Indian Journal of Gender Studies recent issues

Colonial Domesticities, Contentious Interactions: Ayahs, Wet-Nurses and Memsahibs in Colonial India

Sen, I. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:53:05 PST

Nineteenth and early 20th century colonial writings projected the colonial home as a microcosm of the empire. However, as this article argues, the memsahibs’ imperial authority was often undermined by the dynamics of domestic relationships inside the home. Complex and contradictory, they threatened to render the colonial home an ambivalent—and even contested—space. In particular, the location of two female servants inside the colonial nursery—the ayah and the wet-nurse—was problematic. Ayahs were close to European children, who were the next generation of imperial rulers. Often, these children were more attached to their servants than to their parents. An even darker figure was that of the wet-nurse who was universally perceived negatively. This paper draws upon a range of materials from memoirs to medical handbooks to delineate tensions within the imperial home.

Saogat and the Reformed Bengali Muslim Woman

Gupta, S. D. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:53:06 PST

This article explores the interface of politics and women’s writing in late colonial Bengal and traces the trajectory of identity formation of middle-class Bengali Muslim women through a reading of the history of Saogat—founded in 1918, the liberal reformist periodical acclaimed to have mentored some of the best-known women writers of Muslim Bengal. Taking into account some of the changes in the political climate of Bengal from the 1920s to the 1940s, the paper researches the influence of politics on the changing course of Saogat and the moving of women’s voices to a separate domain—the women’s weekly, Begum, established a few weeks before the partition of India in 1947. In doing so, it recognises the plurality in elite women’s writing in Bengal in this period and shows how the shifting grounds of a periodical in relation to categories of identity like religion and state politics, shapes women’s writing produced therein.

Political Awareness and its Implications on Participatory Behaviour: A Study of Naga Women Voters in Nagaland

Amer, M. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:53:06 PST

The analysis in this article centres around three questions: First, how well informed are Naga women voters about politics. Second, whether political interest, media exposure and political discussion have an impact on women’s level of political awareness. Third, whether women’s level of political awareness influences their participation in electoral activities. The results indicate that a majority of the women have moderate awareness about politics. Their level of political awareness is accounted for by their level of interest in politics, pattern of media use and frequency of political discussion. The result also reports a limited impact of political awareness on women’s participation in electoral activities.

Dusty Trails and Unsettled Lives: Women's Labour Migration in Rural India

Agnihotri, I., Mazumdar, I. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:53:06 PST

Women's Exclusion in Farmer Management of Irrigation Systems in Tamil Nadu: A Case Study

Dasthagir, K. G. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:53:06 PST

The Tamil Nadu Farmer Management of Irrigation Systems (TNFMIS) Act (2000) has legalised the participation of registered landowners (men and women) in the management of major and medium irrigation systems in the state. This article analyses the nature and extent of women’s exclusion in the management of a medium irrigation system in this state. The evidence indicates that gender discrimination underlies both land ownership and election strategies to exclude women from participation.

The Status of Fisherwomen in Andhra Pradesh

Immanuel, S., Rao, G. S. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:53:06 PST

Fisheries is an important sector contributing to the Indian economy. This study of fisherwomen from a village in Andhra Pradesh provides data collected from 1,180 respondents. It presents facts of the women’s home and work lives and the areas where there is room for their betterment.

Book Reviews

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:53:06 PST

New Resources

Vyas, A. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:53:06 PST

Not an 'Angel', not a 'Whore': Surrogates as 'Dirty' Workers in India

Pande, A. — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:21:36 PDT

In this study of surrogate mothers in Gujarat, India, I introduce the concept of ‘sexualised care work’ to describe a new type of care work—commercial surrogacy—that is similar to existing forms of care work but is stigmatised in the public imagination, among other reasons, because of its parallels with sex work. I use the oral histories of the surrogates to examine the accounts they give, justifying their work and resisting stigma. I argue that while the narratives can be seen as a form of resistance, they reinforce the primary identity of these women as dependent mothers rather than independent workers.

Chhadi Lage Chham Chham, Vidya Yeyi Gham Gham (The Harder the Stick Beats, the Faster the Flow of Knowledge): Dalit Women's Struggle for Education

Paik, S. — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:21:36 PDT

More than a reference to corporal punishment, the chhadi (stick) in this article denotes the psychologically crippling and inerasable experiences of Dalit girls in formal institutions of education. A Dalit girl's journey to the citadel of dnyan (knowledge) to gain an education is strewn with many social and cultural obstacles. I argue that power relationships in the wider society have a strong bearing on both access to education and the quality of the education that Dalit girls receive. Dalit girls are subjected to the discipline, control, regulation and surveillance of not only state services in the education system but also of their parents. Thus, they face double discrimination along lines of both caste and gender.

Magic Moments of Struggle: Women's Memory of the Naxalbari Movement in West Bengal, India (1967-75)

Roy, M. S. — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:21:36 PDT

This paper focuses on women's memories of participation in the Naxalbari movement in West Bengal. These memories, sourced from women's oral histories and published memoirs, capture not only women's visions of emancipation and camaraderie but their everyday struggles, experiences of fear and violence and patriarchal domination within the movement as well. As these memories are refracted by the women's diverse socio-economic and cultural locations, the paper makes an effort to distinguish the multiple meanings of the ‘magic moments of struggle’ in the lives of peasant/working-class women, from those of middle-class women from smaller towns and upper middle-class metropolitan women.

On the Etiology and Politics of Sexual Phenomenology

Prasad, A. — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:21:36 PDT

Working from the conceptual site, which discloses the relationship between the theory and the practice of Judith Butler's post-structuralist framework, this paper looks at male lesbians to amplify the diversity within gender identity and sexual expression. Male lesbians problematise the sex-leads-to-gender hierarchy and, in doing so, unravel the entire enterprise of heteronormativity. More importantly, perhaps, they illustrate the confluence in the culturally manifested and scientifically prescribed binary between nature and culture. In short, this paper considers the myriad possibilities ‘biologically read’ males who identify as lesbians have on the current social epistemology that has been crystallised on dichotomies of male/female and nature/culture.

Human Rights of Women Prisoners in India: A Case Study of Jaipur Central Prison for Women

Kaushik, A., Sharma, K. — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:21:36 PDT

The Constitution of India guarantees equality to women and various laws have been enacted to protect and empower women. While some women have definitely benefited from these provisions, for the majority of poor and illiterate women life still remains a struggle in a very traditional, patriarchal and feudal society. The pathetic situation of women prisoners, branded as bad women who deserve bad treatment, is not surprising. The concept of human rights is totally alien to such women. We conducted a study in October 2005 of 150 women convicts lodged in Jaipur Central Prison in Rajasthan and found highly unsatisfactory conditions. Basic facilities are lacking for the women and their children; also the prisoners are visibly scared of the prison staff. There is scope for vast improvement, on all levels, particularly in the attitude of the prison staff who need to learn to respect the human rights of women prisoners.

Book Reviews

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:21:36 PDT

New Resources

Vyas, A. — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:21:36 PDT

African American Travel Writing and the Politics of Mobility: The Narrative of Nancy Prince

Nayar, P. K. — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:19:31 PDT

This article examines a 19th-century travel narrative by an African-American woman, Nancy Prince, and identifies three principal rhetorical modes in her narrative: mobility, labour and community. It suggests that Prince's rhetoric of mobility consists of a mobility of poverty, when she moved from one place to another due to her straitened circumstances, and a mobility of agency, when she travelled as a means to assert her individuality, but within specific ‘structures of travel’. Prince's rhetoric of labour gives her agency as an individual when she undertakes ethnographic information-gathering and maps her own suffering. Labour, like mobility, helps her demonstrate an individual self. Finally, the rhetoric of community aligns Prince with the evangelical movement. Her agency as a black person becomes iconic of the transformation of her race itself—through the choice of a career and the practice of a profession outside the USA. This rhetoric takes her narrative out of the mere category of travel writing into one about community-building and racial identity.

Bodies Gone Awry: The Abjection of Sexuality in Development Discourse in Contemporary Kerala

Devika, J — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:19:31 PDT

The article attempts to probe the silence of mainstream development discourse on sexuality and reproductive and sexual rights. This seems to go against the fact that there is now greater admission in development literature on Kerala that gender imbalances in a number of crucial indices do mar the state's claims of high levels of human development. This question is approached through an examination of the ways in which developmentalism has inflected both public discourse and academic knowledge in Kerala, and their interpenetration. Historically, sexuality has been marginalised in Kerala and projected onto prostitute-bodies; in the 1990s, the fear of ‘unbounded’ sexuality had been a prominent feature of public discourse. The sexualisation of deprived groups to strip them of moral claims to welfare indicates the heightening of abjection as a major mode of social exclusion. The abjection of sexuality in contemporary Malayalee public discourse and the silence about women's sexual and reproductive rights in contemporary development discourse do not appear unconnected. The current situation seems to call for creative dialogue between feminist and counter-heteronormative politics, which would resist protectionism and heterosexism.

Dowry among Indian Muslims: Ideals and Practices

Waheed, A. — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:19:31 PDT

The discourse on dowry in India has generally been confined to non-Muslim communities, with little research undertaken on dowry among Muslims. This article, based on secondary source material, surveys the practice of dowry among Indian Muslims as it has existed and continues to exist in different forms and in different regions. ‘Dowry’ is an ambiguous word that does not have a uniform or standard definition, and there are wide-ranging regional variations in people's understanding of it. Technically, it is the property of the bride but, in practice, the husband's parents, brothers and sisters have access to it. Indian Muslims commonly use the Arabic word jahez for dowry and, very often, justify the practice in terms of jahez-e-fatimi. Islamists classify jahez into two categories. The first comprises some essential articles for the outfit of the bride as well as for conjugal life. The other is made up of valuable goods, clothes, an amount of money settled on after bargaining, and lavish food and hospitality for the barat. They say the former is a very old and established practice, while the latter is a recent phenomenon among Indian Muslims and mostly prevalent in south India—in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. However, this article takes a contrary view, saying that the practice of jahez has not been voluntary but coercive among Indian Muslims for a long time. It has its origin in the Muslim social structure and the lifestyles of the nobility in north India.

NGOs in Bangladesh: Are They Successful in Increasing Awareness among Vulnerable Women?

Sultana, N., Islam, N. — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:19:31 PDT

The main purpose of this article is to study the effect of NGO activities in increasing the awareness levels of vulnerable women in Bangladesh. The authors attempt to show the extent to which awareness levels of vulnerable women increased after joining NGOs. The basic questions asked included: Are NGOs really capable of increasing awareness among vulnerable women in Bangladesh? What impact do the programmes of NGOs have on the women's lives? To find answers to these questions, the researchers applied a combination of methods. Two NGOs were selected as case studies: one of them a national NGO and the other local. Data was collected mainly from primary sources, though various secondary sources were also used. The major findings of the study confirmed that the awareness levels of women had indeed increased after joining NGOs.

Do Women Differ in Their Investment Information Processing Style?

Mittal, M., Vyas, R.K. — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:19:31 PDT

Men and women differ in their risk and investment styles. Women are more risk averse and prefer low risk fixed income investments. Psychologists suggest the reason for their different investing style is that women are more methodical in information processing strategy, which leads to increased perception of risk as compared to men. The article investigates whether gender differences exist in the preferences for risk and whether the reasons suggested by psychologists for women being more risk averse are valid.

Book Reviews

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:19:31 PDT

New Resources

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:19:31 PDT

Experiences of Childlessness in an Indian Context: A Gender Perspective

Mehta, B., Kapadia, S. — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:12:31 PST

This article focuses on the gendered experiences of involuntary childlessness and the societal perceptions of the state of being childless. It is based on research aimed at understanding the experience of involuntary childlessness among women and men in the urban middle class of a cosmopolitan city (Vadodara) in India. The study involved a gendered analysis of individuals’ experiences, with specific reference to ideas about parenthood, the importance of children, and the psychosocial implications on self and marital relationships within the context of family and society. The results revealed substantial gender differences. The euphoria surrounding the event of parent-hood, the importance of a child in fostering cohesiveness among family members, and strengthening the marital bond were also examined. The implications of childlessness on self and on marital relations were manifested as feelings of loss, especially during the initial years. Based on the findings, interrelationships are drawn between larger ideologies of Indian culture.

Women and Male Partner-dating Violence in Nigeria

Izugbara, C. O., Duru, E. J.C., Dania, P. O. — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:12:31 PST

In this article we address experiences, understandings of and responses to dating violence among a small sample of abused Nigerian female university students. Dating violence broadly manifested in forms such as physical hurt, sexual harassment and emotional abuse in public and private spaces appears to be a male strategy for sustaining women's place within certain culturally defined boundaries. Women's views regarding their abuse reinforce the cultural belief that men are naturally violent and that women are sometimes to be blamed. Women's understandings of their abuse and responses to it refract the patriarchal ideologies that organise gender relations in Nigeria. Social and cultural institutions need to be repositioned to meet the challenges posed by the abuse of women by their intimate male partners.

Male Hierarchies and Gender-balanced Boards

Ahmansson, G., Ohlund, L. S. — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:12:31 PST

The aim of the present study is to examine whether the established fact that men by far outnumber women in leading positions is an inherent unintentional characteristic of a hierarchy where appointments happen one by one on an individual basis, as opposed to boards where the members are appointed as a group. The sample consists of those appointed to the hierarchies as well as the boards of 36 state universities in Sweden. The main finding is that significantly more men are appointed in hierarchies than to group-composed boards. When the gendered distribution of those in leading positions becomes fully apparent, the last and final position in the hierarchy is significantly more often given to a woman. However, these women are much older than their male counterparts, a fact that makes it harder for them to reach the final step of the ladder. The article concludes with a discussion of whether the higher probability of appointing a woman as vice-president when both chair and president are men is a fair acknowledgement of an unfair gender distribution, or if there are other possible explanations.

Domestic Violence in India: Effects of Education

Simister, J., Makowiec, J. — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:12:31 PST

This article studies domestic violence between husband and wife in India, and attitudes to domestic violence. We use the term ‘gender-based violence’ because some men use violence to control their wives. Data from the Demographic and Health Survey 1998–2000 has been analysed. This survey includes women in the ages of 15 to 49, in 26 Indian states. We focus only on violence by husbands against wives, ignoring other types of violence (such as a wife being hit by her husband's family, or a man being hit by his wife). Evidence in this paper is consistent with previous research indicating that gender-based violence is very prevalent in India. It seems likely that it is related to whether such violence is seen as acceptable in the perpetrator's family and in the local community. We suggest that there are similarities between the behaviour of some Indian men and the ‘machismo’ values reported in other cultures (especially in Latin America). We confirm previous claims that violence is less common if women and men are well educated; we also note that acceptance of domestic violence appears to be related to the respondent's education level. Thus, we encourage the Government of India to prioritise education for both boys and girls.

Gender Disparity and Legal Awareness in Assam

Deka, M. — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:12:31 PST

This article addresses the question of gender disparity and legal awareness in Assam, and attempts to contextualise ‘legal awareness’ among women in the state within a complex framework of the post-colonial legal structure. This is a legacy of the traditional pre-colonial and colonial legal structures, and is reinforced through various social, economic and political forces. Such an approach would enable the understanding of the historical development of legal awareness as such, from tradition to change and its continuity, and also to explore whether there were spaces for women's legal awareness within the traditional constrained sphere of a dominant patriarchal society.

Book Reviews

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:12:31 PST

New Resources

Vyas, A. — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:12:31 PST