The academic and political project of Women’s Studies: (im)possibilities of transformation in higher education

The institutionalization of Women’s Studies in Indian universities has been a step forward in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of gender equality. Set against the backdrop of complex discourse on gender justice, the paper draws from a mixed method study of universities in India and South Africa conducted in 2019. I analyse the insider perspectives of the academic staff of Women’s Studies Centres (WSC) in four higher education institutions in India to point to the ambiguities and messiness of endeavors to achieve gender equality. The paper examines how the politico-academic project of Women’s Studies with a feminist vision creates (im)possible conditions of transforming HE. From my standpoint as an academic located in WSC, I use feminist methodology of reflexive openness and self-criticality to engage with the problematic of how the ‘claiming’ of diverse experiences of gender injustice in academic spaces may lead to certain inhabiting and reproducing of institutional power.