National Seminar on “Gendered Urban Spaces: Narratives of Self-Possession” concluded

Gender is commodified: Ms. Sukrita Paul Kumar

Rural is more liberal than urban: Ms. Sukrita Paul Kumar

Literature should be centre stage while studying gender: Ms. Sukrita Paul Kumar

21 percent women don’t step out of their houses in Delhi: Ms. Nandita Bhatla

17th February 2017: Jaipur: A two-day National Seminar on “Gendered Urban Spaces: Narratives of Self-Possession” organized by The Department of English of The IIS University in collaboration with Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, concluded on Saturday at the University campus. Sukrita Paul Kumar, Poet and Critic, Formerly Aruna Asaf Ali Chair, University of Delhi, New Delhi graced the occasion as the keynote speaker in the inaugural ceremony.

Dr. Sukrita Paul Kumar cited the works of eminent writers to explain gender spaces in our society. According to her, gender is not related to feminism and it is equally related to masculinity and LGBT also for that matter.

“We have to go beyond the male & female. Why are we not talking about LGBT and why they have to protest and march past to get space? They are not marginalized, they are centre staged. It’s we who create mainstream,” she asserted.”

She stressed upon bringing literature to the centre while studying gender. She also cited the literature of Kamla Das “Hijda”, Vishnu Prabhakar’s “Ardhnareeshwar” which stated the plight of LGBT.

“Our society is not explicit but implicit. We need to reconstruct inclusive society. In fact, in a sense, rural is more liberal than urban, Sukrita said”

According to Sukrita, gender is commodified. Boys are stressed to be projected as muscular and macho.

The first technical session of the seminar was dedicated to Gender and Space which was chaired by K. Suneetha Rani, University of Hyderabad. Nandita Bhatla, International Centre for Research on Women, New Delhi and Sumita Parmar, Allahabad University were the invited speakers of the session.

Ms. Nandita Bhatla had done research on women safety in Delhi and she found out that 21 percent women don’t step out of their houses. Around 90 percent females fear to come out of their homes no matter its day or dark.

In a study, Nandita found out that woman is not a constituency because her vote is dependent on husband, family, caste or religion. So, we have to look at this perspective also to improve women status in society.

The seminar concluded in eight technical sessions catering different aspects of gender studies and urban spaces. Over 50 research papers have been presented in the seminar.

In the Valediction Ceremony, research scholars and participants put forth their views on the outcomes of the Seminar. Dr. Rani Rathore, convener of the seminar delivered the vote of thanks. Finally, the certificates were distributed to the participants as well as research scholars.