"Women and Democratic Movements in India: Changing dynamics, altered perspectives" a talk by Prof. Ilina Sen at Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 20th August 2013

Time : 3:00 pm

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)

Place : Seminar Room, First Floor, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi
Venue Info :  Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Race Course(Yellow Line)'

Event Description : The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library cordially invites you to the Weekly Seminar on ‘Women and Democratic Movements in India: Changing dynamics, altered perspectives’ by Prof.  Ilina Sen, Senior Fellow, NMML

Abstract : The women’s movement has historically been part of the overall social movements for democracy in many parts of the world, as it has been in India. In the pre independence period, this relationship has been, by and large, acknowledged. Today, as we stand at the beginning of a new millennium, we are struck by the fact that we are living in momentous times, when our development trajectory, established frameworks of governance, and peoples’ aspirations for a convivial future are grating against each other. The processes associated with the liberalization of the economy and the open door policy adopted with regard to national and international finance capital have raised major issues in the prevailing political discourse in the country. There are debates regarding the  legitimacy of land acquisition  for  so called  public purposes, the doctrine of eminent domain, community sovereignty, rights and entitlements to common property resources and of the  sceptre of hunger and dispossession stalking large sections  of the  people. Peoples’ resistance to these forces are marked by a strong presence of women, even as the state  response  to them is often  one of myopia, and repression. The increasing militarized response of the state is often  accompanied  by widespread  and systematic sexual violence against women. In this context, it becomes important to analyse the articulation of women’s voices within resistance movements and to understand the issues, debates and inter relationships between these voices and other social formations and movement streams.  For the women’s movement as it struggles with issues of theory and organization, it becomes important to understand the use of women’s bodies as a space where contestations of power are played out, as well as the possibilities and limitations of the state as an agency in the achievement of women’s equity.

Speaker : Ilina Sen, Senior Fellow at the Nehru Memorial museum and Library, is Professor of Women’s Studies at the Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies,  Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She earlier taught at the Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi  University  at  Wardha, Maharashtra. However, her commitment to women   transcends this formal space- she has been active in the women’s movement since the heady days of the seventies, and has written extensively on Women’s issues, particularly with regard to their political involvements and their livelihood issues. She has spent a long period among the mine workers and adivasis of Chhattisgarh, and as she says herself, ‘spent a lifetime interpreting workers’ issues to feminists, and feminist issues to workers’ organizations.’ Her major publications include A Space within the Struggle (Kali for Women 1990) and Sukhvasin, the migrant woman of Chhattisgarh (FES, 1995). She is currently President of the Indian Association for Women’s Studies (IAWS).

 Related Events : Women | Talks