Department of Women's Studies

About Us Faculty Courses Facility Fees Syllabus

Women’s Studies of Bharathiar University is the most unconventional and a new entrant into the academia. The Centre for Women’s Studies of Bharathiar University was started in December 2004 and it was upgraded to Department of Women’s Studies in May 2008. It has been funded by the University Grants Commission. It aims to develop socio- economic empowerment of women of all categories in order to create a society of gender equality and social justice. Women’s studies is a scholarly enquiry into social reality from women's perspective and tries to find explanations and remedies for the unequal position of women in the society.

The discipline is unique in that it emerges from activism and experience and therefore underlines the connections between knowledge, experience and social transformation. Knowledge must initiate action at individual and collective levels.

Women's Studies is not to be misunderstood as some overarching critique of male perspectives. It is a discipline that seeks to assess and challenge the interlinked oppression in society viz. Class, Race, Caste and Gender. It seeks to re discover the experiences and knowledge of the marginalized sections in history and in contemporary societies. It seeks an understanding of the material and ideological structures of women's oppression. This requires an understanding of the social, cultural, historical, political and economic milieu. Thus, Women's Studies is by definition interdisciplinary.

The Department of Women’s Studies aims:

• To ensure participation of women in integrated development process with greater awareness of their roles, rights and potential and
• To incorporate new perspective, framework and tools of analysis in order to develop a critical and balanced understanding of women’s position in society.
• To promote research that will generate knowledge on women’s status, gender discrimination and empowerment.
• To enhance the status of women through entrepreneurship and productive employment
• To reach out to rural women to enhance their status through productive employment.

Activities:

As per the U.G.C. guidelines the activities of the department revolve around the following

• Teaching
• Research
• Training
• Extension

Contact Us

The Head,
Department of Women's Studies,
Bharathiar University,
Coimbatore – 641 046.