The education system, however, has not reflected this progress. This is obvious not only in the overall educational indicators, but also in the education of women. Because of religious and cultural practices, women have not been involved in mainstream activities outside of home life. This essay traces the historical background of the feminist movement among Muslims in India, which influenced the women of Pakistan, a nation created for the Muslim majority of India. This is followed by a brief background of higher education in Pakistan, concluding with recommendations about the need for women to become influential in the system, to effect change in the education system...
Listen to This Silence: Women in Higher Education in Pakistan
2016
Pakistan has a fairly short history of just over 50 years, becoming independent from British colonial rule in 1947. It shares a much older history with India; however their recent relationship has been turbulent because of disputes over the territory of Kashmir. Despite this, the country has made some economic progress. The education system, however, has not reflected this progress. This is obvious not only in the overall educational indicators, but also in the education of women. Because of religious and cultural practices, women have not been involved in mainstream activities outside of home life. This essay traces the historical background of the feminist movement among Muslims in India, which influenced the women of Pakistan, a nation created for the Muslim majority of India. This is followed by a brief background of higher education in Pakistan, concluding with recommendations about the need for women to become influential in the system, to effect change in the education system...
The Higher Education system in India has, over the years, witnessed the influx of women as students and teachers for a number of reasons. However, the traditional power structures of the system have operated in ways that have not only replicated the patriarchal social structures of oppression and thus perpetuated the gender bias and inequity in the system but have also consolidated gender unfriendly institutional practices in the guise of institutional traditions and norms. Women in the system therefore have had to struggle for an egalitarian system, which would recognize their worth and allow for positive change. The need for a women"s collective in terms of networking, connecting and bonding in order to pool intellectual resources and create a power base has long been felt by women employees in higher education. In this context the emergence and subsequent consolidation of a nationwide movement for women and by women in the higher education system, conceived and initiated in 1997 was a pioneering attempt. The present paper attempts to examine this phenomenon of women"s collective in the academia to understand how/whether collaborative efforts by women in the higher education system has been able to foster and engender change. The paper analyses dichotomies inherent in the genesis and practice of such a fostered community, which has its roots in the existing system of governance, which may derive qualities of the same and/or replicate similar structures reconstituting power hierarchies and its pitfalls thereof. The study also posits that the community of women in higher education is a community of practice and more than a natural community, based on networking for change, collaborative efforts and empowerment.
Gender crisis has become one of the emerging and prominent paradigms within the ever increasing deepening crisis of the university education system in India and beyond. With increased gender sensitization globally, there have been claims of a positive impact on University students and staffs who identify themselves as women, Queer, Trans, LGBT+ in India. For the sake of focused precision, and due to lack of time, this paper concentrates on those who identify themselves as women both within and outside the university structure. There seems to be a general notion that, if more women are put in the leading prominent posts of the university, then this crisis would be solved. However, it is not that simple. While many women are becoming professors and senior academic staff, and many are obtaining scholarships, there however has been no substantial systemic Change towards Gender Justice and, indeed, no change for the majority of women in the patriarchal society we live in. The loud masculine-voice, which has and often continues to be the sole voice of the male dominated university, has now been transferred, with careful precision, to the handful of women who are now climbing into the upper rungs of the university system, thereby maintaining and holding up the status quo of the patriarchal university structure. Colonial Bourgeois Feminism is being misused to segregate women, who have the privilege of being a part of the Eurocentric University system of Miseducation on the one hand; and on the other hand, women who are still excluded, primarily on the basis of class, caste, race, age and alternative knowledge systems. Although, Black Feminism since 1989, has gifted the world with the theoretical perspective of Intersectionality, these theories do not make much sense to say, a woman farmer living in rural India, mostly occupied with her farming which is her livelihood. This paper attempts to focus and bring the Gender Justice demands of rural women for more than the usual Education, indeed for Cognitive Justice, from their community spaces of Lifelong Learning, by analysing the specific case of the Siddi Women in Karnataka, India. The Siddi women's demands through Our Communities Deserve Better Campaign (OCDBC) proposes more just, meaningful and sustainably viable solutions to the deepening crisis which universities in India and beyond face in the shifting paradigm of gender sensitization.
The Status of Women in Higher Education: Emerging Challenges
Academic and Law Serials , 2021
Women in the Vedic ages not only received their due recognition in society but also got equal treatment in the matter of educational training. Education of women remained somewhat neglected during the British period. However, as society became orthodox, there was change in their status. They were confined to the four walls of kitchen and occupied in rearing children. Men became bread winners and it was considered necessary for them to be educated. The roles of men and women were thus separated. But now the social scene has considerably changed. Women all over the world are being educated in almost every field that men were so far normally associated with. The knowledge of arts, science, technology and politics is no longer the privilege of men alone. Women have begun to study these subjects and have brought great credit to themselves and their nation by contributing actively in those fields. As a result every school is now conscious of imparting education to girls. Higher Education is the shared responsibility of both the Centre and the States. The coordination and determination of standards in institutions is the constitutional obligation of the Central Government. The Central Government provides grants to UGC and establishes Central Universities in the country. Meritorious students, from families with or without necessary means, need an incentive or encouragement to keep on working hard in their studies and go to the next level of education in their academic career. Education-basic, functional or digital, always enlightens a person from the darkness of ignorance and innocence. Awareness about importance of cleanliness, good habits and knowledge about various disciplines helps a woman to support her family and groom her children as better citizens of the society. The present paper focuses on status and importance of Women Education in India through analysing cases study Higher Education in Telanagana.
Although the institutionalisation of Women’s Studies (WS) in India 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 Centre as the then Vice Chancellor Dr. Deba Prasad Barooah had to struggle against the University Grants Commission for establishing it in Gauhati University (GU). Again, the narratives of Women’s Studies Research Centre (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 article 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, 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 of 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 25 years. The article documents the support the University provided 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 university 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. Keywords: Institutionalisation, Women’s Studies Research Centre (WSRC), Space, Identity, Gauhati University, Northeast India
Women in Higher Education: Challenges in India
ANUSANDHAN ANVESHIKA (A Peer Reviewed Refereed Bilingual International , 2022
Views expressed in the research papers/articles inside are the personal opinions of the contributors. National Educationist Council or Editorial Board of the Anusandhan Anveshika will not be responsable for them. All disputes are subject to the Jurisdiction of Meerut (India) courts only.
WOMEN AND INDIAN HIGHER EDUCATION: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS
Higher Education as a policy intervention is a force multiplier that enables self-sufficiency, enhances economic growth by enriching skills, and improves people's lives by opening up opportunities for better living. The history of the world is witness to how education can bring in socioeconomic mobility and acts as an agent of affirmative change. For centuries women, which constitute almost half the population of the world were deprived of their most basic rights including education. Despite significant progress made in enrolment in elementary education in the past century, women's enrolment in higher education remains much lower in comparison to men. In a developing country like India, where the plight of women is deplorable for ages, the education of women is imperative for their upliftment. My paper aims to analyse the challenges posed to women's enrollment in higher education, the reasons for their lower participation, and to provide the solution for breaking the stereotyping and sex isolation. The paper analyses the initiatives of the New Education Policy 2020 for the inclusion of women. This paper will examine the inclusion of women not only in terms of enrollment in higher studies but also inclusion in curriculum, teaching, and pedagogies which makes learning more meaningful and participative.