GENERIC ELECTIVES (GE-1 ) CONTEMPORARY INDIA: WOMEN AND
EMPOWERMENT
Credit distribution, Eligibility and Pre-requisites of the Course
Course title & Credits Credit distribution of the Eligibility Pre-requisite
Code course criteria of the course
Lecture Tutorial Practical/
Practice
GE-13 4 3 1 0 Passed Class NIL
Contemporary XII
India: Women
and
Empowerment
Learning Objectives
The Learning Objectives of this course are as follows:
To familiarize students with the basic theories about gender, be it feminism,
queer studies or masculinity studies.
To introduce students to literary texts that prioritise issues of gender in India.
Learning outcomes
The Learning Outcomes of this course are as follows:
By studying this course, students will be able to identify and contextualize gender
politics at work within a text and read social change through the lens of gender.
Students will be able to use the knowledge of gender theory and its evolution
in their everyday life.
SYLLABUS OF GE- 13
UNIT – I (15 Hours)
Concepts
Sex and Gender -- social construction of gender; socialisation into gender
Femininities and masculinities -- normative gender privilege;
heteronormativity
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Patriarchy -- history of the efforts to undo feminism
ESSENTIAL READINGS:
1. Kamble, Baby. ‘Our Wretched Lives’, Women Writing in India: 600 BC to the Early
Twentieth Century. Eds. Susie Tharu and K Lalitha, Delhi: OUP, 1997. pp 307-311
2. Rassundari Devi, Excerpts from Amar Jiban, Women Writing in India: 600 BC to the
Early Twentieth Century. Eds. Susie Tharu and K Lalitha, Delhi: OUP, 1997. pp 190-202
3. Begum Rokeya Shekhawat Hossain, ‘Sultana’s Dream’, Women Writing in India:
600 BC to the Early Twentieth Century. Eds. Susie Tharu and K Lalitha, Delhi: OUP,
1997. pp 340-351
4. Geetha, V. Patriarchy. Kolkata: Stree, 2007. pp 3-61
UNIT – II (15 Hours)
Intersections
Women and caste, religion, class, sexualities, race, disability
Women and environment, technology, development
Women and access to resources: employment, health, nutrition, education
Women and reproductive work: singleness, marriage, motherhood, symbolical
biological surrogacy and parenting, abortion, and other rights over own body
ESSENTIAL READINGS:
5. Devi, Mahasweta. ‘Bayen’, Five Plays. trans. Samik Bandyopadhyay, Calcutta:
Seagull, 2009.
6. John, Mary. ‘Feminism Poverty and the Emergent Social Order’, Handbook of
Gender. ed. Raka Ray, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2012.
7. Kasturi, Leela. ‘Report of the Sub-Committee Women’s Role in Planned Economy
National Planning Committee (1947)’, Feminism in India. ed. Maitrayee Chaudhuri,
Delhi: Zed, 2005. pp 136-155
8. Shiva, Vandana. Chapters 2 & 4, Staying Alive: Women Ecology and Development.
Delhi: Kali for Women, 1989.
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9. Vinodini, M.M. ‘The Parable of the Lost Daughter’, The Exercise of Freedom. eds. K.
Satyanarayana and Susie Tharu, Delhi: Navayana, 2013. pp 164-77
UNIT – III (15 Hours)
Histories
The women’s question pre-Independence -- sati-reform, widow remarriage,
debates around age of consent
Women in the Independence movement, Partition
Post-Independence campaigns -- against sexual harassment and rape, dowry,
violence, debates around the Uniform Civil Code
Public sphere participation of women -- in politics, in the workplace, in the
economy, creating educational inclusion
ESSENTIAL READINGS:
10. Kumar, Radha. Chapters 2; 3; 7; 8; 11, A History of Doing: An Illustrated Account
of Movements for Women's Rights and Feminism in India 1800—1990. Delhi: Zubaan,
1993.
11. Sangari, Kumkum. ‘Politics of Diversity: Religious Communities and Multiple
Patriarchies’, Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. 3052, 1995.
12. Sarkar, Tanika. ‘Rhetoric against Age of Consent: Resisting Colonial Reason and
Death of a Child-Wife’, Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. 2836, April, 1993.
13. Moon, Meenakshi and Urmila Pawar. Chapters 1; 5; 6, We also made history:
Women in the Ambedkarite Movement. Delhi: Zubaan, 2008.
Practical component (if any) –
Students to examine the bare text of 4 laws (as set out in the Gazette of India) followed
by discussion and analysis -- laws against dowry (The Dowry Prohibition Act 1961),
against sex determination (Pre-Conception & Pre-Natal Diagnostics Act 1994), against
domestic violence (Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005), against
sexual harassment at the workplace (The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace
Prevention Prohibition and Redressal Act 2013).
Essential/recommended readings- as listed in the units
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