WOMEN’S STUDIES CENTER

Visva-Bharati is a Central University and An Institution of National Importance, founded by Nobel Laureate Gurudeva Rabindranath Tagore, located at the Santiniketan-Sriniketan campus, offers courses and research programs in Humanities, Fine Arts, Music, Science, Education, Agriculture, Rural Studies, Social Work and Cottage Industries. Being a traditional center for culture, Visva-Bharati provides a unique opportunity to the Students from different parts of the world to lead a lively academic life in close harmony with nature. The life style in the campus has enough scope for close interaction with teachers, students and community at large as envisaged by the founder since its inception in 1921, the university has undergone changes in its constitutional framework, but there has been no substantial change in its character, essence and environment retaining a good deal of its uniqueness. Rabindranath from the very beginning tried to foster a self-sufficient social life along with new values of creative as well as participatory culture and women had a very important role to play in this venture. It is through these roles that the Women’s Studies Centre is guided. The proposed Centre aims at bringing women life in its completeness to the villages and help people solve their own problems in the changed social norms instead of a solution being imposed on them from outside. The emphasis would be laid on a scientific study of the village problems before a solution was attempted. The acquired knowledge through the extension work of the center would be used for the welfare of the village community at large.

The goal of Women’s Studies Centre is not only to study and do researches which is an undeniable part of any academic activity, we propose to have a women studies Centre which gives equal emphasis on the action oriented programs i.e., towards social development, along with identifying and involving sensitive persons, including those from the community around, who are committed to play significant role, in bringing about equal participation of the women in the society and developing their potential as contributors. Empowerment of women is obviously one aspect but empowering women over men and thereby bringing imbalance as a reaction cannot be the objective of any Women’s Studies Centre. Rather, it aims at empowering women in the sense of equal sharing and cooperation as equals. Many Western ideas have been suggested and contrasted with many types of Indian theories but women is a culture construct and her problems and solutions need to be looked within her cultural environment. The objective of the Centre is to look and study women issues from this context. An analysis of the status of women in India and the alternative modes of their empowerment is one of the prime concerns.

Keeping this background in mind the Women’s Studies Centre- as it is perhaps the only institution in India, one that is deeply rooted in nature, its surrounding villages and people, aims at studying the western issues related with women alongside various eastern cultures for mutual enlightenment, enjoyment and enrichment, and thereby to approach the goal of realizing the fundamental unity of human being.

Aims of Women’s Studies Centre is

 1. To promote gender equality through education.

 2. To bring in the knowledge available in other languages to Bengali speaking Women and vice versa.

 3. To create, strengthen and disseminate information and knowledge about and for women globally.

 4. To establish a network between women, researchers, activists, NGOs and policy planners.

 5. To critique and reassess the process of acquiring and disseminating knowledge.

 6. To support and provide advocacy on issues affecting the social and cultural status of the women.

 7. To bring about the empowerment of women, through teaching, research and extension activities.

 8. To create a space for women to come together through Self-Help-Group.