This paper discusses the conditions and achievements of India in the fields of education and Information Communication Technology and examines whether the goal of gender equality is facilitated through ICT facilitated education. The gender bias in the present education system and the various challenges to gender mainstreaming in the Indian education system are analysed. The National Education Policy of India 2020 that emphasises the use of ICT as a means to empower India as a knowledge economy is examined as to how far it promises gender equity through ICT facilitated education. It is pertinent to examine how far inclusive and equitable are the resources of education and ICT in the Covid-19 context of India. Whether the digital India education is effective enough in its role as an instrument to facilitate gender mainstreaming is also analysed in detail. Suggestions on modifying the education system to transform gender relations are proposed by the author.

Sexual and reproductive health rights encompasses women’s right to have control over and decide freely and responsibility on matters related with sexuality, sexual health, marriage, reproduction, fertility control and access to maternal and child health care. In order to understand the existing inequalities, gender has to be problematized as a social and relational process. Mainstreaming gender in reproductive health needs focused integration of gender as a social determinant in ensuring reproductive health policies and programmes across the world. Addressing the existing inequalities in the system requires independent and accountable measures by ensuring community participation from the beginning of conceptualization till the evaluation process. The possibilities of social audit as an accountability mechanism in gender mainstreaming of reproductive health could be explored. Social audit is a comprehensive and transparent community participation method, in which stakeholders could involve in the process at different levels. It emphasises the right based framework by making shift from beneficiaries to citizens. In doing social audit, communities could involve in dialogue and creation of knowledge. It would help to challenge the existing gender discriminations and structural inequalities which restricts the exercise of sexual and reproductive health rights of women in its full potential. A systematic social audit could produce and share the local voices and reliable evidences based on their needs and lived experiences. Thus it could act as a social accountability measure of mainstreaming gender in reproductive health choices and decisions of women.

Transgender community face extreme exclusion in our society due to various misconceptions and reasons. The aim of the study was to explain attitudes of sample based on educational qualifications and the cisgender. Descriptive survey method was adopted to study the attitude of 540 respondents from various educational background. The t test results indicated that there is no significant difference between attitudes of cisgender towards transgender. Further, ANOVA indicated that there is no significant difference in the attitude towards transgender based on educational qualification except between groups of respondents with SSC and others (below SSC). The results to a great extent indicates that education plays an important role in broadening horizons and accepting individuals as they are without any judgement.

Empowerment of women has multiple dimensions but focus on the action of raising the status of women, equipping and countenancing women to make life-defining decisions. But unfortunately, many of the endeavours and interventions for empowering women-focused much on economic empowerment side tracking social, emotional, intellectual, psychological and equity dimensions. SHGs are often perceived as a shortcut for empowerment, but the capability of such attempts to break the social inhibitions and gender roles were inadequate. Besides such models often concentrated on narrow objectives like economic empowerment through employment neglecting the border dimensions like sustainability or poverty reduction. The Kudumbashree programme of Kerala is an exception to such attempts. Kudumbashree, established in 1998 was perceived not merely as one SHG based women empowerment programme in the narrow sense, but as a poverty eradication mission of Kerala. Kudumbashree is a multifaceted programme focusing primarily on microfinance and micro-enterprise development and integrally linked to local self-government institutions. Kudumbashree enhances civic participation in the development process in a grass root level; particularly, deepen democracy, strengthen social capital, facilitate efficiency sustained growth, and gender mainstreaming. Deviating from the traditional model of centrally managed programs and the policy processes, Kudumbashree visualizes development process as a participatory approach against a beneficiary approach. The Kudumbashree community network lies on the foundation of a three-tier structure, with Neighbourhood Groups (NHGs) at the lowest level, Area Development Societies (ADS) at the middle level, and Community Development Societies (CDS) at the local government level. Kudumbashree has basic objectives such as to work towards women empowerment, local economic development, and poverty eradication through the three-tier community organisation consisting of Kudumbashree NHG, ADS, and CDS. Kudumbashree engages in Micro Finance, Local Economic Development, Social Development, Women Empowerment, Special Projects, Centrally Sponsored Programs and Urban Projects. Today there are 2,91,507 NHGs with 43,93,579 members. Kudumbashree model which was judged by UNDP as ‘one among the 15 Best Practices in India’ in 2002 is now an internationally acclaimed model for women empowerment. Kudumbashree has succeeded to empower women by boosting women’s sense of self-worth; right to have and to determine choices; right to have access to opportunities and resources; right to have the power to control their own lives, both within and outside the home; and ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more just, social and economic order.

Transgender community face extreme exclusion in our society due to various misconceptions and reasons. The aim of the study was to explain attitudes of sample based on educational qualifications and the cisgender. Descriptive survey method was adopted to study the attitude of 540 respondents from various educational background. The t test results indicated that there is no significant difference between attitude of cisgender towards transgender. Further, ANOVA indicated that there is no significant difference in the attitude towards transgender based on educational qualification except between groups of respondents with SSC and others (below SSC). The results to a great extent indicates that education plays an important role in broadening horizons and accepting individuals as they are without any judgement. The present research was conducted to identify the physical violence victimization among college students in south Mumbai. The tool prepared by Goggins, (1998) was used for this study. The survey was conducted among 99 female students. The study revealed that the students with educational level from HSC, graduate and Postgraduate experience violence with an average frequency of “sometimes”. The caretakers have been victimizing the students rather than the strangers and non-romantic acquaintances. The objective was to study the level of Physical Violence Experience among college students. The findings of the study revealed that the experience of victimization from a stranger is increasing from HSC to graduate and Graduate to Post graduate. Physical violence experiences have been reported by postgraduate students from authoritative persons and also from strangers. Respondents of this study have been victimized mainly by family members and authoritative figures rather than romantic, non-romantic and strangers.

The impact of the pandemic has not only been felt in the field of education but has affected all sectors of the global society. The pandemic is a strong indication of the fact that things will not be the same as they were before even though this will end. Closures of the educational institutes in India due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to online learning have affected not only learning of students but also professional growth of teachers as well. The incorporation of technological resources effectively and innovative educational pedagogies have transformed the teaching and learning processes. Post-pandemic things will not be the same because of which many research scholars, policy makers and educationalists believe that a blended learning approach will become the future reality, the new normal and sustainable pedagogy. During this time, teachers working in various types of educational institutions are getting an opportunity of being learners. The current paper emphasizes a proactive strategy where not only students but teachers are also considered as learners while talking about their professional growth through various seminars, conferences and refresher courses. The present study was undertaken to find out the readiness of in-service school teachers in order to adapt blended learning when related to gender and medium of instruction of their educational institute. Total respondents consisted of 169 in-service school teachers from India belonging to various schools having English, Hindi, Marathi, Telegu, Kannada, Urdu etc as their medium of instruction. The results indicated that both male and female in-service school teachers have similar attitudes towards blended learning but their attitudes varied while considering the six dimensions. Similarly, male and female school teachers belonging to institutes having English as medium of instruction and other languages as medium of instruction had the same attitude towards blended learning but varied in dimensions of blended learning.

“About 92 percent of transgenders are deprived of the right to participate in any form of economic activity in the country, with even qualified ones refused jobs” (NHRC Report cited in India Today Web Desk, 2020). “Just 6 percent of transgender people are employed in private/ NGO sector” (John, 2017). “Kochi metro railway has employed 23 transgender persons, but 11 have dropped out…” (Devasia, 2017)- We have read several such statistics on the status of the livelihood of transgenders. There has been a steady change in the societal perception towards transgender persons. Alongside, the last decade has also seen several efforts of legislation in this regard. Even the apex Court of the country has stepped in to interpret equality and justice for the community through the NALSA judgment. This led to the introduction of legislations in the Parliament to address historical wrongs and guarantee rights to members belonging to the transgender community. Elaborating upon the sub-theme ‘Economic independence for gender equality’, this research paper examines the changing scope and nature of the right to livelihood of persons belonging to the third gender. The aim of this paper is to study the impact of empowerment of individuals belonging to the transgender community through policy measures. The researcher has employed the Case Study research design. The paper will engage readers to dwell upon the usual life experiences, strife, personal victories as well as tragedy faced by a few members belonging to the transgender community. In this paper, the researcher will be sharing real life stories of three transgender persons from her interaction with them and as informed by a close relative. The shedding of regressive ideas by way of education has led to a positive impact in general acceptance and entitlement of rights to transgenders. They have also been instrumental in contributing to a healthy social fabric, economy, polity and civil society.

Women Entrepreneurship is the biggest growing business trend across the globe. UAE is considered as one of the most developed countries in the world, yet limited studies are available to shed light on the women entrepreneurs in UAE. Women make up 70% of UAE’s university graduates and 44% of the workforce and are key to the UAE’s economic future. The UAE represents a region that is witnessing an increasing trend of women's participation in business and entrepreneurial activities. The present qualitative study has used in-depth interviews with fifteen successful women entrepreneurs in Dubai followed by an interpretive approach to analyze the motivational factors that enabled them to start business enterprises and the nature of business usually taken up by them. The most significant finding is the way women identify their potential area of business and product to be marketed. Most of them have focused on women and children related products such as eco-friendly baby products, kid’s gym, vegan restaurants and so on, which according to them were not fully addressed in a proper way in the country. In a rich country like UAE, quality of the product matters the most and once it is ensured marketing is easily facilitated. While push factors are mostly documented as the key drivers behind women’s choices to become entrepreneurs, the present study found more of pull factors like passion to do business and the favourable conditions offered by the country to be the most important factors that motivated the women to start enterprises. UAE offers a promising business landscape for women entrepreneurs to explore and flourish. The surge in female entrepreneur support groups and increased funding for new businesses, have facilitated women entrepreneurship in the country. As elsewhere the COVID 19 pandemic has a temporary setback on entrepreneurship in general wherein several of the enterprises had to be shut down as part of the new normal but once the conditions change, a resurgence is expected with regard to women entrepreneurship also.

According to a UNESCO Institute of Statistics in 2018, 258 million children and youth are out of school out of which 132 million are girls. According to the Census 2011, the literacy rate in India is 74.04 %, the male literacy rate is 82.14 per cent and 65.46 per cent women’s are literate. Gender inequality has been experienced in the educational institution from decades. The main areas that are taken into account are gender influence on women’s education and empowerment, factors influencing women’s education and empowerment, how MOOC can help to reduce gender inequality by providing access to education and empower women’s by overcoming gender disparity issues. Samples of 120 females were taken using a non-probability sampling method. The data was collected with the help of the questionnaire and interview. The path of gender equality in India is full of potholes. Education is the key to empower women’s and gender equality. It can change the attitude of society to accept the equal status of women that only can clear the path for gender equality. Some reasons which hinder women education and empowerment are women were not allowed to travel long distances, lack of toilet facilities in school forces them to drop out from school, irregularity in school and colleges because they have to accomplish their gender roles like household work, taking care of their siblings etc. MOOC provide great opportunity to access quality content without any biases which ultimately empower women with knowledge. Women can access to “the bulk of knowledge” which is economical from anywhere, at any time with the help of MOOC which also provides better job opportunities ultimately leads to women empowerment.

Equity in property and landed assets is instrumental in attaining economic independence and empowerment for women in developing countries. The primary objective of this paper is to examine how effective property rights facilitates a better bargaining position for women within the household and other areas of their lives. A number of studies have verified that this has also enhanced the investment in human capital of the household in areas of health, nutrition and education. Through an extensive literature analysis on the question of gender gap in ownership of property in the global and Indian contexts, this paper aims to provide an overview of the empowering potential of property rights and how effective property rights are linked to reducing vulnerabilities and shocks in the lives of families all over the globe and specifically India. In the recent years it has come to light that worldwide, women own only 1-2% of land, and the gender gap in land ownership is glaringly high. This paper indicates that in areas where the population is heavily dependent on agriculture and allied sectors as the main source of income, direct and secure land and property rights for women can improve their capabilities and levels of public participation and increase agricultural productivity given the high male out migration and increase in female headed households. In the case of married women, effective property rights are shown to improve the bargaining power of women in all matters within marriage. The policies and laws enhancing property and land rights for women has empowering potential but the laws envisioned for social empowerment take shape in specific social and cultural contexts controlled by men and is reconstructed and reinterpreted depending on customary practices of inheritance within different communities, thus alienating women from owning landed assets and wielding their capabilities and limiting their choices. There is a need to enhance women’s rights to land and assets and reconsider the possibility and constraints to land access for women and other vulnerable groups

Property is universal and the rights to property is a complex weave of culture and economy that overlaps facets of the law and the state. Ownership of property would mean a concrete inalienable, economic and social rights. It would entail exclusivity and usufructuary capacities and thus holds and confers power to the owner thereby enhancing their bargaining power in societies. Effective rights in property is a critical determinant of women's socio economic and political empowerment. This is primarily because ownership and effective control over property means command over productive resources (like land,) and liquefiable assets (like gold and silver), which enables women the ability to bargain and choose the life they wish to lead while providing them the buffer against poverty and deprivation. However, this path to autonomy and self-determination is not well paved as there continues to be an unequal and differential access and control over resources for women and men, especially over productive resources like land.

Temple prostitution has been a common phenomenon across varied ancient civilizations across the globe. It flourished under state patronage. Medieval India has been no exception to this. The origins of this process can be traced back to the early period through varied textual sources including prescriptive texts. A contemporary understanding of the devadāsīs or the temple women in service to god is intertwined with that of prostitution, and a perpetual exploitation of women under the facade of religious traditions and practices. Most of it can be impressions formed by the perceptions about temple women found in late nineteenth and the twentieth century, from the ethnographic records and the press and court proceedings (Orr, 2000) and the subsequent abolition or extinction of various forms of devadāsī systems. Drawing from works of Leslie Orr, Sukumari Bhattacharji, and others this paper uses varied examples including the women of the Jagannatha temple of Puri, the joginīs prevalent in Andhra Pradesh and the devaradiyals in the Tamil society. The work tries to ascertain whether the role of the practice of appointing women into the temple as ritual service providers, contributed to a form of prostitution. It tries to examine other factors which led to prostitution within the women appointed or offered to the temple.

Indian film industry is one of the largest cinema hubs in the world and the Indian film stars are renowned for the astounding performances in the Indian films and the foreign films. Apart from the dominated Bollywood films there are many regional language films also across the country such as Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, and Marathi etc. Tamil film industry centred at Chennai, Tamil Nadu is India’s second largest film industry in terms of films produced and distributed. There are many films in Tamil industry portrayed men as sportspersons and characters, but only a few movies represented women as sports players. The present study focuses on the in-depth analysis of the representation of women in Tamil sports films and how the so-called Kollywood industry constructs women sports characters. The study also explores the representation of gender in films and women empowerment. The study titled “Gender and Film: Representation of Gender in Indian Regional Sports Films” aims how gender and women are portrayed in Tamil sports films and how they act and survive the social stigma and stereotypes and succeed their goal. Both films discuss the plights and problems facing women sports players while succeeding their goal and pointing fingers towards the representation of women in society. Mixed methodology is used for the study. Qualitative scene by scene analysis and quantitative content analysis with coding is applied. Structuralist Film Theory and Feminist Film Theory were used for the theoretical framework.

The unorganised women workers are working in the environment of below the minimum accepted standards without adequate facilities and having very lower income that did not meet their daily needs of life. There are a lot of people working in different sectors in SM Street in Kozhikode, a large majority of them working in an unorganized sector. The more women workers were employed mainly in the field of textile shops as sales women and comparatively more opportunities are there. The study focused on the women workers of the unorganised sector in SM Street, Kozhikode and the data were collected from 50 respondents and also from various books, reports, journals and websites. This is revealed that the working hours of women workers are not fixed. They get daily wages for their work, which is comparatively less than the pay prescribed by the government. Gender division of labour is an existing reality in the unorganised sector. Concepts of labour that developed in different arrangements of societies carried a male dominated frame work. Placing work as a typical male phenomena and each point developed a male-centered class consciousness. Labour and its related identities got represented only in this class frame which placed workers under certain categorical representations. The division of labour in the society has historical linkages in different forms. Lack of toilet facilities and drinking water facility lead to severe health issues of women workers in the unorganised sector in SM Street. Both the central and state governments have formulated certain specific schemes to support unorganized workers but which fail in meeting the real needs and requirements of the unorganized labour force. Trade unions are insensitive to deal the issues of women workers in the unorganised sector. AMTU is a great initiative to address the problems of women labourers in SM Street.

The feminist struggle and agitation for equality in society have always been a part of the literary representation of gender roles. The present research paper aims to analyze the text and determine the novelist’s specific brand of feminism. The research paper focuses on the novel So Long a Letter and attempts to establish distinctiveness of Bâ’s feminist stance in it. However, there are existing claims among African feminist critics that Mariama Bâ portrays the oppression of women by men through the prevalent paradigms of tradition, polygamy, patriarchy, and Islamic religion in Senegal. This paper argues that while the protagonists' revolt against polygamy, religion, and tradition is real, it posits that any claim of a collective feminist struggle in So Long a Letter is ambivalent. Their engagement with rivalry and threats to marital fulfilment, an aspect which existing scholarship on the novel has often ignored, also undermines the claim of a collective feminist struggle for change and progress. In the end, both women succeed through universalism, formal education, and Westernization in attaining poise and contentment. The present study adopts an eclectic framework that leans on the theory of deconstruction by revealing the characterization, themes and study of the text. This article concludes that Bâ’ treatment of feminism in So Long a Letter is quite different as it is free from biased portraiture of a character based on gender. This sort of treatment in the text shows Bâ to be more humanist than feminist.

Violence based on gender identity has been prevalent in the world since time times immemorial. Gender based violence are the result of existing asymmetrical relationship exists between men and women in the society from ancient times onwards. Depending upon the relationship and the situations, the gender based violence’s takes many forms including domestic violence, sexual harassment at workplace, sexual and other violence’s against women, etc. Every form of these violence’s would amount to violation of fundamental human rights of women and is an obstacle which limits women’s participation in various spheres in the society. Thus it can be seen that gender based violence is an impediment to achieve the solemn gaol of empowerment of woman. Considering the need to prevent gender based violence several human rights instruments guarantees different types of protection to women at international level.

Bell Hooks (2000) has rightly pointed out in her book, ‘Feminism is for EVERYBODY: Passionate Politics’ that sexism is not only perpetuated by men, but also women. Thus, it becomes problematic when women become the torch bearers of patriarchy and succeed in reinforcing the gendered stereotypical notions while socialising the young.The assimilation of gender roles and expectations reinforce the gender binaries and act as stumbling blocks in the creation of a gender neutral society. The purpose of my paper is to examine the portrayal of women characters in womencentric cinema, who reinforce and perpetuate such stereotypical beliefs and attitudes. I have attempted to cull out a broad interpretative framework, under which I have analysed four broad construals, which have a significant impact on the relational roles and identity development of girls and women. These construals have been culled through the content, narrative and character analysis of three contemporary movies-Thappad (2020), Shakuntala Devi (2020) and Tribhanga (2021). While these movies deal with issues related to women’s agency, space, assertion of independent will, sexuality and empowerment, they also propel us to delve into the socialisation norms, practices, relational roles and identities, all of which go into the construction of womanhood, making of these characters and their psyche. My paper attempts to emphasize that the idea of gender justice is possible through the establishment of strong bond of sisterhood, renunciation of sexist mode of thinking which keeps the women constantly at war with each other and breaking free from the hegemonic narratives of masculinity and femininity.

The present study attempted to explore the relationships between the parents and their children in the context of families with interparental violence (violence perpetrated towards mothers). The exploration was grounded on the family systems and attachment theories. Through qualitative method, the researcher has tried to understand the subjective experiences of adolescents living in families with violence. Narratives of adolescents traces the various forms in which they had been exposed to interparental violence. The study was conducted among school going adolescents in Kasaragod district of Kerala, India. In-depth interviews were conducted with 25 adolescents, who reported of living with interparental violence since their childhood. The study reveals adolescents growing up with continuous exposure to various forms of physical abuse and its aftermath, involvement of adolescents during violence, co-occurrence of abuse, has to a large extent affected the quality of relationships with their parents and resulted in insecure parent-child attachments.

The present research was conducted to identify if there is an association between education level and total AWS score. For this a shortened version of Attitude towards women Scale (AWS) developed by Janet T. Spence and Robert Helmreich in the early 1970s were used. Present paper focuses on the attitude towards women among H.S.C., Graduates & Post Graduate students of South Mumbai College. The objectives are to study and compare the attitude towards women among H.S.C., Graduates & Post Graduate students of South Mumbai College. The findings of the study revealed that there is no significant difference in the level of attitude towards women among H.S.C. & Graduates students and Graduates & Post Graduate students. Whereas mean scores of the level of attitude towards women among H.S.C. & Post Graduate students of South Mumbai College differs significantly.

The nomadic tribes are wandering from place to place in search of source for their livelihood. As such, they have no fixed shelter or native place and living usually in temporary tents or settlements at the outskirts of towns and cities. The British were passed the Criminal Tribes Act and restricted movements of many of these tribes and branded them as criminals. Though, the Act has been repealed, still these tribes are being treated as criminals, thieves and robbers in civilised society. The occupations of these tribes include snake charming, monkey-playing, etc, which are restricted by the Government by passing the Wild Life Protection Act. Few of these tribes were collecting forest products such as honey and selling and after passing forest laws, movement of these tribes into forest has banned. Occupations of the tribes which are engaged in entertainment activities such as folk songs, music, etc were decreased their importance due to television and internet. In this way, these tribes have no occupation for their livelihood. Due to illiteracy and poverty, orthodox culture is followed by these tribes. The orthodox tribal culture has resulted in gender inequality faced by nomadic tribal women. Consequently, these women are facing many of the problems such as deprivation in education, healthcare, nutritious food, shelter, equality, etc. In this way, their human rights are violated. Hence, the proposed research is planned to address human rights violations of nomadic tribal women.

The challenges of sexual minorities are often underscored in the world and taken a backseat. But to effectively use Gender mainstreaming as a base for policy work, we need to change that. This article broadly investigates the challenges faced by the LGBTQ community in a comparative format. Giving due weightage to the global perspective, this article tries to analyse the challenges faced by a developing country, India and a developed country, Australia. The aim of the study, simply speaking, is to derive at what stage we in the liberalization of LGBTQ are compared to a developed country, what are the historical factors that have influenced the progress, if any. The researcher took up this topic because as a citizen in this democratic country, it is incredibly concerning to hear about the challenges that the LGBTQ have to face and a positive change in the country’s mindset is the need of the hour. The researcher has employed doctrinal methodology in the research paper to arrive at the results. After carefully dissecting the historical background, the challenges and the subsequent suggestions of the LGBTQ community in India and Australia, the researcher has arrived at some results. India, currently, is at the initial stages of reforms in the LGBTQ community as compared to Australia and some of it can be attributed to the different perspectives of a culturally and religiously rich India. In terms of awareness and acceptance rate, India is quite low. Most of the challenges faced by the community are due to lack of awareness and knowledge. But to give credit when it’s due, India has come a long way and fought a hard battle. It isn’t going to be easy in the coming future but what we need is an educated and upstanding youth community. The reforms will follow accordingly.

Schools have the potential of playing a transformative role in changing the prevalent patriarchal notions and unequal gender relations. But very often cclassrooms serve as key social and cultural spaces for the production of a range of gendered performances and relations. The teacher has the key role to provide a safe and gender friendly space for boys and girls to express themselves and simultaneously develop notions of gender justice among students. A study was conducted to anlayse the perceptions of teachers about gender equality. Focus group discussion and interviews with teachers were used to collect the data. Interviews with 48 teachers- 24 male and 24 female, belonging to 24 schools in Malappuram and Thrissur districts of Kerala, 12 at primary and 12 at secondary levels revealed that majority of teachers lack gender awareness and the concept of gender and its implications are unknown to several of them. The findings of the study revealed that the perceptions of teachers are gendered with traditional concepts regarding gender roles of men and women and subject choices of girls and boys. Teachers though following the gendered practices do so without realizing that their behaviours are gendered. Gender equality according to a few teachers is only a utopian idea and some of them even declared ‘men are men and women are only women’. Such statements highlight the extent to which they have internalized the notions of men as the norm and women as the inferior other. They accept and uphold the popular gender norms regarding masculinity and femininity and unknowingly transmit them to the future generations. Based on the findings of the study, the author suggests gender equality as a prerequisite for teachers to ensure gender sensitized pedagogic practices and classroom behaviours of teachers.

Bharati Mukherjee was a versatile and well-grounded diasporic writer. Hailing from India, she managed to secure a really promising and prominent position among the mainstream American writers. The primary concern of her literary outputs is the delineation of the cultural clashes encountered by the Indian immigrants in foreign lands. She primarily takes up the protagonists of her literary creations from Indian context who strive hard to settle in the alien lands and meanwhile undergo unpleasant experiences of exile, alienation, a sense of loss, pangs of separation and dislocation, identity crisis and many more. The chief aim of the present paper is to present a story of a Punjabi girl Jasmine who had to undergo such nasty experiences in order to ensure her survival in America. It is also a story of a girl Jasmine, who undergoes subjugation and submissiveness in phallocentric and patriarchal World both in India and in America. Moreover, a primary concern of this paper is to bring forth the numerous transformations that she had during her stay in America. It is all about her journey from Jyoti to Jasmine and then to Jazzy, Jane etc.

This study is aimed at exploring the changes in Quality Life of female learners because of lockdown, with impact of the lockdown on the education. The study also discusses the relationship between the quality of life and educational process. A mixed research was conducted on female learners studying in different institutions of India, under various courses; starting from senior secondary to PhD level. For collecting data about their Quality Life and for knowing details about their educational process structured questionnaire were used. For analysing data of Quality Life of the learners, and significant difference between rural and urban learners both mean and t-test were used. Thematic analysis has followed for the explanation of the educational process. A total number of fifty female learners were selected through convenient sampling. Out of 50 female learners 31 (62%) have a Poor-Quality Life because of lockdown, and also there is significant difference between Quality Life of rural and urban female learners. Since lockdown started, whatever alternative educational process is followed was not satisfactory to that extent for them. In a patriarchal family being the follower of gender roles, their socialisation and mental health were affected badly, and ultimately affected their learning process. It is concluded that while a large part of the highly educated women was affected by lockdown, then it will be no wrong to imagine the condition of the educationally and economically weaker section

In India, over the past few years, many new education systems have become popular and these follow different boards and different curricula. The schools that are affiliated to and authorized by these bodies showcase different academic and work environment. There is varied student enrolment and hence the expectation from the teachers also differs on different parameters as per the board and the philosophy of the institution. The difficulty level of the followed curriculum is also different. In the wake of this, the teachers have to put in diverse and wide-ranging efforts that put a lot of pressure on them from all the stakeholders, from employers to students. This affects the psychological wellbeing of teachers which in turn affects the wellbeing of students, their social and emotional behaviour and their overall performance. Hence, the researcher thought it was significant to assess psychological wellbeing of teachers and their level of burnout as these factors are important to protect their mental health and provide them with a positive work environment that helps them grow personally and professionally.

It is an established fact that folklore originates in the psyche of the masses. Therefore, its thematic infusion into the plays may be seen as a conceptualization of these peoples’ voices, their ideas, their anxieties, their wants and their social predicament. The long-suppressed desire of freedom and gender equality in the reverie of womenfolk does sometimes reflect in the dramatic lore of this kind. The present paper attempts to bring to light this urge of the womenfolk which is dramatized in an African one-act play – A Village Dream by Mesgun Zerai. In the cultural context of the globe, this East-African folktale is quite significant since the dramatist here examines the reality of the postmodern women’s life in their traditional patriarchal garb of female subjugation that represents Africa. The longdebated issue of this gender inequality and repressed femineity undergoes a critical scanner of the playwright from the East-African country of Eritrea. The practical solution of the male subjugation the dramatist offers here through this play seems quite relevant even to the post-modern democratic societies of the globe today. The present paper explores this solution that is visualized by the internationally acclaimed Eritrean playwright, Mesgun Zarai, through his folkloric play – A Village Dream.

Gender empowerment is to make the people of all genders socially, psychologically, physically, politically, financially and spiritually sound; without any discrimination. Conventionally and traditionally the term ‘empowerment’ is usually co-related to the women, though it has an impact on other marginalized genders in a distinct social or political context. To overcome obstacles such as poverty, gender-discrimination, racial-discrimination, etc. there is a need to find an appropriate solution to tackle them. Education has always played a vital role in overcoming various problems in all spheres of life. It has helped to ventout one’s thoughts and emotions by means of healthy criticism and productive interaction. Both, at national and international front, it is seen that education has been instrumental in bridging the gap between the vulnerable and non-vulnerable groups. Just as education, technology has also helped to change the outlook of individuals with respect to gender discrimination. With the advent of new ICTs, the internet and mobile phones in particular, have transformed the timespace discrimination. It has not only been effective in economic, social and political spheres of various societies, but also helped the marginalized groups to become more democratic and inclusive in the mainstream. Hence, it has provided a new identity and voice to the individuals irrespective of their social or economic status. Gender Sensitization can be incorporated in classrooms by the teachers while interacting with the students. It would promote equality amongst the students and broaden their vision too. To conclude, empowerment has many synonyms and meanings. Human empowerment dwells in identifying one’s potentials, striving towards one’s goals effortlessly and achieving the set goals.

Mental health and related issues are discussed and researched more widely in recent days. It may be a sign that the stigma around mental health is slowly disappearing. The past two decades has seen a dramatic change in attitudes towards mental health and mental illness. Public figures and celebrities now freely open up their own struggles with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, phobias and other mental health problems. According to WHO mental health is a state of wellbeing in which people realise their potentials and work productively as well as fruitfully and are able to make contributions to their communities. It is a positive concept related to the individual’s social, emotional, and psychological wellbeing.

Feminism according to the researchers means working towards achieving global gender equality. As we know that everyone is born equal, regardless of gender, race, or sexuality. However, there are so many aspects of life in which people are not treated equally like politically, economically, legally, and socially. And to a clear idea feminism is about working against the systems built to keep certain groups of people oppressed, and striving towards equality for everyone. It means having civil conversations with people. Feminism actually means having a common sense of equality. It’s the idea that everyone is equal and deserves to be given this equity. However, in our world, this isn’t always the case, and that’s where feminism comes in.

In the present scenario, we have awareness about gender equality. But the bitter truth is that we are really not ready to encourage the concept of gender equality. We are reluctant to accept even the opinions of sexual minorities and special groups in the home. In such a prevailing situation, accepting the sexual minorities and special groups as they are, is really a big challenge to the society as it degrades the living condition of these people. Even their livelihood is affected to a great extent. Sexual minorities refer to the gender minorities considered in a group. Special groups refer to the groups which are discriminated from the other groups and whose rights are refused. There are so many psychological factors like stress, anger, frustration which arises due to this discrimination. Challenges faced by them are domestic violence, poor physical health, poor mental health and lack of social well-being. Let us see in detail about the challenges faced by the sexual minorities and special groups.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a host of issues in society. It changed our lives as we knew it and compelled us to adjust to the ‘new normal’ of mask donning, hand sanitizing, growing isolation, and social distancing. Adolescent girls (aged 12-18) are at heightened risks during pandemics/epidemics in the past. The novel coronavirus outbreak proved to be no different and the vulnerable adolescent female population fell victim to increased incidences of GBV (Gender-Based Violence) all around the world. The site of home became the location of sexual abuse and violence owing to proximity with abusers in the lockdown phase, where girls found themselves trapped in domestic spaces with the male perpetrators. Post-COVID 19 era saw a spate of early marriages of adolescent girls due to loss of income in several households, resulting in early pregnancies in young girls which proved to be disastrous to both their physical and mental health. The adolescent phase is a sensitive and vulnerable phase where young girls undergo radical biological changes that produce a direct impact on their minds and moods. This is a stage where girls require greater care and attention to be paid to their diets, physical exercise, and mental health. The global lockdowns greatly stunted the all-round development needs of young girls. The key area of development in adolescence is education which took a backseat due to the unprecedented changes that coronavirus inflicted upon human society. Education saw a vast digitalization phase and the shifting of traditional modes of learning to blended learning. Young girls from distressed and downtrodden families failed to gain access to online platforms of learning which significantly harmed their education. My paper seeks to analyze the various underlying causes and sites of negotiations between pandemics and GBV in young girls. My paper will further try to discuss intervention tools that can be adopted by existing state apparatuses and machineries to deal with this grave issue in India.

This paper investigates Arjuna’s identity as a eunuch during the Pāṇḍava’s period of disguise in the thirteenth year of their exile in the text Mahābhārata (MBh), one of the two major epics of ancient India. It seeks to draw attention on the behaviour of the society towards his new identity vis-à-vis his original identity as a warrior hero. Employing the methodology of critical analysis of the text to explore certain crucial questions such as why does Arjuna as a eunuch remain confined to women’s companionship in the court, whether this new identity brings him valour or contempt, and the reason behind it will aid in this endeavour. The second part of the paper aims to probe into Arjuna’s sexuality as a eunuch. This section deals with the issue of its censorship on account of ulterior motives of the text. Therefore, through reading the text from a gendered perspective, the attempt is to analyse and question its viewpoint for a gender that is beyond ‘normal’ for the authorship and the intended audience. It is to be noted, however, that the current analysis is based on the section of the source, the Virāṭa Parvan of the MBh, which is limited in the sense that it is situated in the spatial setting of the court culture. Among the characters represented in the source, most of them come from the royal section of society. We somehow lack aspects or voices from other sections.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a host of issues in society. It changed our lives as we knew it and compelled us to adjust to the ‘new normal’ of mask donning, hand sanitizing, growing isolation, and social distancing. Adolescent girls (aged 12-18) are at heightened risks during pandemics/epidemics in the past. The novel coronavirus outbreak proved to be no different and the vulnerable adolescent female population fell victim to increased incidences of GBV (Gender-Based Violence) all around the world. The site of home became the location of sexual abuse and violence owing to proximity with abusers in the lockdown phase, where girls found themselves trapped in domestic spaces with the male perpetrators. Post-COVID 19 era saw a spate of early marriages of adolescent girls due to loss of income in several households, resulting in early pregnancies in young girls which proved to be disastrous to both their physical and mental health. The adolescent phase is a sensitive and vulnerable phase where young girls undergo radical biological changes that produce a direct impact on their minds and moods. This is a stage where girls require greater care and attention to be paid to their diets, physical exercise, and mental health. The global lockdowns greatly stunted the all-round development needs of young girls. The key area of development in adolescence is education which took a backseat due to the unprecedented changes that coronavirus inflicted upon human society. Education saw a vast digitalization phase and the shifting of traditional modes of learning to blended learning. Young girls from distressed and downtrodden families failed to gain access to online platforms of learning which significantly harmed their education. My paper seeks to analyze the various underlying causes and sites of negotiations between pandemics and GBV in young girls. My paper will further try to discuss intervention tools that can be adopted by existing state apparatuses and machineries to deal with this grave issue in India.

Self- esteem is a feeling of self-appreciation and is an indispensable emotion for people to adapt to the society and live their lives. For adolescents in particular environment in which they are raised contributes profoundly to the development of their self-esteem. The paper aims to compare the self- esteem of secondary school students of SSC and CBSE board. The total sample consisted of 400 students (192 girls and 208 boys) respectively. The statistical technique used for the study was t- test. The methodology of the study was of descriptive method of comparative type. The sampling technique used was simple random sampling. It is imperative to keep a tab on the self -esteem of adolescents in schools as that forms the basis to their mental health, character and personality as mature adults. The researcher attempts to acquire a clearer picture of the sense of self appreciation and self-esteem the youngsters of this generation across various boards possess. The findings of the study were that there is a gender wise significant difference between the self- esteem of boys and girls of SSC and CBSE board. The girls of SSC board possess a higher level of self- esteem as compared to girls of CBSE board and The self- esteem of SSC boys is high as compared to boys of CBSE board. Self-esteem is important because higher selfesteem is associated with high efficiency, academic achievements, high and accurate decision-making skills, greater ability to work in groups, while self- esteem is one of the major repairing force behind any damage caused.

Gender equality and sustainable development are interspersed tropes of cultural praxis since time immemorial (since the time Lady Macbeth’s name has not been probed into or Nation being equated with mother). The dichotomy of naturalizing women and feminizing nature with identical yet silenced forces of control, reproduction and nurture puts to the multifaceted question of whether the male’s control really masquerades as protection for the female (a territory to be conquered, dominated or shielded against inequalities) and the country (against anthropocentrism, globalization and biomedical apocalypse). On one hand, it cements the metonymic male and the metaphorical female and on the other hand, poses whether technology, as a social context, mired in contemporary social relations and ambits, can come to the rescue. Through a diagnostic and qualitative approach of content analysis, it explores the productive role of gender in the building of sustainable cultures, reboots the fundamental interconnectedness of gender equality and sustainable development. Additionally, it interrogates the workable spaces of the dehumanizing gender discrimination as rightly perceived by United Nations unpacking the irony of gender inequality. This is also critical in elucidating the causality through the stances of capitalism and Structural-functionalism.

Sexual violence on women has been a regular feature of warfare throughout human history. In both civil and international armed conflicts, sexual violence has been perpetrated on women in the form of rapes, sexual slavery, molestations and forced pregnancies. While the perpetrators are men from groups like state forces, political and insurgent groups, the victims are women from the largely non-combatant civil society. Such offences cause immense psychological, physical and emotional trauma in the victims, their families and their societies. Yet despite the increased awareness of these negative impacts and its widespread global condemnations, sexual violence has still largely remained prevalent in modern conflicts and has been regarded as an unavoidable consequence of any conflict. Recent studies, interrogating the causes behind these offences, have been mostly limited to feminist socio-cultural perspectives that stress on the influence of patriarchal gender identities. However, the systematic patterns of sexual crimes in recent conflicts also point to other vital factors and some scholars have highlighted how sexual violence is willingly committed in conflicts by the combatants to achieve specific political and strategic objectives and influence the outcome of the conflict in their favor. Additional research is crucial to identify how and why sexual violence is strategically used and weaponized in conflicts. This paper seeks to contribute in this regard by analysing the significance of sexual violence in the Kashmir conflict. By using data from oral and literary narratives, this paper explores the impact of sexual offences in Kashmir and makes the argument that sexual violence, particularly rape, was used as a deliberate, intentional strategic weapon of war in the Kashmir conflict for securing political objectives.

The plurality of causes and consequences of gender-based discrimination in human societies is a much known fact. The reason it is still prevalent in modern democracies for it has social sanction and acceptance either through religious scriptures, cultural practices, or traditional social institutions that are at times perceived unquestionable and to be rigidly adhered to. Transforming societies that are deeply rooted in traditional gender-discriminatory norms require education that will empower a person to question social conditions in the broader purview of scientific knowledge, rational mindset and humanitarian values. Teachers of modern age can instil this argumentative and deliberative or discursive democratic mindset among the learners of today that will be instrumental in creating more just and egalitarian society free from gender biases and discrimination. This necessitates the relevant pedagogical inputs through teacher preparation so as to equip prospective teachers for making it a part of their day to day teaching practices. The present paper is based on author’s classroom experiment of pedagogical endeavours with studentteachers of B. Ed. degree program in India. The major aim of this study was to gender sensitize prospective teachers through argumentative and reflective pedagogical strategies and to document their perspectives and learning while dealing with the Inter-disciplinary Course – Gender, School and Society from the present B. Ed. curriculum of University of Mumbai. Observation and diary documentation method was used in the study and the outcomes of the experiment were analysed qualitatively. The study discovered unique benefit of argumentative and reflective pedagogical strategies in guiding students’ moral judgements and sensitizing them for more balanced, rational and well informed scientific thought process on the issues of gender equality. The study revealed a growing positive scenario among the prospective teachers of the present age, irrespective of their gender, towards breaking the ageold gender-discriminatory social norms and gender stereotypes.