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Full-Text Articles in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Indigenous And Tribal Women: Indian And Filipino Alangan-Mangyan Perspectives On Happiness, Hazel T. Biana, Melvin Jabar
Indigenous And Tribal Women: Indian And Filipino Alangan-Mangyan Perspectives On Happiness, Hazel T. Biana, Melvin Jabar
Journal of International Women's Studies
Research on happiness focuses on urban dwellers, and studies done in rural areas leave much to be desired. Existing scholarship also overlooks how women’s economic and socio-cultural roles contribute to happiness levels in relation to health, education, and safety issues. To address such a gap, this study examines and evaluates the perspectives of indigenous and tribal women on happiness, specifically those who belong to Indian rural communities and Filipino AlanganMangyan indigenous peoples. We argue that while happiness is considered a mental state, it is still a very social concept. In other words, social forces may make or break one’s happiness. …
Do Resources Create Empowerment?: A Study Of Tribal Women Farmers In Madhya Pradesh, India, Sudarshan Thakur, Simran Malkan
Do Resources Create Empowerment?: A Study Of Tribal Women Farmers In Madhya Pradesh, India, Sudarshan Thakur, Simran Malkan
Journal of International Women's Studies
As of late, there has been debate about the importance of recognizing women in agriculture as farmers. The demand to be recognized is backed by women’s significant contribution to the household economy. Scholars have attempted to establish a correlation between land ownership and women’s empowerment in agriculture. This is an oversimplification of the situation of women farmers and their empowerment, especially in the context of tribal society where women have better access to and control over community and forest resources. We undertook this study to examine if having land and other resources is a prerequisite for the empowerment of tribal …
Educational Migration And Agency Among Tribal Young Women, Deepika Kumari Meena
Educational Migration And Agency Among Tribal Young Women, Deepika Kumari Meena
Journal of International Women's Studies
In this paper, I examine the understanding of agency among the tribal young women attending college in Pratapgarh (Rajasthan), India. Particularly in light of this shift in their living and academic spaces, I look at how they interpret and perform their agency when it comes to being in a romantic relationship and getting married. It is not uncommon for tribal members to engage in romantic relationships and to seek love marriages. The number of young women migrating for education is increasing. As a result of educational migration, the practice of live-in relationships, romantic relationships, and love marriages has also increased …
Sisterhood And Solidarity In The Netarhat Field Firing Range Movement: A Study Of Indian Tribal Women’S Struggle And Activism, Sunita Purty
Sisterhood And Solidarity In The Netarhat Field Firing Range Movement: A Study Of Indian Tribal Women’S Struggle And Activism, Sunita Purty
Journal of International Women's Studies
This article examines the understanding of collectivism and sisterhood among Oraon tribal women in the Netarhat Field Firing Range movement. Further, this study discusses tribal women’s consciousness of repressive operations of the state and of their experiences of triple oppression as a tribal group, as women, and as activists. Tribal women’s goals, however, are much more than women’s liberation; they demand tribal autonomy and the right to forest resources so that tribal people can live peacefully in their regions. This study also looks at how a group of women shared their gender-based grievances as well as their everyday struggle under …
Theorizing Adivasi/Tribal Feminism: Decoding Voices From Chotanagpur And The Northeast Region Of India, Kanchan Thomasina Ekka, Pheiga Amanda Giangthandunliu
Theorizing Adivasi/Tribal Feminism: Decoding Voices From Chotanagpur And The Northeast Region Of India, Kanchan Thomasina Ekka, Pheiga Amanda Giangthandunliu
Journal of International Women's Studies
The Adivasi people, termed Scheduled Tribes in India, have a lifeworld entwined with nature, land, and resources. Their relationship with the land produces a particular form of lived experience. This interface between land and culture that shapes the body of knowledge is not written or recorded like other practices and traditions. Adivasi/Tribal women play an important role in articulating this knowledge and contributing to its formation. However, this particular lived experience, especially concerning women, has not received the recognition it deserves within the context of mainstream feminism, which has not paid attention to Adivasi/Tribal women as victims of colonial and …
Writing Adivasi Women: Widening The Research Canvas, Shashank Shekhar Sinha
Writing Adivasi Women: Widening The Research Canvas, Shashank Shekhar Sinha
Journal of International Women's Studies
Adivasis have become visible in debates around indigeneity, identity politics, conversion, development, and displacement, and more recently on climate change. However, gender remains a comparatively marginalized theme and Adivasi women or tribal women remain marginalized subjects. This article explores the broad themes and conceptual frameworks around which Adivasi women have gained maximum visibility in colonial and postcolonial India. It analyzes the trends in available research on Adivasi women and the problems involved. The article underlines the need to widen our research canvas, ask more questions, and consider more layers and complexities in research pursuits.
We Deliver: The Condition Of The Woman Academic In India Today, Ananya Dutta Gupta
We Deliver: The Condition Of The Woman Academic In India Today, Ananya Dutta Gupta
Journal of International Women's Studies
This auto-ethnographic essay draws upon Foucault’s Archaeology of Knowledge to discuss the condition of Indian women in the Humanities in academia today. While acknowledging the encouragingly gender-inclusive projections in India’s National Education Policy vision statement from 2020, I argue for more probing engagement with the concrete reality of being a woman teacher and researcher in the increasingly competitive and corporatized milieu of higher education. My methodology has been a close reading of the NEP’s vision statement to analyze recurrences of terms and concepts as pointers to its discursive field. I argue that this policy statement implicitly envisions an empowered new-age …
Travails Of New Mothers Returning To Work In Corporate India: A Phenomenological Study, Anil Jose Thomas, N. T. Sudhesh
Travails Of New Mothers Returning To Work In Corporate India: A Phenomenological Study, Anil Jose Thomas, N. T. Sudhesh
Journal of International Women's Studies
A woman’s life is a myriad of experiences and none, perhaps, leaves a more lasting impression on her than motherhood. The child-birth event along with all its highs and lows not only has a deep psychological impact on her as a person but also impacts her career in many ways. Using interpretive phenomenological analysis, we have studied the lived experience of women who returned to work in corporate settings after maternity leave. Our study found that not only do they go through an emotional upheaval during this phase, but they also see a marked shift in the way they approach …
Are We Safe? An Investigation Of Eve-Teasing (Public Sexual Harassment) In India, Usha Rana
Are We Safe? An Investigation Of Eve-Teasing (Public Sexual Harassment) In India, Usha Rana
Journal of International Women's Studies
In recent years, many countries have tightened the rules against harassment in the workplace and violence in the home. On the other hand, incidences of sexual harassment against women in public places have not been paid sufficient attention. Developing countries like India have recorded an increase in sexual harassment cases in public places due to the increase in participation of women in activities outside the home such as education and employment. In India, the term “Eve-teasing” is a euphemism for sexual harassment in public places. Eve-teasing is identified as a significant problem in the patriarchal society of India that carries …
Custodianship And Care: Women And Reading In Anita Desai’S Clear Light Of Day, Aruni Mahapatra
Custodianship And Care: Women And Reading In Anita Desai’S Clear Light Of Day, Aruni Mahapatra
Journal of International Women's Studies
Several scholars have noted how the Indian state has been able to care for women only by placing them in custody of the family or the community, often overseen by male relatives. How do novels by Indian women writers intervene in this difficult social and legal problem? This paper answers this question by integrating feminist scholarship on the place of Indian women in postcolonial India with another scholarly tradition: the ethics of care. Conventionally, these two bodies of writing have not been in direct dialogue. This paper facilitates a conversation by close-reading Anita Desai’s Clear Light of Day, a novel …
Perspectives Of Women Police Officers In The Union Territory Of Puducherry, India, Chemmalar S.
Perspectives Of Women Police Officers In The Union Territory Of Puducherry, India, Chemmalar S.
Journal of International Women's Studies
Women face unprecedented challenges of gender inequality despite representing half of the world’s population, yet increasingly, they are entering physically demanding professions such as policing. Underlying police culture is a normative power structure defined by hegemonic masculinity. Discrimination, sexual harassment, and inadequate maternity and parental leave are some of the issues that women police officers face. Despite these limitations, there is a growing demand for women police officers. This study contributes to a better understanding of the issues that women police officers face in their work. It also sheds light on the psychology of women police officers and their approach …
The Politics Of Representating Dalit Women: A Study Of The Newspaper Khabar Lahariya And The Documentary Writing With Fire, Harishma Hari K, Khamarunnisa P. A
The Politics Of Representating Dalit Women: A Study Of The Newspaper Khabar Lahariya And The Documentary Writing With Fire, Harishma Hari K, Khamarunnisa P. A
Journal of International Women's Studies
Redefining power is the only means to redress the gender bias that women have had to endure in a male-dominated society. As Héléne Cixous declared in “The Laugh of the Medusa” (1975), “écriture feminine” (or women’s writing) is the only way to emphasize women’s perspectives and end stereotyping of women and their opinions in literature. Such ideas helped to transform the representation of women in literature. This transformation is required not only in the literary world, but there is also an urgent need for the realistic representation of women in every section of society. Media being a powerful tool has …
Unbearable Weight: Women And The Shaping Of Political Subjects Through The Politics Of Corporeality, Meenakshi Malhotra, Krishna Menon
Unbearable Weight: Women And The Shaping Of Political Subjects Through The Politics Of Corporeality, Meenakshi Malhotra, Krishna Menon
Journal of International Women's Studies
This article explores three moments in recent history where Indian women’s bodies—seen and unseen—highlight the centrality of the female body in the changing political discourse of India. The first moment, the Shaheen Bagh moment, is characterized by the body marked as “Muslim woman” and her occupation of public squares and streets (the protests in 2019-20 against the Citizenship Amendment Act). The second moment is the female body that engaged in unprecedented care work while being subjected to heightened levels of violence in the times of the pandemic, and the third moment is the resilient female body in struggle against neo-liberal …
Women’S Agency And Pastoral Livelihoods In India: A Review, Aayushi Malhotra, Sailaja Nandigama, Kumar Sankar Bhattacharya
Women’S Agency And Pastoral Livelihoods In India: A Review, Aayushi Malhotra, Sailaja Nandigama, Kumar Sankar Bhattacharya
Journal of International Women's Studies
The role of women in promoting and sustaining pastoral livelihoods remains an under-researched area across the world. Often, studies discuss pastoralism as a male-oriented enterprise, thus overshadowing or ignoring the part played by women in such livelihood practices. In India, where pastoralism itself is essentially a neglected area of research, such discussions remain even sparse. Pastoral communities depending on migratory livestock rearing practices for their livelihoods exhibit gender-based differences in their everyday life in terms of division of labour, mobility patterns, and rights over resources. Women play different roles and responsibilities at the household and community levels that remain intertwined …
Dissenting Bodies, Disruptive Pandemic: Farmers’ Protest And Women’S Participation In Mass Mobilisation In India, Paromita Chakrabarti
Dissenting Bodies, Disruptive Pandemic: Farmers’ Protest And Women’S Participation In Mass Mobilisation In India, Paromita Chakrabarti
Journal of International Women's Studies
While authoritarian states promoting neoliberal forms of governance have taken advantage of COVID-19 to weaken the foundations of civil society, there has also been a significant rise in contemporary struggles for a more democratic society during and around the pandemic. From December 2019 to November 2021, India has seen a significant number of protests. The timeline of collective resistance against the state and its divisive, violent and neoliberal agenda represents a critical juncture in Indian politics. This paper focuses on the farmers’ protests that started from last November and recently ended in a stunning, hard-earned victory. In a sector that …
Reflections On Queer Literary Representations In Contemporary Indian Writing In English, Aakanksha Singh
Reflections On Queer Literary Representations In Contemporary Indian Writing In English, Aakanksha Singh
Journal of International Women's Studies
This reflective piece explores the importance of thinking beyond labels and categories for queer desires and queer expressions of love. Knowability and visibility of these desires through labels and categories has the potential to create much-needed awareness. This visibility, however, can inadvertently also create borders and perpetuate rigidity about queer desires, confining them to certain norms and limitations. The piece then reflects on mass media’s role in creating these borders, particularly through the coverage of Pride Parades in India. Then by examining contemporary texts such as Amruta Patil’s Kari (2008), Himanjali Sankar’s Talking of Muskaan (2015), and Parvati Sharma’s short …
The Indian Mission Of The Institute Of Blessed Virgin Mary (Ibvm) Nuns: Convents, Curriculum, And Indian Women, Nilanjana Paul
The Indian Mission Of The Institute Of Blessed Virgin Mary (Ibvm) Nuns: Convents, Curriculum, And Indian Women, Nilanjana Paul
Journal of International Women's Studies
This study focuses on the Indian mission of IBVM nuns, and the role played by them in the spread of female education in India. While acknowledging that missionaries were part of the imperial process, this study analyzes the work of Catholic nuns in India, their convents, and curriculum to show how their work advanced women’s educational opportunities in India. In the process the study examines how Catholic nuns resisted the dominating attitude of the Catholic Church in India. The last section of the article examines how Christian influence under missionaries not only prepared good mothers and wives but also trained …
Dalit Women: Narratives Of Vulnerability, Violence, And A Culture Of Impunity, Bhushan Sharma
Dalit Women: Narratives Of Vulnerability, Violence, And A Culture Of Impunity, Bhushan Sharma
Journal of International Women's Studies
No abstract provided.
Social Inclusion, Equality, Leadership, And Diversity To Attain Sustainable Development Goal 5 In The Indian Banking Industry, Surjit Singha, Sivarethinamohan R.
Social Inclusion, Equality, Leadership, And Diversity To Attain Sustainable Development Goal 5 In The Indian Banking Industry, Surjit Singha, Sivarethinamohan R.
Journal of International Women's Studies
The UN SDG 5 aspires to end all kinds of bigotry and abuse of women, although gender bias still exists in India. Most bank employees are men; few women hold senior positions in India's banking industry because of the country's early history of limiting chances for women to enter the profession. The solution to this is to hire women in leadership positions from international locations if the banking sector opens. The development of the banking industry in India relies on the best talent. The banking sector must open its position for multinational expatriates to maintain diversity and bring forth the …
Are Unpaid Women Willing To Work In The Labour Market? Evidence From India, Krishna M.
Are Unpaid Women Willing To Work In The Labour Market? Evidence From India, Krishna M.
Journal of International Women's Studies
India has set an ambitious target of achieving a US$5 trillion economy by 2025. However, a steady increase, perhaps even more rapid in recent years, in women’s participation in unpaid domestic work poses a grave threat to India’s economic development. Significantly, the extent of women’s participation in unpaid domestic work ballooned in India, recording a quantum leap from 200 million in 2004–05 to 287 million in 2017–18. The main aim of this paper is to examine the role of socio-economic factors in explaining the willingness of unpaid women to undertake work in the labour market, using data from unit-level records …
Feminism, Sexuality, Gender, Labour: Invisible Stigma Of Sex Work And Menstrual Labour In India, Soma Mandal
Feminism, Sexuality, Gender, Labour: Invisible Stigma Of Sex Work And Menstrual Labour In India, Soma Mandal
Journal of International Women's Studies
This article attempts a feminist analysis of understanding sex workers' limitation to command holistic living practices at all points in their life, based on degenerative quality of sexual labour and degree of violence involved. Combined with the practical limitation of bodies' usage and experiential ways of negotiating routine sexual tasks, the intersecting issue of menstruation in sex workers' lives stands as one of the fundamentally neglected aspects of women's health care service in red light areas. Based on assumptions of the degenerative notion of labour, the stigma associated with sex work and menstrual-related pollution it will explore how gendered, informal …
India’S Missing Working Women: Tracing The Journey Of Women’S Economic Contribution Over The Last Seven Decades, And During Covid-19, Mitali Nikore, Poorva Prabhu, Manvika Gupta, Vidhi Narang, Khyati Bhatnagar, Ashruth Talwar, Chandni Ganesh, Ujjwala Singh, Samarpita Banerjee
India’S Missing Working Women: Tracing The Journey Of Women’S Economic Contribution Over The Last Seven Decades, And During Covid-19, Mitali Nikore, Poorva Prabhu, Manvika Gupta, Vidhi Narang, Khyati Bhatnagar, Ashruth Talwar, Chandni Ganesh, Ujjwala Singh, Samarpita Banerjee
Journal of International Women's Studies
India today is an economic powerhouse on the global stage. However, it faces a queer conundrum. Despite considerable gains in female education, decreases in fertility rates and increasing economic growth, only a fourth of its women are in the labor force, amongst the lowest in the world. Based on analysis of time series data over the last seven decades (1950-2018), this paper finds that women’s labor force and workforce participation rates have secularly declined to their lowest levels since Independence. Women’s wages have consistently been below men, with weighted average wage gaps increasing from 59% in 1993, to 72% in …
Women’S Studies, Gender Studies, And Lgbt/Queer Studies: Defining And Debating The Subject Of Academic Knowledge In India, Virginie Dutoya
Women’S Studies, Gender Studies, And Lgbt/Queer Studies: Defining And Debating The Subject Of Academic Knowledge In India, Virginie Dutoya
Journal of International Women's Studies
Women’s Studies is first introduced in Indian academia in the 1970s. There are now more than 150 centres conducting research on women and gender as well as numerous teaching programmes on these topics in India. Research on sexualities and non-heterosexual identities and practices, while less developed, also emerged in the 1990s. As in any academic field, research on Women’s Studies, gender, and sexuality has been marked by epistemic debates, in particular “terminology debates” (i.e., debates about the proper concepts for discussing gender and sexuality in India). Using a corpus of academic texts, course syllabi, and other academic documents as well …
“Why Don’T You Hear Us?”: Interview Narratives Of Disabled Working Women In Private Small Business Firms In India, Deepanjana Varshney
“Why Don’T You Hear Us?”: Interview Narratives Of Disabled Working Women In Private Small Business Firms In India, Deepanjana Varshney
Journal of International Women's Studies
This research explores the perception of disabled working women in small organizations in India's private sector. A meticulous study of past research revealed a paucity of research for working women with disabilities (WWD), especially in small enterprises in the Indian context. There are misconceptions and barriers associated with women with disabilities across the world. Past research demonstrates negative attitudes and related stereotyping notions regarding disabled working women. In sum, they are considered weak, incapable, and dependent on others. There has been insufficient research on employee disability, but there is limited research on the feelings and experiences of disabled working women, …
Scarred For Life: Thoughts On Legal Perspectives Of Acid Attacks In Selected Countries With A Focus On India, Shaheema Hameed, Bhupal Bhattacharya
Scarred For Life: Thoughts On Legal Perspectives Of Acid Attacks In Selected Countries With A Focus On India, Shaheema Hameed, Bhupal Bhattacharya
Journal of International Women's Studies
This article discusses acid attack victims in India—who are primarily women—while examining the related laws dealing with such issues. While these attacks can be associated with societal and other factors that relegate women to an inferior position in a society of male-dominated patriarchal culture, cases of acid assaults are on the rise in India. This research examines the related laws that deal with such issues in India and recommends suggestions for future scope for its remedies. Acid attack victims and survivors are at the receiving end of social stigmas that prevent them from achieving fulfilling lives. They are ostracized and …
Virus, Violence And (In)Visible Women: #Lockdownmeinlockup And Embodied Resistance During Covid-19, Ishani Mukherjee
Virus, Violence And (In)Visible Women: #Lockdownmeinlockup And Embodied Resistance During Covid-19, Ishani Mukherjee
Journal of International Women's Studies
Drawing on the #LockDownMeinLockUp visual campaign against domestic violence, this paper conceptually leverages embodied resistance, performed connectivity, and (in)visibility politics to explore how gender, body, power, affect, celebrity, performance, and injustice are framed by digital media in the context of an unprecedented global health crisis. The forms, forces, and incidences of domestic violence (DV) are rooted in local power relations and unique cultural practices and so should their interventions and representations be. Since the March 2020 lockdown, the pandemic worsened the conditions of DV victims in India. Many women were forced to cohabit with abusive partners and families. Data on …
Dalit Women In History: Struggles, Voices, And Counterpublics, Tarushikha Sarvesh, Rama Shanker Singh, Tehzeeb Alam
Dalit Women In History: Struggles, Voices, And Counterpublics, Tarushikha Sarvesh, Rama Shanker Singh, Tehzeeb Alam
Journal of International Women's Studies
History is a projection of realities from the historian's lens and parameters. The popularity and acceptance of historical accounts depend much on hegemonic structures and knowledge. The Dalit community was marginalized within the Indian economic, social, and political historiography. Gradually, with the rise of Dalit consciousness, men—the better-positioned gender of the community—tried to express their vulnerabilities from a masculinist perspective. The literature written also projected women only as extensions of male protagonists. Though the traumas Dalit women have faced due to intersectional realities are separate from that of men, they could not find a place in early literature as complete …
Gendered Spaces In The Public Sphere: A Micro Study Of Bangalore’S Malls, Airport, Railways, And Educational Institutes, Cecilia Juanita, Fatema Kapadia
Gendered Spaces In The Public Sphere: A Micro Study Of Bangalore’S Malls, Airport, Railways, And Educational Institutes, Cecilia Juanita, Fatema Kapadia
Journal of International Women's Studies
This study focuses on public spaces and analyses them to reveal their gendered nature. It is organized around the following public spaces: educational institutions, malls, railway stations, and the airport. Architectural designs, facilities provided, and gender-specific organization are some of the aspects of these spaces that are under study. Our study identified The discriminatory patterns in some of these places suggesting that there are long-term effects of discrimination on the human psyche, particularly when these spaces do not accommodate gender diversity. This paper highlights some of the discriminations and their effects on the LGBTQ+, gender-fluid and gender non-conforming communities. We …
Effects Of Violence Against Women On Higher Education In Mizoram, India, Lokanath Mishra
Effects Of Violence Against Women On Higher Education In Mizoram, India, Lokanath Mishra
Journal of International Women's Studies
This study is an empirical research aimed at identifying the causes of violence against women in graduate schools in Mizoram, and its effect on higher education. The researcher adopted a mixed approach and used quantitative and qualitative methodologies to analyze the context, dynamics and practices implemented in Mizoram Graduate Schools to minimize violence against women. Four forms of abuse, namely physical, verbal, sexual and psychological violence against women, have been seen in various Mizoram degree colleges. Youth fashion, hostile family environment, pressure of examination, peer group, disabilities of women, influence of drugs and alcohol and computer gadgets are main causes …
“Valli” At The Border: Adivasi Women De-Link From Settler Colonialism Paving Re-Enchantment Of The Forest Commons, Deepa Kozhisseri
“Valli” At The Border: Adivasi Women De-Link From Settler Colonialism Paving Re-Enchantment Of The Forest Commons, Deepa Kozhisseri
Journal of International Women's Studies
The forests of Attappady Hills part of the Western Ghats in Kerala homeland to Adivasi people is a frontier region where a settler population is now predominant. This paper aims to bring the concept of borders as a heuristic device to interpret gender-ecology-indigeneity in Attappady. The conversations among Adivasis, between Adivasis and settlers, between Adivasi women and their children become in media res dialogues of their border subjectivity. This was an empirical study in Attappady in which life experiences, oral history and myths were studied using narrative analysis. The paper discusses four findings: First how land dispossession disproportionately impacted Adivasi …