Meenakshi Gopinath & Rukmini Sen
‘SAKSHAM Measures for Ensuring the Safety of Women and Programmes for Gender Sensitization on Campuses’ was a report published by the University Grants Commission (the apex body in charge of monitoring Higher Educational Institutions in India) in 2013.
Prof Rukmini Sen (RS), School of Liberal Studies, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi had an interaction with Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath (MG), former Principal, Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi and Chairperson, The Task Force to Review the Measures for Ensuring the Safety of Women on Campuses and Programmes for Gender Sensitization on November 11, 2023. Excerpts from the interaction below.
RS: What was the context of SAKSHAM report? What were the reasons for the multiple methodologies that was adopted as a process of writing the report?
MG: The report was the aftermath of the gang rape in Delhi–the outrage that happened at the local, national and international level. There was a felt realisation to do something immediate, and the UGC set up this Task Force post the Justice Verma Committee Report. The latter proposed what I would call the Magna Carta for women’s rights in this country—its Bill of Rights. This report is not just a legal one, but builds the moral and ethical imperative for social structures to not just be humane but be gender just. The UGC felt that there was a need to understand how much gender sensitisation (or the lack of it) prevailed in HEIs in the country and constituted the Task Force. The members understood that sexual violence in campuses was both invisibilised as well as normalised. The Task Force adopted a feminist methodology, building solidarities across the country. We therefore decided to go out in the field—rural, urban, tribal areas, de-bureaucratise the workings of a committee, holding Jan Sunwai’s or forums across campuses, sending out questionnaires to administration, holding workshops to sensitise people post the Taskforce report.
RS: What were the main broad findings that the report highlighted?
MG: Higher education institutions are heterogeneous spaces and several people with intersectional identities were exercising citizenship choices for the first time. Yet the culture of silence and the culture of impunity around sexual harassment was very evident. Many institutions had designated gates for men and women, toilets for women invariably would remain locked, leading to situations were women students would use the classroom for changing sanitary napkins. That was the extent in terms of safety, cleanliness and access to toilets. In addition, various parts of the campus were so dimly lit that women and LGBTQI students would be accosted by anti-social elements, who would either enter the campus from outside or team up with those inside. With very less gender sensitisation programmes, young men expressed their masculinity in not the most gender friendly ways, since they were unaware of any other form of expression. There was little to no understanding on what constituted consent. Both with women students as well as faculty a culture of unquestioned hostile work environment could naturally prevail. Most HEIs would be satisfied with the fact that there were no (reported) cases. It was also found out that all women’s colleges did not have the presence of gender sensitisation committees. Although Women’s Development Cells were mandated to be present in most HEIs, their role usually led to further ghettoization rather than mainstreaming of gender questions. The importance of getting all administrative staff gender trained is supreme. The Task Force always remembered that the University was not a conventional workplace but a transformative site and therefore the process related to gender based awareness, complaint on situations of transgressions and its resolution could not be merely punitive. The need for gender auditing of HEIs is extremely necessary, not just to see the gender parity among students, faculty and staff but also to assess precarity of contract labour on campus and their subsequent possible susceptibility to sexual harassment.
RS: Vishaka to #MeToo, there has been a lot of change in the manner in which questions around sexual harassment in higher education institutions have been articulated over the years. What is the way ahead according to you, as the SAKSHAM report becomes a decade old?
MG: The first thing that is needed is to understand the importance of de-ghettoising sexual harassment, it is not a woman’s issue but a gender concern. It is necessary to create and provide an alternative civic dispute resolution template, where the process transforms and chastises rather than stigmatise. The importance of HEI lies in its diversity, hence the need to build a sense of community which recognises this diversity is an important part of the HEI culture. While formal mechanisms of Internal Complaints Committees need to be in place, to ensure and provide confidence that all women have rights, a lot of resources needs to be invested in prevention of actual cases of sexual harassment from occurring through regular gender awareness programmes, conducting gender audits and addressing the gaps found in it. Identifying the problem, creating a response plan and having proper feminist methods in the response are the three necessary conditions in the way ahead for all HEIs.
Notes:
Author bio
Meenakshi Gopinath is an Indian educationist, political scientist, writer and a former principal of Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi.She is the founder and incumbent director of the Women in Security Conflict Management and Peace (WISCOMP), a non governmental organization promoting peace and socio-political leadership among the women of South Asia and a former member of the National Security Advisory Board, the first woman to serve the Government of India agency. She has served as a member of the selection panel of the Lokpal, a legal body which has jurisdiction over the legislators and government officials of India. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2007, for her contributions to Indian educational sector. She is a co-editor of the International Feminist Journal of Politics, the leading journal of feminist international relations and global politics.
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