Fostering Gender Just and Emancipatory Campuses in HEIs: Interrogating the Role of Gender Cells and ICs

Abstract

This paper is a reflexive essay that engages with the vexed question of gender equity on campuses of higher education. I argue that though our campuses are mired in complex hierarchies and inequalities, they are also sites of immense possibilities. These are spaces where critical conversations can emerge around gender and sexuality including an engagement with questions of caste, class, ableism so on and so forth. However, a transformative vision and an intersectional frame must inform these conversations. Two institutional mechanisms that can enable this radical re-imagination are Gender Cells and Internal Committees. However, this imagination has fallen far short of expectations. What might one possibly do to reinvigorate these mechanisms? Is there any way we can repose the trust in these bodies that were badly shaken following #metoo? Can we build alliances and forge solidarities with different constituencies on campus to work towards emancipatory campuses? This paper throws light on these and related issues.