IAWS 2020: Thoughts, Learnings, and Takeaways

Written by Anushna Jha

Our take-aways from the IAWS conference 2020 (27th-31st January), the theme of which was constitutional principles in 21st century India: visions for emancipation.

Scholars, activists, practitioners and others interested in gender, law, and society had gathered over the four days at the National Law University, Delhi. Project Kal participated in the sub-theme on women, employment and education, where we presented our paper titled Finding the Missing Men: Reframing Gender Equality Policy and Practice and engaged with other papers under the sub-theme.

Opening Conversations

One of the objectives of the conference was to link academia and activism. The symbiotic relationship between intellectual scholarship and activism was acknowledged. That gender discrimination exists in access to nutrition, healthcare, education, and employment has been normalised. What has also been normalised is sexual violence against women and girls. Few cases of such violence come to light- either due to the determination of the survivor, or identity of the survivor (as an urban, middle class woman as in the case of Delhi in 2012 and Hyderabad in 2020). Perhaps the majority of sexual violence- within homes, workplaces- is invisible yet well-known.

Reimagining Gender Roles?

Support for ‘women’s empowerment’ has not been at the cost of male privilege. So, while there has been a change in women’s roles, men’s roles have remained static, leading to doubling of female responsibilities. One of papers explored this ‘superwoman phenomenon’ where women are expected to excel in both their productive and reproductive roles. One of the factors that leads to such a pressure is the notion that children (and the household) are primarily the mother’s responsibility. Another paper looked into the statistical invisibility of unpaid work of women, based on a study in the Indian state of Tripura.

Access to education- the starting point or the destination?

Gender-specific reasons for dropouts were discussed by a paper that emphasised that education shall only be instrumental in achieving gender parity if the curriculum includes gender sensitisation on biases, roles and attitudes. Another paper viewed education as a contradictory resource that instils greater confidence in girls (and boys) but also pulls them into the circle of inequality, without adequate employment opportunities.

Gender-neutral finance?

One of the papers examined the false assumption that budgets are gender-neutral such that they have the same impact for males and females. It called for a need for gender budgeting not just on policy documents but also in the implementation plans.

Gender Auditing of Textbooks

Papers that studied textbook content from a gender lens revealed that it leaves a lot to desired. Although all education policies in the country view education as a tool for social change, to bring in gender equality, the intent is not being followed-up in the teaching learning materials. There is evidence of gender biases in textbooks across national and state boards. This is an area that merits both research and programmatic interventions.

Opening up the Conversation

The conference was a very engaging, insightful and interesting experience, largely due to the diversity of its participants. What it did reinforce for us at Project Kal was that there is a strong need to engage with boys and men, issues around masculinities for an effective conversation that reaches beyond such gatherings of conscious and interested participants. And education, as was agreed upon by all, is a powerful instrument to initiate that conversation.