Pub Date : 2023-10-05DOI: 10.1177/00380229231196459
Mary E. John
This article offers a preliminary analysis of the New Education Policy document 2020 (NEP 2020) that was released by the government after considerable delay. Since 2016, the government has been trying to bring out a policy document on education, and NEP 2020 is at the end of several attempts that fell by the wayside. The context for the present discussion is that of the unprecedented expansion in higher education among students in recent decades. Within the emergence of a heterogeneous student body, the presence of women students—which has even reached parity in mainstream disciplines at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels—has somehow escaped public attention. The NEP document, especially the section concerning higher education, has to be read with care in order to go beyond its welcome aspects, such as those of multi-disciplinarity and holism. What is disturbing is evidence of a tiered differential structure that is likely to have negative effects on the kind of access that women have achieved. The hard question before us is whether the unprecedented entry of women across social groups that recent decades have witnessed, however poorly recognised or understood, will see a reversal in the wake of the lack of interest in questions of equity that the NEP vision document demonstrates. With the important exception of issues of sexual harassment on campuses, the overall neglect of the meanings and purpose of women’s increased claims on higher education bodes ill for the future.
{"title":"Analysing the New Educational Policy in the Context of Higher Education: Where is Gender?","authors":"Mary E. John","doi":"10.1177/00380229231196459","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229231196459","url":null,"abstract":"This article offers a preliminary analysis of the New Education Policy document 2020 (NEP 2020) that was released by the government after considerable delay. Since 2016, the government has been trying to bring out a policy document on education, and NEP 2020 is at the end of several attempts that fell by the wayside. The context for the present discussion is that of the unprecedented expansion in higher education among students in recent decades. Within the emergence of a heterogeneous student body, the presence of women students—which has even reached parity in mainstream disciplines at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels—has somehow escaped public attention. The NEP document, especially the section concerning higher education, has to be read with care in order to go beyond its welcome aspects, such as those of multi-disciplinarity and holism. What is disturbing is evidence of a tiered differential structure that is likely to have negative effects on the kind of access that women have achieved. The hard question before us is whether the unprecedented entry of women across social groups that recent decades have witnessed, however poorly recognised or understood, will see a reversal in the wake of the lack of interest in questions of equity that the NEP vision document demonstrates. With the important exception of issues of sexual harassment on campuses, the overall neglect of the meanings and purpose of women’s increased claims on higher education bodes ill for the future.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134948113","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-05DOI: 10.1177/00380229231196728
Ramshin Rahiman
Social scientists critically examine the role of higher education in women’s empowerment. In the Indian context, gender, religion, caste, class and region are crucial in determining access to education. The gender gap has been a significant obstacle in India’s pursuit of educational goals. The status of Muslim women’s education has been a contested policy from state and community vantage. Prominent scholarly writings argue that Muslim women were even more isolated from the social and cultural changes than their men were and even more invisible in the public arena of society. Their condition is more pathetic in educational and cultural realms. The primary objective of this paper is to empirically outline the negotiation and strategies employed by Muslim women students in negotiating with their families, religion, communities and careers. The study followed qualitative methodology to understand Muslim women’s educational choices, the rationale behind their educational decisions, and their agency in negotiating with their families and the career prospects of young Muslim women. The current paper argues that there is a remarkable growth in the history of women’s education in India, especially after the 90s, which could not change the social structure and social status of women in society in general and Muslim women in particular. Still, the gender differences remained stable in the educational practices, in the families, and even in the equity-minded educational committees. According to various government reports and studies, despite the improvement in the educational enrolment rate of Muslims, the representations of the Muslim community in general and Muslim women, in particular, are minimal in higher education. More than looking at the representation of Muslim women in education institutions, the current paper will analyse the challenges and experiences of Muslim women to reach the secondary and higher secondary levels of education.
{"title":"Gender, Religion and Higher Education: Strategies of Muslim Women Students in India","authors":"Ramshin Rahiman","doi":"10.1177/00380229231196728","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229231196728","url":null,"abstract":"Social scientists critically examine the role of higher education in women’s empowerment. In the Indian context, gender, religion, caste, class and region are crucial in determining access to education. The gender gap has been a significant obstacle in India’s pursuit of educational goals. The status of Muslim women’s education has been a contested policy from state and community vantage. Prominent scholarly writings argue that Muslim women were even more isolated from the social and cultural changes than their men were and even more invisible in the public arena of society. Their condition is more pathetic in educational and cultural realms. The primary objective of this paper is to empirically outline the negotiation and strategies employed by Muslim women students in negotiating with their families, religion, communities and careers. The study followed qualitative methodology to understand Muslim women’s educational choices, the rationale behind their educational decisions, and their agency in negotiating with their families and the career prospects of young Muslim women. The current paper argues that there is a remarkable growth in the history of women’s education in India, especially after the 90s, which could not change the social structure and social status of women in society in general and Muslim women in particular. Still, the gender differences remained stable in the educational practices, in the families, and even in the equity-minded educational committees. According to various government reports and studies, despite the improvement in the educational enrolment rate of Muslims, the representations of the Muslim community in general and Muslim women, in particular, are minimal in higher education. More than looking at the representation of Muslim women in education institutions, the current paper will analyse the challenges and experiences of Muslim women to reach the secondary and higher secondary levels of education.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"73 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134948117","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-05DOI: 10.1177/00380229231196712
Leena Pujari
This paper is a reflexive essay that engages with the vexed question of gender equity on campuses of higher education. I argue that though our campuses are mired in complex hierarchies and inequalities, they are also sites of immense possibilities. These are spaces where critical conversations can emerge around gender and sexuality including an engagement with questions of caste, class, ableism so on and so forth. However, a transformative vision and an intersectional frame must inform these conversations. Two institutional mechanisms that can enable this radical re-imagination are Gender Cells and Internal Committees. However, this imagination has fallen far short of expectations. What might one possibly do to reinvigorate these mechanisms? Is there any way we can repose the trust in these bodies that were badly shaken following #metoo? Can we build alliances and forge solidarities with different constituencies on campus to work towards emancipatory campuses? This paper throws light on these and related issues.
{"title":"Fostering Gender Just and Emancipatory Campuses in HEIs: Interrogating the Role of Gender Cells and ICs","authors":"Leena Pujari","doi":"10.1177/00380229231196712","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229231196712","url":null,"abstract":"This paper is a reflexive essay that engages with the vexed question of gender equity on campuses of higher education. I argue that though our campuses are mired in complex hierarchies and inequalities, they are also sites of immense possibilities. These are spaces where critical conversations can emerge around gender and sexuality including an engagement with questions of caste, class, ableism so on and so forth. However, a transformative vision and an intersectional frame must inform these conversations. Two institutional mechanisms that can enable this radical re-imagination are Gender Cells and Internal Committees. However, this imagination has fallen far short of expectations. What might one possibly do to reinvigorate these mechanisms? Is there any way we can repose the trust in these bodies that were badly shaken following #metoo? Can we build alliances and forge solidarities with different constituencies on campus to work towards emancipatory campuses? This paper throws light on these and related issues.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"300 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134948124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-05DOI: 10.1177/00380229231196769
Aparna Rayaprol, Usha Raman, Salma A. Farooqui, Aishwarya Joshi
This article focuses on the role that teachers play in the gender socialisation of children in schools and how a change in teachers through gender sensitisation training is imperative to bring about larger gender equality in society. Educational institutions are among the primary traditional agencies of socialisation. Teachers are important members of both the school and the community and play a major role in shaping the attitudes and ideologies of children—and through them, their parents. The school as an institution has been a major site where one learns to be patriarchal or show an attitude of male domination. Teachers have the advantage of being outside of the family and are often role models for children. As teachers themselves are the products of traditional gender stereotypes and hierarchies, they may form stereotypes that affect the ways in which children grow up. Girls and women may also hold gender stereotypes, so female teachers may not escape the danger of falling into such thinking. In doing so, they often do not realise what impact they can have on children. School teachers are the vehicles of change, and every generation has a different kind of bond with the teacher. The role of teachers in enabling change is immense and it is useful to take advantage of this situation to move ahead. Often, teachers are women—especially at the primary-school level—as teaching young children is considered an extension of childcare. Care occupations have been extremely gendered and underpaid and teaching school children is seen as an extension of care. This article draws from and reflects on the impact of teacher training workshops conducted among primary school teachers in a low-income area in Hyderabad. Many of the teachers and students in these schools are both socio-economically and culturally marginalised. This article thus focuses on bringing about transformation among marginalised communities.
{"title":"Gender Sensitisation for School Teachers: Agents of Change in the Classroom","authors":"Aparna Rayaprol, Usha Raman, Salma A. Farooqui, Aishwarya Joshi","doi":"10.1177/00380229231196769","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229231196769","url":null,"abstract":"This article focuses on the role that teachers play in the gender socialisation of children in schools and how a change in teachers through gender sensitisation training is imperative to bring about larger gender equality in society. Educational institutions are among the primary traditional agencies of socialisation. Teachers are important members of both the school and the community and play a major role in shaping the attitudes and ideologies of children—and through them, their parents. The school as an institution has been a major site where one learns to be patriarchal or show an attitude of male domination. Teachers have the advantage of being outside of the family and are often role models for children. As teachers themselves are the products of traditional gender stereotypes and hierarchies, they may form stereotypes that affect the ways in which children grow up. Girls and women may also hold gender stereotypes, so female teachers may not escape the danger of falling into such thinking. In doing so, they often do not realise what impact they can have on children. School teachers are the vehicles of change, and every generation has a different kind of bond with the teacher. The role of teachers in enabling change is immense and it is useful to take advantage of this situation to move ahead. Often, teachers are women—especially at the primary-school level—as teaching young children is considered an extension of childcare. Care occupations have been extremely gendered and underpaid and teaching school children is seen as an extension of care. This article draws from and reflects on the impact of teacher training workshops conducted among primary school teachers in a low-income area in Hyderabad. Many of the teachers and students in these schools are both socio-economically and culturally marginalised. This article thus focuses on bringing about transformation among marginalised communities.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135481792","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-05DOI: 10.1177/00380229231196716
Bandana Purkayastha
The global COVID-related pandemic ushered in high death rates globally, initiated lockdowns of international boundaries and internal borders in countries and regions, and abruptly mandated home-based work for a large swath of professions. This paper focuses on disruptions and dislocations associated with the pandemic to discuss the structures of inequality revealed during this period. I emphasise that the meanings of education, its organisational structures, the tools and sites associated with this work were already changing; the pandemic provided the window to significantly enhance the pace and depth of the shifts.
{"title":"Eroding Inclusions and Expanding Exclusions: Education During Pandemics","authors":"Bandana Purkayastha","doi":"10.1177/00380229231196716","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229231196716","url":null,"abstract":"The global COVID-related pandemic ushered in high death rates globally, initiated lockdowns of international boundaries and internal borders in countries and regions, and abruptly mandated home-based work for a large swath of professions. This paper focuses on disruptions and dislocations associated with the pandemic to discuss the structures of inequality revealed during this period. I emphasise that the meanings of education, its organisational structures, the tools and sites associated with this work were already changing; the pandemic provided the window to significantly enhance the pace and depth of the shifts.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"54 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134948119","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-05DOI: 10.1177/00380229231196445
Meenakshi Thapan
This article examines the relationship between social justice, education and inequality through an intersectional lens. Emphasising the role of the state, and ‘state-thought’, in perpetuating inequalities through education, the reflective essay argues that it is not possible to view education only in its role as an agent of social and cultural reproduction. It is equally important to focus on the lived experience of subjects who are either excluded, or go through the educational process, through varied experience based on religion, caste and gender. The role of teachers in this process cannot be underestimated and is at the heart of how children and young adults learn and understand themselves as citizens. Based on secondary material, the article concludes with a plea for recognising the significance of voice and agency for a robust and functioning democracy. It is the task of education to enable the articulation and expression of such agency by building a culture of openness and questioning and empowering teachers and students to have this voice by allowing it to thrive in the prevailing culture of institutions.
{"title":"The State, Education and Inequality in Contemporary India: An Intersectional Exploration","authors":"Meenakshi Thapan","doi":"10.1177/00380229231196445","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229231196445","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the relationship between social justice, education and inequality through an intersectional lens. Emphasising the role of the state, and ‘state-thought’, in perpetuating inequalities through education, the reflective essay argues that it is not possible to view education only in its role as an agent of social and cultural reproduction. It is equally important to focus on the lived experience of subjects who are either excluded, or go through the educational process, through varied experience based on religion, caste and gender. The role of teachers in this process cannot be underestimated and is at the heart of how children and young adults learn and understand themselves as citizens. Based on secondary material, the article concludes with a plea for recognising the significance of voice and agency for a robust and functioning democracy. It is the task of education to enable the articulation and expression of such agency by building a culture of openness and questioning and empowering teachers and students to have this voice by allowing it to thrive in the prevailing culture of institutions.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"82 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135483000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-05DOI: 10.1177/00380229231196761
Anurekha Chari Wagh
The paper situates classrooms within Higher Education institutions as central to the learning process. Despite this, engagement with classroom spaces is much ignored, with the exception of scholars engaging with feminist pedagogy. Such engagement perceives classrooms as sites of consciousness-raising and thus calls for efforts by the teachers to shape the classrooms into a safe, inclusive and self-affirming space. It is a recognised fact that to create such classroom spaces which are non-judgemental, inclusive and affirming, where students’ and teachers’ identities in relation to their caste, gender, sexuality, religion, class, ethnicity etc, choices are respected needs sustained collaborative efforts between teachers and students. This article argues that the efforts to create such classroom spaces within university structures involve strategic changes in both the teaching and learning practices, involving syllabus framing, reading materials and engagement with students and teachers. The paper is based on qualitative exploratory analysis of a diverse set of students’ responses towards creating ‘safe classrooms spaces’ within university structures. It aims to make an effort towards conceptualising and identifying the parameters of a safe, inclusive and accessible classroom.
{"title":"Towards Conceptualisation of Safe, Inclusive and Accessible Classrooms","authors":"Anurekha Chari Wagh","doi":"10.1177/00380229231196761","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229231196761","url":null,"abstract":"The paper situates classrooms within Higher Education institutions as central to the learning process. Despite this, engagement with classroom spaces is much ignored, with the exception of scholars engaging with feminist pedagogy. Such engagement perceives classrooms as sites of consciousness-raising and thus calls for efforts by the teachers to shape the classrooms into a safe, inclusive and self-affirming space. It is a recognised fact that to create such classroom spaces which are non-judgemental, inclusive and affirming, where students’ and teachers’ identities in relation to their caste, gender, sexuality, religion, class, ethnicity etc, choices are respected needs sustained collaborative efforts between teachers and students. This article argues that the efforts to create such classroom spaces within university structures involve strategic changes in both the teaching and learning practices, involving syllabus framing, reading materials and engagement with students and teachers. The paper is based on qualitative exploratory analysis of a diverse set of students’ responses towards creating ‘safe classrooms spaces’ within university structures. It aims to make an effort towards conceptualising and identifying the parameters of a safe, inclusive and accessible classroom.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"76 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134975175","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-05DOI: 10.1177/00380229231196755
Deepa Sreenivas
This paper explores a unique set of existential and ideological difficulties associated with teaching ‘gender’ in a women’s studies department while drawing on the pedagogic experiences of academics and colleagues teaching gender/feminism in more mainstream departments like sociology. It looks at the gender studies classroom as a transformative space where entrenched systems of beliefs, institutional arrangements and gendered relationships can be contested and rendered unstable. Simultaneously, it remains a space fraught with conflicts, confrontations and vulnerabilities for students and teachers alike. While ‘gender’ as a relational category marks a shift from ‘woman’ as a biological/essentialist/reductionist concept, I argue that the transition from women’s studies to gender studies has not been adequately grappled with. Woman/gender is caught between contending and contingent forces—the legacy of the autonomous women’s movement with its activist thrust, the NGOised/empowerment discourse with a top-down, instrumentalised approach to ‘gender’, and the heterogeneous aspirations and politics of gender transgressive and socially marginalised student constituencies. The gender studies teacher must navigate these complexities which on occasion confront and trouble her/their own gendered sense of self and precarities.
{"title":"The Gender Studies Classroom: Its Promise and Discontents","authors":"Deepa Sreenivas","doi":"10.1177/00380229231196755","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229231196755","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores a unique set of existential and ideological difficulties associated with teaching ‘gender’ in a women’s studies department while drawing on the pedagogic experiences of academics and colleagues teaching gender/feminism in more mainstream departments like sociology. It looks at the gender studies classroom as a transformative space where entrenched systems of beliefs, institutional arrangements and gendered relationships can be contested and rendered unstable. Simultaneously, it remains a space fraught with conflicts, confrontations and vulnerabilities for students and teachers alike. While ‘gender’ as a relational category marks a shift from ‘woman’ as a biological/essentialist/reductionist concept, I argue that the transition from women’s studies to gender studies has not been adequately grappled with. Woman/gender is caught between contending and contingent forces—the legacy of the autonomous women’s movement with its activist thrust, the NGOised/empowerment discourse with a top-down, instrumentalised approach to ‘gender’, and the heterogeneous aspirations and politics of gender transgressive and socially marginalised student constituencies. The gender studies teacher must navigate these complexities which on occasion confront and trouble her/their own gendered sense of self and precarities.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135482465","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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