MWG-001

Theories of Women’s
and Gender Studies
Indira Gandhi
National Open University
School of Gender & Development Studies

Introduction: Why Womens and Gender Studies

Introduction to Course
BLOCK 1
History of Movements 11
BLOCK 2
Women and/in Movements 93
BLOCK 3
Queer Liberation 151
BLOCK 4
Feminist Critiques of Knowledge 257
BLOCK 5
Feminist Theories 331
BLOCK 6
Queer Theory 439
Expert Committee: Programme Design and Course Planning
Prof. (Late) Meenakshi Dr. Uma Chakravarti Prof. Samita Sen
Mukherjee New Delhi Jadavpur University
Secunderabad Kolkata
Prof. Vibhuti Patel
Prof. Mary John SNDT Women’s University Prof. Sanjay Srivastav
Centre for Women and Mumbai University of Delhi
Development Studies, Enclave, New Delhi
New Delhi Prof. Sanjukta Sengupta
Calcutta University Prof. Regina Papa
Prof. Malashri Lal Kolkata Alagappa University
University of Delhi Delhi Tamil Nadu
Ms. C. P. Sujaya
Prof. R. Raj Rao GOI, New Delhi Prof. Poonam Dhawan
University of Pune University of Jammu
Pune Prof. Gopa Bhardwaj Jammu
University of Delhi
Prof. Usha Nayyar Delhi Dr. Brinda Bose
TINNARI, Gurgaon University of Delhi, Delhi
Dr. Ananda Amritmahal
Dr. Anuradha Marwah Sophia College for Women Dr. Bijoylaxmi Nanda
Zakir Hussain College, Mumbai Miranda House
University of Delhi University of Delhi, Delhi
Delhi Dr. Renu Addlakha
Centre for Women and Dr. Kiron Bansal
Dr. Kiran Bhairannavar Development Studies IGNOU, New Delhi
University of Delhi New Delhi
Delhi
Prof. Anu Aneja
Dr. Shubhangi Vaidya IGNOU, New Delhi
IGNOU, New Delhi
Dr. Himadri Roy
Dr. Nilima Srivastav IGNOU, New Delhi
IGNOU, New Delhi

Programme Coordinators: MA in WGS: Prof. Anu Aneja and Dr. Nilima Srivastava
PGD in WGS: Prof. Anu Aneja and Dr. Himadri Roy

Course Coordinator: Prof. Anu Aneja

Contributors
Block 1: Block 3: Block 5:
Krishna Menon Jaya Sharma Regina Papa, Anu Aneja,
Maitrayee Chaudhuri Paromita Chakravarti Yashodha Shenmugasundaram,
Yuthika Mishra Aniruddha Dutta Sukhpreet Kahlon,
Ponni Arasu Renu Addlakha,
Block 2:
Vrinda Marwah Shubhangi Vaidya
Smita Patil
Anandita Majumdar Block 4: Block 6:
Deepti Mehrotra Sanil M. Neelakandan,
Meenakshi Malhotra Akshaya Rath,
Akhil Katyal

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Block Editors
Block 1 Block 3 Block 5
Samita Sen Chayanika Shah Regina Papa
(content and language) (content editing; (content and language)
language editing: Anu Aneja)
Block 2 Block 6
Gail Omvedt Block 4 Shalini Mahajan
(content and language) Meenakshi Malhotra (content editing;
(content and language) language editing: Anu Aneja)

Unit Transformation:
Prof. Anu Aneja, Dr. Nilima Srivastava, Dr. Himadri Roy, Dr. Sunita Dhal,
Dr. Smita Patil, Dr. Vanishree J., Dr. G. Uma
with Mr. Khursheed Ahmad and Ms. Preeti Gautam

Acknowledgements:
Vice Chancellor and Pro Vice Chancellor (SOGDS)
Director, SOGDS and faculty of SOGDS for administrative and academic support.
STRIDE faculty for their invaluable assistance with format editing.

Production Team
Mr. B. Natarajan Mr. S. Burman Mr. Mohanan
Deputy Registrar (Publication) Asst. Registrar (Publication) Section Officer (Publication)
MPDD, IGNOU, New Delhi MPDD, IGNOU, New Delhi MPDD, IGNOU, New Delhi
October, 2011
 Indira Gandhi National Open University, 2011
ISBN:
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph
or any other means, without permission in writing from the Indira Gandhi National Open
University.
Further information on the Indira Gandhi National Open University courses may be obtained
from the University's office at Maidan Garhi, New Delhi.
Printed and published on behalf of the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi by
the Registrar, MPDD, IGNOU, New Delhi.
Laser Typeset by Tessa Media & Computers, C-206, A.F.E.-II, Okhla, New Delhi.
Printed at:

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 INTRODUCTION
Why Women’s & Gender Studies?
Women’s & Gender Studies are significant areas of academic inquiry today.
Women’s Studies has emerged as an inter-disciplinary area of study worldwide
in response to the need for knowledge dissemination and research based on
women’s concerns and issues in various disciplines. While an awareness
regarding women’s questions, and concerns about the under-representation,
marginalization or misrepresentation of women’s perspectives, are not recent
phenomena, the women’s movements of the 19th and 20th centuries have
certainly fuelled the need for creating more equitable societies for women
and men worldwide. Additionally, a growing critical awareness about women’s
place in society during these times led to a sharp interest in researching and
delving deeper into the specific experiences and subjectivities of women.

Women’s movements in the twentieth century had made major headways in

raising awareness about, and addressing the marginalization of women’s views
and concerns in various arenas. Critical and theoretical academic discourses
regarding these subjectivities began to be reflected in literary and cultural
studies, philosophy, social sciences, arts, media, ecology, sciences and other
areas. Women’s Studies, therefore, located itself not only in traditional social
science disciplines, but equally in the humanities (especially in literature and
culture), in the sciences, as well as in arts, film and media. Feminist theories
brought to the fore a variety of ways of thinking critically and analytically
about gender inequalities and other related issues. Departments and
programmes in universities and colleges thus began to incorporate, disseminate,
and add to this fast building body of knowledge and to initiate programmes
and courses of study with inter-disciplinary relevance. As an area of academic
inquiry, Women’s Studies, thus, focuses on interdisciplinary and
multidisciplinary approaches of addressing historical and contemporary
women’s issues and aims to equip students in conceptualizing and developing
analytical skills required to understand women’s issues through theory, critical
analysis, praxis, research and practicum.

Both in India and abroad, mainstream women’s movements and mainstream

feminism have been interrogated and challenged by perspectives of other
marginalized groups, to raise concerns related to caste, class, race, religion
or sexuality. Such challenges in turn have had a bearing on the shape of
Women’s Studies so that its boundaries have expanded to address gender

iv issues in relation to other inequalities. Internationally, by the end of the last

century, Gender Studies, Cultural Studies, Race Studies and Queer Studies
flourished along with traditional Women’s Studies departments and
programmes. At the same time, there has been a growing acknowledgement
that the study of masculinity cannot be completely excluded from women’s
concerns, based on the fact that women and men co-exist, interact with, and
influence each other’s lives and perspectives. Women’s movements, along
with movements and activism of gay and queer groups, had also begun to
interrogate normative hegemonies, and explore non-normative life styles,
sexualities, and perspectives. Gender Studies thus increasingly became a
useful term in the effort to broaden the base of traditional Women’s Studies
programmes and departments.

In India, the women’s movement, in its inception, was closely associated with
the nationalist movement and dissidence against imperialism, as well as with
the interrogation of other kinds of social hegemonies. The women’s movement
has been greatly influenced by, and intimately associated with, ongoing
struggles for caste, class and religious equality, as well as issues of region,
ethnicity and land and forest rights. Some of these movements and struggles
are themselves enthused by political and ideological convictions, such as,
socialist and Marxist theories and ideologies. The Dalit women’s movement,
like the movements of women of color in the west, the struggle for peasant
and tribal rights, concerns about religious traditions and their impact on
women, a growing interest in ecology and its relation to gender issues, and
various other factors have impacted and nurtured the evolution of women’s
studies in India. More recently, issues of sexuality and sexual identities, the
normative and the non-normative, in their relationship to gender as well as
class and caste, have also been raised. Activists, feminists and women’s studies
scholars have responded in varying degrees to all of these needs for inclusion.
It becomes evident, therefore, that women’s studies in India has grown into a
complex and sophisticated area of critical study, pushed to think beyond its
own gender specific barriers, and vitalized by its internal debates about what
lies within and outside the scope of women’s studies. There is therefore an
urgent need to address issues related to gender questions in India from an
academic perspective through the dissemination of the growing body of
knowledge already available in these areas.

While no one disciplinary label can adequately represent the entire gamut of
contemporary issues that are driving academic inquiry and research within
these areas of study today, the co-existence of these two terms – Women’s
Studies and Gender Studies - in academic institutions and discourses both
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 internationally and in India, speaks to an ongoing debate about the significance
and relevance of each of the two terms. On the one hand, there are those
who strongly believe that since the goals of women’s movements for equal
rights and representations have not yet been met, we are nowhere close to
abandoning the term Women’s Studies. This belief may also be linked to the
apprehension that the replacement of Women’s Studies by Gender Studies
might dilute the concerns that are specific to women. On the other hand,
there is an equally strong move towards mainstreaming Women’s Studies into
the broader rubric of Gender Studies, so that women’s concerns may not get
excluded from larger discourses which finally influence public policy and action.
Equally, the growing interest in studies related to masculinity and non-
normative sexualities, and the ongoing inquiries into the relationships between
genders, as well as between gender and caste, class, race, regionalism, and
other factors which are common to both women and to men, may also be
addressed within the realm of Gender Studies.

With this in mind, the current curriculum attempts to address a large number
of the above mentioned issues, while keeping alive contemporary debates.
We hope to impel learners to think analytically and critically about these
matters, formulate informed opinions, and search for their own answers and
solutions to some of these questions. Eminent authors and editors have
contributed in the creation of some very informative, thought-provoking, and
challenging material which ranges from feminist theory, to relationships
between gender and caste, class, and normative and queer sexualities. Courses
focusing on gender and power, gendered bodies, and cross-disciplinary
frameworks of gender, arts and media present a nexus of close associations
between the humanities, social sciences and science. Specialized courses in
women’s studies, as well as in literature and culture, will allow learners to
deepen their understanding of the role of gendered perspectives within these
selected streams through in depth study. Since the body of knowledge
presented here deals with both women’s concerns, in their historical and
contemporary configurations in India and internationally, and with broader
gender issues as delineated above, we have chosen the more encompassing
title of “Women’s & Gender Studies” for this programme of study. This broad
and dual term, with the inherent dialogue between the two sides that it
invokes, is intended to bring to the fore some of the important concerns that
face all of us, women and men, as we collectively struggle towards achieving
a more equitable society for all citizens.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
MWG 001: “Theories of Women’s and Gender Studies”

“Theories of Women’s and Gender Studies,” as the name suggests, is intended

to introduce learners to the gamut of recent and contemporary theoretical
positions and debates which have been integral to the construction of the inter-
disciplinary areas of Women’s Studies and Gender Studies. These theories will
be set against the historical background of women’s and queer movements in
India, and internationally, in order to obtain a deeper understanding of the
issues raised. The course attempts to juxtapose women’s questions, and broader
gender issues, in the context of caste, class, sexuality and race, so that learners
can analyse and think critically about various theoretical positions. This course
also lays the foundation for the other courses within this programme, as the
theoretical perspectives raised here will be re-visited in different forms in various
other courses, and will form the bedrock of many debates.

Block 1: History of Movements

In this block, students will learn about women’s movements in the 19th and
20th centuries internationally, and more specifically, in India. In the first two
units, learners are encouraged to draw cross-cultural comparisons between
the evolutions of the women’s movements in these diverse geographical areas,
as well as identify specific political and cultural issues relevant to Indian
women. Women’s rights, especially the right to vote, are examined in detail
in Unit 3, in relation to women’s movements. The last unit looks at
contemporary variations of feminism, as they have evolved over time, in an
effort to link the inception of women’s movements and feminist consciousness
with their present and future formulations.

Block 2: Women and/in Movements

The women’s movement in India is intricately connected with the struggles of
other marginalized groups and cannot be seen in isolation from the movements
of peasants, the working class, and dalits. The units in this block examine
some of these inter-relationships and study the role of women in the various
movements of marginalized groups, as well as the impact of these movements
on women’s awareness and social participation. Students are also encouraged
to make comparisons between Dalit feminism, in India, and Black feminism in
the west, so that they may discern similarities and differences between
different historical and cultural contexts. Finally, the role of women and
feminist critical perspectives in terms of positive interventions made in the
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 struggle to save a besieged environment are examined in the third unit. This
unit highlights the role of a specific feminist consciousness, namely, eco-
feminism, within the context of ecology.

Block 3: Queer Liberation

In an effort to construct a parallel with the women’s movements, which are
discussed in detail in the first two blocks, the third block focuses on queer
movements and sexualites. Queer liberation is analysed here in the light of
social constructions of sexuality and their impact on definitions of gender,
organized attempts towards greater equality, and issues of legal and
constitutional rights. Questions relating to non-normative sexualities have
become especially noteworthy in contemporary times through recent legal
developments brought about by the rights based approach of queer theorists
and activists. The implications of these legal developments are looked at
through an in-depth examination of the reading down of Section 377, given
the latter’s contemporary significance. The last unit brings together various
issues raised by linking them with the taxonomies which shape current
perspectives. This block will help to put into perspective the intersections of
feminist and queer perspectives so that strategies against marginalization,
and towards equal rights of all groups, can be studied within a comparative
framework.

Block 4: Feminist Critiques of Knowledge

Women’s roles and contributions have been marginalized not only in patriarchal
societies but also through patriarchal constructions of knowledge in various
disciplines. Feminist theories have helped to dismantle and deconstruct these
knowledge systems. This block examines in detail some of the work done by
feminist theorists in bringing about constructive critiques of knowledge in the
natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. The first three units present
an overview of developments in each of these three broad disciplinary areas.
The last and concluding unit ties together some of the issues raised in the
previous three units and looks forward towards positive interventions made
by feminists in producing alternate models of knowledge across various
disciplines. While the block does not claim to be exhaustive in terms of the
role of feminist theories and perspectives across all possible disciplinary areas,
it provides a holistic and broad overview of such developments in some of the
major disciplinary groups, thus providing important indicators for similar
research in other areas.

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Block 5: Feminist Theories
Feminism, as a concept which is inclusive of various theoretical positions and
perspectives, was born out of certain historical developments and movements
which are examined in the first block. Block 5 examines the theoretical
frameworks which infused feminist perspectives and women’s movements
internationally. The first unit of this block looks at formative feminist theories,
which include liberal, Marxist, socialist and radical standpoints, with the aim
of understanding some of the foundational ideas which enthused western
women’s movements in their inception. Subsequent theories which have greatly
influenced feminism and have resulted in the branching out of feminism in
diverse disciplinary or socio-cultural directions are studied in the following
units. Thus, the intersections of feminism and psychoanalysis, postcolonial
feminist theories, the relationships between feminist perspectives and the
non-normative, and the exchange between feminism and disability studies,
are all studied in detail in individual units. This block will introduce learners
to a diverse body of work being currently carried out in the growing realm of
feminist theory both in India, and internationally, and indicates the vast scope
of feminist interventions in contemporary times.

Block 6: Queer Theory

The final block of this course is linked thematically with Block 3, in which
queer movements and issues were examined within historical, cultural and
legal frameworks. Analagous to the relationships between women’s movements
and feminist theories, this block highlights important connections between
movements and theories, within the realm of queer studies. While the first
unit lays out some of the foundational philosophical and psychoanalytic
perspectives which have helped to shape queer theory, the second unit analyses
perceptions about queer sexualities from the point of view of literary and
cultural perspectives, with examples drawn from western and Indian literary
and cultural traditions. The third and last unit focuses exclusively on India, in
order to familiarize learners with the current configurations of queerness in
the Indian context.

There are obvious inter-connections between the various blocks and units of
this course, and efforts have been made to make these visible to the readers
so that each block stands not in isolation, but rather as an integral part of a
nexus of concepts, ideas and theories. It is thus intended that the reading of
each block will strengthen and enhance the understanding of issues raised in
other blocks of this course, as well as lay some of the groundwork for the
discussions and debates introduced in other courses of the programme. ix
Block

1
HISTORY OF MOVEMENTS
UNIT 1
Woman as Question/Woman in Question in the
West: 19th and 20th Centuries 13
UNIT 2
Woman as Question/Woman in Question:India
in the 19th and 20th Centuries 35
UNIT 3
Suffrage 59
UNIT 4
Feminisms: Variations and Contexts 78
History of
Movements

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