School of Womens Studies, Jadavpur University, formed as a centre for developing Womens Studies in India, was a pioneering effort. Beginning its journey in January 1988 with Professor Jasodhara Bagchi as founder-director, the School was recognised by the UGC in February 1989. The University Grants Commission recognised it as the Nodal Centre for Womens Studies in the Eastern Region during the IXth Plan period. The School remains the most widely known within the region and nationally.

In the 1980s and 90s our chief concern was to integrate womens experiences, issue, problems and perspectives into other branches of knowledge. The attempt was not only to add a womans perspective but to transform traditional disciplines through considerations of gender. The development of a feminist perspective went hand in hand with attempts to empower women. The School also aims at dispelling contrived barriers raised by traditional academic disciplines experimenting with new forms of interdisciplinary.

A major objective of the School has been to promote a dialogue between academics and activists, social work and policy making. By facilitating research and extension work, we seek to enhance the visibility of women and gender issues within the academic community of the University and indeed in wider society. We have worked towards creating a platform for sensitising government agaencies, members of the academy and activists. We have kept the focus on Womens Studies as a discipline and a movement and its predominant role in pursuing a gender-just society.

The School has excelled in designing and strengthening its existing teaching programmes at the level of MPhil, PhD and Undergraduate levels with the regular renewal of the teaching curriculum. We plan to start an MA course in Women’s Studies from the next academic year. The School has a rich experience of conducting research on women/gender with inter/national academic collaborations thereby contributing to knowledge building and social change. The School has always viewed extension and outreach activities as important focus areas with national and international bodies, both Government and Non-Governmental, through its action projects and capacity building. The School has strengthened Women’s Studies programmes by establishing linkages with other universities and participating in clustering and twinning activities with other Women’s Studies Centres in the region and nationally. The tradition of the School’s engagement with women’s movements and organisations has been carried forward and further strengthened. The School plays an important role to conduct gender sensitisation programmes and raise interest in students in higher education. There have been consistent efforts to use the feminist lens for integration of gender into research, teaching curriculum and pedagogy across various disciplines to help create gender-sensitive spaces for teaching-learning and research within universities and colleges. The interdisciplinary research methodology of Women’s Studies has been an important tool of research to enable the building of new knowledge in different fields of higher education. The School has excelled in the process of training human resources along with its focus on outreach and extension activities for benefit of the community, students and teachers.

International conference – Feminist Futures, Fractured Presents: Cultures, Belongings, and the Institutional Everyday : The School of Women’s Studies