Speaker: Prof. Indu Agnihotri, CWDS, New Delhi

The recent surge in of horrific incidences of violence against women and girls in India have firmly refocused attention towards the place of women in the Indian society especially in the wider context of the consolidation of the Hindu-nationalist electoral and cultural politics across the country. The women’s movement in India has been at the forefront of protests against gender based violence and women’s rights at home, in public spaces and at work places. The Pinjra Tod campaign, the Pink Chaddi campaign, and host of new campaigns have deployed social media tools to carry forward the emancipatory traditions of the Women’ movement. The recent publication of Raya Sarkar’s list of sexual predators in Indian academia on the lines of the #Metoo movement in the West has highlighted the internal dilemmas and contradictions within the contemporary women’s movement. It can be said that with the wider socio-political onslaught of Hindu nationalist politics and the emergence of new voices, styles and strategies of mobilization the women’s movement in India finds itself in an interesting cross-road in the contemporary times.

Prof. Indu Agnihotri’s talk will take stock of the contemporary women’s movement in India discussing a wide range of issues related the the changing socio-political milieu within and outside the movement.

About the speaker:

Prof. Indu Agnihotri is the Director of Center for Women and Development Studies. She is interested in the area of Women’s Movement, Resistance and Change in India.

The event is free to attend. Tea and light refreshments will be provided.

Supported by: GRP International Development, Another India and CSWG