Department of Women and Gender Studies,
established in 1987 in University of Pune, is one of the foremost centres in
the discipline of Women’s Studies in the country. The very name of the
centre invokes the ideals set out by Savitribai Phule, the first woman
teacher of modern India and guides it to deal consciously with interlocking
issues of gender, caste, class, region in all its activities. The Women’s
Studies Centre at the University of Pune is involved in
teaching, research, seminars and workshops, documentation and publication,
extension and networking. It has been successfully running postgraduate
masters, credit, diploma and certificate courses in Women’s Studies as well
as an undergraduate certificate course in Women and Development. It is one
of the few centres in India to have successfully integrated teaching,
research, dissemination of information and extension programme in Women’s
Studies at both
the post-graduate and undergraduate level. It is accredited as one of the
Phase-III Advanced Women’s Studies Centre in the country – only three
centres are recognised as such out of the over 130 Women’s Studies Centres
all over India.
The Discipline of Women’s and Gender Studies
Women’s and Gender Studies is a
relatively new and unique academic discipline. Scholars in women’s studies
pose a philosophical challenge to all intellectual disciplines. They
question the existing discipline-wise concepts, tools and techniques that
justify the denial of equity for women and make them marginal and invisible.
Their aim in formulating new definitions and methods is to assimilate gender
consciousness into all knowledge systems. In the process,
they expand the frontiers of
knowledge about the multiple facets of societies and economies and give it
the necessary critical edge.
Women's and Gender Studies has thus
emerged as a discipline with a core area of theory, within an
interdisciplinary framework that draws on theories from other disciplines,
that is, knowledge from various social sciences, humanities and sciences. As
a new area of knowledge, it draws from its own studies and field action,
while also utilising such knowledge useful to it from the other disciplines,
thus being interdisciplinary in focus. Further, it has accepted the implicit
social responsibility to transform/influence other disciplines to include
the feminist perspective, develop and empower women generally and more
specifically increase their visibility in teaching, research and management
in the universities and colleges by enhancing their academic strength and
competence.
The University Grants Commission
(UGC)
have actively guided the development of Women’s Studies within the
University system. Women's Studies is a discipline in the UGC’s list of
disciplines for the NET and JRF programmes.
In "Academic" page remove the link Under Graduate Interdisciplinary Certificate Course in Women and Development (Off- Campus- One Semester/ Part-Time)(Special Feature of Undergraduate Course) .
IN "Research" Link Remove the title "The Women's Studies Centre, University of Pune is known for its research in the following areas" and all the matter that appears below it.
In Seminars and Workshops page, remove all the matter from "Since 1996 the Centre has initiated a Gender Studies Group which brings academics across disciplines, media persons, activists and state officials together on a common forum to influence public opinion on women’s issues" - this sentence onwards
In "Extension and Network" page, please delete all matter from "Consortium with undergraduate college community" this sentence onwards
