IIS University - International College for Girls - ICG Courses

M.A. (Women's Studies)

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Duration: 2 Years

Eligibility: Graduation

Course Structure

Course Code	Course Title
Semester – I
WMS-121	Introduction to Women Studies
WMS 122	Introduction to Feminist Theories
WMS-123	State Ideology and Law in India
WMS-124	Sexuality, Patriarchy and Social Reproduction in India
WMS-125	Feminist Research Methodology
WMS-126	Seminar based of Class Researches
Semester – II
WMS-221	Caste, Class and Gender
WMS-222	Nationalism, Colonialism and Gender in Indian Context
WMS-223	The Political Economy of Gender and Development
WMS-224	Women’s Studies, Nation State and Globalisation
Semester- III
WMS-321	Women’s Studies in India: Historical Perspective
WMS-322	Ways of Reading with Reference to Literature in India
WMS-323	Women in World Literature
WMS-324	Women and Health
Semester - IV
WMS-421	Feminism in India
WMS-422	Ways of Seeing Visual Media
WMS-423	Ethical Attitude

 

Course Syllabus

Semester – I

WMS-121 Introduction to Women Studies

Objective:

This course is designed to make it possible for students from diverse background conceive the perspective of Women Studies. To introduce students to concepts and debates of integration and autonomy of Women Studies, and the role it plays in interdisciplinary approach.

Unit I

• Introduction to Women Studies – origin, nature and scope.

Unit II

• History of Women’s Question, India and Europe: early theories and critiques.

Unit III

• Impetus of Women’s Movement: The Context of the Women’s Studies movement.

Unit IV

Institutionalization of Women’s Studies and Challenges to it.

• a) The integration and autonomy debate.
• b) Accounts of Women’s Studies Departments – Research Centre for Women’s Studies, SNDT Women’s University; Women’s Studies Department, Antar Rashtriya Mahatma Gandhi Hindi University, Wardha; Women’s Studies Department, Chandigarh University; School of Women’s Studies, Jadavpur; Department of Women’s Studies, Mother Teresa’s Women’s University, Kodai Canal, Karnataka.

Unit V

Role of Women Studies in transforming the conventional academic approach - to the study of individual and society, with emphasis on the social sciences.

• a) Study of education from gender point of view. The study material could include school and college level textbooks of different grades beginning from class 6-8. Different subjects could be chosen for the purpose, e.g. Sociology, Economics, Political Science.
• b) Introduction to the question of ideology and production, epistemology from gender point of view.

 

WMS 122    Introduction to Feminist Theories

Objective:

This paper intends to enable students to develop a broad overview of the evolution of contemporary feminism, including exposure to the debate over the question between the sexes and the general oppression of women in society, and the women’s movement towards greater empowerment. The student will be expected to develop critical awareness of the major ideological approaches with feminist theories.

Note: Total time required to complete the syllabus will be 45 hours (9 hours per unit)

Unit-I

• Liberal Feminist Theory: the issue of equal opportunity.

Unit II

• Marxist-feminist Theory: origin of family, private property and the State; socialization of domestic labour; sexual division of labour.

Unit III

• Socialist-feminist Theory: capitalist-patriarchy and the marginalization of women.

Unit IV

• Radical-feminist Theory: Sexual politics and the roots of women’s oppression.

Unit V

• Postmodern-feminist Theory: Deconstructing thought and identity; celebration of multiplicity.
  

 

WMS-123    State Ideology and Law in India

Objective:

To understand the way women are perceived in Indian State ideology and the various laws in India related to women. To see how this furthers active citizenship to make spaces for women visible in these spheres.

Unit I

Creating Gendered Citizens: Education and Gender Socialisation

• Educating Women as Wives and Mothers: Class and colonial imperatives in the 19th and 20th centuries – Reform Movements.
• Contemporary debates and policies on women welfare and education.

Unit II

Gendering and State

• Ideologies of the State: the paternalism of the modern state.
• Questions of Citizenship: formal equality and substantive equality in Indian Constitution

Unit III

Contemporary Legal Systems:

• Inside the Family: personal codes; marriage, inheritance and guardianship.
• Laws for working women: maternity benefits and child care.
• Defining Sexual crimes: rape, sexual harassment in workplace.

Unit IV

Women’s Movement and Law.

• Transforming the laws on rape, dowry murders, sati.
• Analysing the experience of working with the state: Contemporary debates in the women’s movement

Unit V

73rd and 74th Amendments: Political spaces gained by women through the Panchayati Raj Institutions and Local Self Governments and gaps that remain.

 

WMS-124   Sexuality, Patriarchy and Social Reproduction in India

Objective:

This paper is an attempt to understand social reproduction and sexuality and how patriarchy plays a part in both.

Unit I

• Patriarchal ideologies: question of consent, complicity, chastity, honour, legitimating of violence.

Unit II

• Sex and Gender: Facts and Myths; Biological, Social, Cultural and Attitudinal factors; Social Constructions of Sexuality

Unit III

• Introduction: conceptualizing social reproduction – women’s consent; stereotyping

Unit IV

• The politics of procreation and sexual control: marriage, motherhood and ‘legitimate’ reproduction

Unit V

Historicizing sexuality: norms, deviance and punishment

• Courtesan traditions: The hetaira, ganika, nagarvadhu and the devadasi;  Prostitution and sex work
• Renunciation and sexual abstinence: The enforced celibacy of upper caste widows.

 

WMS-125   Feminist Research Methodology

Objective:

This paper teaches the formal accepted social research methods with feminist perspectives along with the research methods which have come to be accepted in formal spaces as a result of tested methods of feminist research scholars. This enables the students to perceive research from holistic perspective.

Note: Total time required to complete the syllabus will be 45 hours (9 hours per unit)

Unit-I

• Research Design: exploratory, Descriptive, Experimental, Cross Sectional, Longitudinal

Unit II

• Empirical research - Sample and Survey, Questionnaire, Interview and Observation

Unit III

• Feminist Research Methodologies: Major concepts - Data Collection: Qualitative and Quantitative; Case Study; Oral Histories

Unit IV

• Census of India, its Strength and Limitations in relation to women.

Unit V

• Report Writing: Introduction, Acknowledgement, End/Foot Note, Reference, Bibliography.

 

WMS-126   Seminar based of Class Researches

 

Semester – II

WMS-221   Caste, Class and Gender

Objective:

This paper gives a brief introduction to the students as to how gender permeates the institution of caste and class in India. This would enable them to grasp the collective consciousness and make changes at their own level and in their surroundings.

Unit I

• Caste and Gender – reproduction of patriarchy.

Unit II

• What are Class, Tribe and Caste in India: Questions of transitions and continuum.

Unit III

• Women centric interpretation of materialist analyses of caste.

Unit IV

• Enforcing and Contesting Cultural Codes.

Unit V

• Gendering material arrangements in Rajasthan

 

WMS-222   Nationalism, Colonialism and Gender in Indian Context

Objective:

This paper attempts to address the manner in which the question of women emerged in India with the advent of British and further evolves with the idea of Nationalism.

Unit I

• The Colonial encounter and the emergence of the women’s question.

Unit II

• Early British Interventions in reference to women – Abolishing sati, widow remarriage.

Unit III

• Construction of the Ancient Past: R C Dutta and others, Early Historical Works.

Unit IV

• Structural and Institutional Changes: Revenue systems and property relations, Class formation and social mobility

Unit V

• Recasting Women: New Notions of conjugality and transforming the family The emergence of the ‘bhadramahila’; schooling and fashioning the bhadramahila.

 

WMS-223   The Political Economy of Gender and Development

Objective:

This paper addresses the issues of women and economic development connecting the local to the global. It also attempts to review development concepts with reference to women’s existence.

Unit I

• Economic Activities - Introduction, Breton woods Conferences, WTO and marginalization of women’s Work

Unit II

• Production and Distribution: Formal and Informal Labour and space of women

Unit III

• Different Sectors of Indian Economy: Industry and Agriculture and women’s visibility

Unit IV

• Patterns of Consumption: Intra Household Divisions, Entitlements and Bargaining, Unpaid Labour and the Care Economy.

Unit V

Concepts of Development, Underdevelopment and Human Development.

• Alternatives to Development Models: Environment and Feminist Critiques of Development.
• Engendering Development, WID-WAD: GID-GAD; International Funders and the Rhetoric of Development.

 

WMS-224   Women’s Studies, Nation State and Globalisation

Objective:

Women’s Studies attempts to connect the various levels of existences under globalization. This paper furthers this process in the area of militarization and hierarchies of power blocs. Media is addressed to see its connection with these spaces to search how it helps in building solidarity for dissent across the globe, women as active players in the process.

Unit I

• Globalisation, Nation State and Women

Unit II

• New Political Order: Militarisation and Conflicts; Recolonisation, the ‘North’ and ‘South’ and the Hierarchies of Power.

Unit III

The Media in a unipolar world

• Dominating World Opinion and Manufacturing Consent.
• The Media as an instrument of dissent; New Technologies of Resistance.

Unit IV

Globalising Dissent

• The Power of Resistance: A case study: The World Social Forum and other networks

Unit V

• Transition from tribe to state, impact on women’s status in India

 

Semester - III

WMS-321   Women’s Studies in India: Historical Perspective

Objectives:

This paper introduces students to the historical processes which lead to Women’s Studies in India to enable them to recover Histories of women and perceive gender in various religious trends.

Unit I

• Her-stories: Problems (historiography) and Possibilities of Recovering Women’s
• Histories: South Asia.

Unit II

• Division of labour, property relations in India, regional variations and major trends of agrarian expansion.

Unit III

• Early Political Structures and the Consolidation of Patriarchy. Mesopotamia, Early India,

Unit IV

• Gendered Religious Traditions: (three parts)
• Vedic Traditions/Brahminism
• Buddhism and Jainism
• Islam and Christianity

Unit V

• Role of Women in Independence movement

 

WMS-322   Ways of Reading with Reference to Literature in India

Objective:

This course is intended to help students to ways of reading through different periods of Literature so as to study Literature and Women’s Studies integral to each other and get a glimpse of the perception of women through these periods.

Unit I

• Women Studies in relation to Sanskrit literature: representation of social life and patriarchy – Ramayan and Mahabharat

Unit II

• Ways of Reading and Reconstruction characterization of women in Ancient Indian literary text – Shakuntala

Unit III

Medieval Period

• The genre of folk forms and position of women in it.
• Oral Narratives as medium of Women’s knowledge making. eg Vrata katha, Savitri’s story
• Emergence of female voice in Bhakti Literature: Mira, Mahadevi Akka (A.K. Ramanujam’s critical piece), Chokyachi Mahari, Bahina Gai.
• Female voice in Sufi tradition – Amir Khusro, Rabia, Lal Dev, Bulleh Shah, Shah Hussain.

Unit IV

• Autobiographies of women: Tarabai Shinde and Mahashveta Devi
• Study of the genre in the 19th century; Readings:Tanika Sarkar, Meera Kosambi, Meenakshi Mukherjee.

Unit V

• The Controversies: The memoirs of Ismat and Manto over the court case on their writings about women.
• Contemporary Women’s writings in other Indian languages: Ashapoorna Devi, Nabaneeta Dev Sen ( Bangla), Indira Goswami, Tilottama Misra (Asamiya), V Geeta (Tamil).

 

WMS-323  Women in World Literature

Objective:

Students will be oriented to read literary works which depict women in different hues and perspectives. Through this paper they shall be encouraged to formulate their own ideology and values.

Unit I

• Women in First World Literature: Early 19th Century – Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyer, Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar

Unit II

• European Literature: 19th Century – Anna Karenina, Maxim Gorky’s Mother

Unit III

• African Literature: Late 19th Century - Khalil Gibran’s Women and Marriage in The Prophet, Alice Walker’s The Colour Purple, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

Unit IV

• Third World: Twentieth Century – I Roberta Menchu An Indian Woman in Guatamala, Khaled Hosseini’s Thousan Splendid Suns, Marjane Satrape’s Persepolia

Unit V

• South Asia: Partition Writing, Sociological writings, Poetry
• Urvashi Butalia’s Other Side of Silence, Manto: Thanda Gosth, Kaali Salwaar, Kitab Ghar; Kur Lajja, Mumtaz Shah Nawaz’s Heart Divided, Lahore, Fehmida Riaz and Kishwar Naheed

 

WMS-324    Women and Health

Objective:

This paper attempts to introduce the most undervalued aspect of women’s life – their health and the various factors that are involved in it so that these become visible. This would help students to be aware of this under-rated facet of women’s life and they take decisive role in changing the situation.

Unit I

Social, Economic and Political Determinants of Women’s Health.

• The politics of malnutrition, under-nutrition and anaemia – social and cultural taboos and practices (puberty, pregnancy, childbirth and menopause).
• Women as producers: Occupational Health of women, with particular emphasis on the nature of women’s labour: domestic work, agricultural labour, unorganized labour, etc.
• Health perspective of violence on women: domestic violence (burns, orthopedic ward, mental health), medico legal aspects of violence- rape –evidence etc. sexual assault, sex-selective abortion and sex pre-selection; witchcraft.
• Differential access to health delivery system – gender determinants.
• Reinterpreting statistics on health: disaggregating data on mortality, morbidity, accesses to toilets, etc by sex. Analysing gender differentials.

Unit II

Gender inequalities in public health policy

• Review of health policy – major shifts.
• Gender bias in medical research.
• Feminist critique of centrally sponsored health initiatives – TB, Malaria, leprosy, AIDS. Communicable diseases – impact on women.
• Liberalisation and impact on public health – MNCs, drug policy, change in paternal regime, user fees, privatization, role of NGOs, health as a commodity, women as consumers.

Unit III

Reproductive Health and Population Policy

• Birth Control vs Population Control (control over fertility vs State control of reproduction). Trends and implication on women’s health.
• The abortion debate – international and national in the context of sex selective abortions.
• Women as guinea pigs- gender bias in contraceptive research, medical ethics, privatization of medical research with respect to rights of women.
• Medicalisation of pregnancy and childbirth.

Unit IV

New Medical Technology-Impact on Women

• Assisted Reproduction and surrogacy: changing notions of biological motherhood and parenthood and its impact on women.
• Infertility and IVF – technological solutions to social problems.
• Prenatal sex determination and pre-conception sex selection: medical technology reinforces son preference.
• Sociological Implication: Genetic selection and Staying Young Syndrome’ Hormone replacement therapy.

Unit V

Margins to Centre

• Health Needs of Special Groups: Physically and Mentally challenged women, Pubertal girls and Sex Education, Socially marginalized – widows, adivasi and dalit women, Displaced, refugee women, Substance abuse – alcohol, tobacco, drugs. Sex workers and eunuchs and transgender people, Surviors of Sexual violence – in situations of communal violence, conflict and war.
• Mental Health: Patriarchal perspective of women’s mental – ‘feigned nervous disorder’, ‘hysteria’, pre-menstrual syndrome, post-partum depression, schizophrenia, ‘possession’ by sprits, dakin/dayans and ‘deviant’ women.

 

Semester - IV

WMS-421   Feminism in India

Objective:

This paper intends to enable students to develop a broad overview of the evolution of contemporary feminism, including exposure to the debate over the question between the sexes and the general oppression of women in society, and the women’s movement towards greater empowerment. The student will be expected to develop critical awareness of the major ideological approaches with feminist theories.

Unit-I

• Feminism in India – Historical perspective: Emergence in 20th Century, After towards Equality, Institutionalizing Women’s Studies

Unit II

• Debates of Feminism in India: the nature nurture controversy; Continuity versus Western influences

Unit III

• Eco feminism: Emergence and Issues: Land, water, patenting, environment

Unit IV

• Women in spirituality: Creating spaces in existing religions; Freedom of expression and spirituality as a mode for challenging social norms

Unit V

• Race, Class and Caste in Feminist Theory

 

WMS-422  Ways of Seeing Visual Media

Paper Code:

Objective:

This course is designed to introduce ways of seeing Newspaper/Cinema/TV to students so that they can read between the lines of public representation from funding to framework and perceive spaces of women in the scenario.

Unit I

• Representation and Media Technology; Introduction to Cinema, TV and newspapers as mediums: ways of seeing and visibility of women. Early actresses including (memoirs/autobiographies) Nargis, Zohra Sehgal

Unit II

• Aspects of Film making: Sociology and The Political Economy of Cinema; Selection of theme/story, treatment & music with respect to women in audience.
• Industries supporting Cinema: like film magazines, and TV shows.

Unit III

• Women in Different Spaces:
• Mythological: Jai Santoshi Ma,
• Social Cinema: Bhabhi, Water
• Muslim Social: Chaudavi ka Chaand, Nikah
• Dalit representations: Aakrosh, Bandit Queen
• NRI films from gender point of view – Gurindar Chadda’s Bride and Prejudice, Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding

Unit IV

• Objectification of women:
  • # Advertisements as a form: an exercise by students on reading the Sunday Newspaper.
  • # Soap as a form, its transformations through the years changing faces of women in them.

Unit V

• Censorship and Women’s issues

 

WMS-423   Ethical Attitude

Objective:

 Without an ethical attitude it is not possible to understand the perspective of Women’s Studies. This paper tries to create in students, through a few issues, understanding the ethics of the whole panorama of Women’s Studies.

Unit I

• Beauty Myth and Women’s Movement: women’s health vs beauty,

Unit II

Construction of Women and Ethics in Media

Mother: Aurat, Mother India, Mamta; Tawaif: Sadhana, Pakeeza;

Alternate constructions of Women in parallel cinema: Arth, Astitva, Ankur  Films by Women and on Women: Paroma, 36 Chowrangee lane, Aruna Raje’s Rihaee,

Kalpana Lazmi’s Rudali and Darmiyan, Khamosh Pani

Unit III

Women in/and Science

• Environmental impact on health – toxics, pollution, rise in cancer.
• Womanhood as disease: Notions of Health, well-being, disease – the medicalisation women’s bodies, leisure, exercise.
• Gender biases in science and positive and negative development of technology: impact on women. Some case studies eg: smokeless chulha; community toilets; vaccine; fortified/genetically modified food items.

Unit IV

‘Herstory’ of Healing

• Women as healers, and their persecution and marginalization.
• Feminist critic of major health system: ayurveda, homeopathy, allopathy, unani
• Corporate take-over of health.
• Self-help initiatives by women’s groups, people’s movements- reclaiming knowledge, strengthening community based healing practices, holistic health and healing.

Resources:

• Films, groups working on women and health issues. Case studies to law and women’s health. Rather than a separate sub-topic on this, there will be illustrative case - law in the relevant sections. Eg. Net En case; Medical negligence; embryo transfer; mental health and the lunacy law; medical examination in rape, etc.

Unit V

Contemporary issues in reproduction Population policies-

• State
• International dimensions of the politics of Reproduction
• The patrilineal family: abortion, contraception and foeticide:declining sex ratio Sexual health of women versus reproductive health.