MoC: Gender /on the wall

by J-T.M. · Published November 5, 2019 · Updated July 3, 2020

<< Pamphlets delving into the broad apectrum of gender issues inside and outside campus spaces. This specific selection engages with the creation, the work and the demise of the Gender Sensitization Committee against Sexual Harassment, a body in charge of the redressal of gender-based violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University. This material is exhibited on a wall panel as part of the Memories of Change exhibition.

Amidst blatant underrepresentation of women in Indian politics, debates around gender issues have taken a central place in campus spaces. Epitomized by the student-led protest in reaction to the 2012 gang-rape of a paramedic trainee in Delhi, questions surrounding female protection in universities became more insistent. Hard-hitting inquiries were raised on the prevention of sexual harassment and the denunciation of atrocities such as honour killing, foeticide and other structural inequalities endured by women as outlined by NFHS reports. However, in the shadow of such a trope, a growing range of claims for gender-based assertiveness rooted in self-expression and identity building are progressively taking the front stage. Denouncing conservative gender roles, pamphlets challenge curfews for women in Banaras Hindu University, protest anti-Valentine Day statements in Kerala universities, reclaim access to public spaces in Allahabad University, and rebuke the social stigma of menstruation in Jawaharlal Nehru University. Around the country, the reclaiming of rights for the LGBT+ communities uses campus as a comparatively safer space where self-help groups take progressively assertive stand in campus spaces. The intersection between queer discrimination and other forms of prejudice based on caste and class has not yet made its foray in the pamphleteer literature.

All India Students’ Association pamphlet proposing the creation of a committee to address gender-based issues in Jawaharlal Nehru University. 1996.

New regulations for the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) elections, in the aftermath of the creation of the Committee. Jawaharlal Nehru University. 1999.

Ad-hoc student group opposing the politicization of the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH). Jawaharlal Nehru University. Circa 2012.

Students’ Federation of India pamphlet congratulating the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union for contributing to the creation of the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH). 1999.

Students’ Federation of India poster in the wake of a harassment complaint by a Jawaharlal Nehru University student addressed to the Chairperson of the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH). 2004.

All India Students’ Association pamphlet in the aftermath of the ‘9 Feb event’, on the eve of the arrest of the then Students’ Union President in Jawaharlal Nehru University. 2016.

Letter of complaint by a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University to the Chairperson of the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH). 2004.

Election poster of a student candidate for the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH). Jawaharlal Nehru University. 2013.

Ad-hoc student group opposing the politicization of the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH). Jawaharlal Nehru University. Circa 2012.

All India Students’ Federation chit deploring different forms of exploitation against women. Jawaharlal Nehru University. 1994.