INSTITUTES/CENTRES > Institute of Women's Studies :
The Institute of Women's Studies, Lucknow University was established in 1997 and started a two-year post-graduate course leading to the degree of Master of Arts in Women's Studies since then. In 2002 the Institute organised seven special lectures and three workshops for the students and teachers of Women's Studies. It also organised the annual Shivadasani Memorial Lecture by Professor Kumkum Sangari of Delhi University. The Institute started a unique campaign for Gender sensitisation, focusing on the students of various Departments and Associated Colleges of Lucknow University. The campaign includes a poster exhibition, a street play, songs and an open-house discussion and interactive session with the students. The exhibition, songs and street play were displayed and enacted repeatedly in the U.P. Youth Festival also, and it got extraordinary attention and appreciation from the media and also from the participants who came from different cities to our University. The campaign was taken, on demand, to Allahabad University as well.
In 2003 the Gender Sensitisation Campaign continued with success. Follow-Up programmes were held in some of the Colleges/Departments where we had gone in 2002 and several new Colleges were covered. The Campaign is continuing till date. The Institute took up another new programme in 2003 under the title "Meet Women of Accomplishment" with a view to interacting with those women who have accomplished special goals or positions, and to share their life-experience with the students who are yet to shape their destiny. Under this Series five achievers visited the Institute and had long sessions with the students and the Faculty. These achievers came from different back- grounds: two were teachers of great repute, one scientist with several awards to her credit, one journalist (the only women resident editor in U.P.) and one famous poetess. The students had acquaintance with a plurality of life-stories and multiplicity of the strategies which a woman may adopt to reach a worthwhile destiny.
