Malavika Karlekar

Editor, Indian Journal of Gender Studies and Consultant, Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS), New Delhi.
Project Director, Photo Archives on Women, Centre for Women's Development Studies.

Since 1975, has been a researcher and university teacher, in education, gender and equality issues. Since the 1990s has focused on (a) project conceptualisation, related research and administration; (b) monitoring and evaluation, and (c) editorial and management functions.

From 1988 onwards, she has been visiting fellow at various institutions:
March-May 1988 : Visiting Fellow, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, February 1995 : Visiting Fellow, Tokyo Woman's Christian University, Tokyo, Japan.,July to November 1999: Visiting Professor at the Institute for Gender Studies, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo, one of the two national women's universities in Japan. The appointment involved lectures, field trips, research and writing as well as the organisation of and participation in an international seminar.

Project Development and Administration

In 1991, together with senior colleagues, conceptualised the design, research methodology and main focus of the CWDS-North-South Institute (Ottawa) collaborative project on "The Impact of Macro Policies on Women in the Period of Liberalisation : A Comparative Perspective from India and Canada". Managed by the Conference Board of Canada with CIDA funds, papers in the study have been published in CWDS' Shifting Sands - Women's Lives and Globalisation (Calcutta: Stree Publications, 2000) Has worked in the area of women and health and how new policies are likely to affect the underprivileged. Project administration has meant : (a) supervision and coordination of the research team, interaction and brainstorming with consultants on the project as well as senior in-house researchers; (b) several meetings in Canada and in India with the partner institute as well as the donor agency; (c) participation and presentation of research findings at the three workshops of the project - two in Canada and one in India; (d) providing inputs for the workshop report Shifting Sands, (CWDS, 1994).

Prepared a report on Violence Against Women - Domestic Violence in Delhi for the Department of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. Conceptualised and designed the study. In addition to being the principal researcher, supervised and coordinated the work of colleagues from CWDS. At an end-of-the project workshop in March 1995, presented a paper entitled "Violence Against Women - Silences and Choosing to Hear".

Editorial Functions

Since 1989, has been a member of the Committee on Women's Studies in Asia, a group of Asian Women's Studies scholars involved in the production of reading material. The following two publications have been produced by the Committee:
1. Women's Studies, Women's Lives - Theory and Practice in South and Southeast Asia has been published (Kali for Women, 1994, second edition, 1995; Spinifex, Melbourne, 1994) and as Changing Lives, New York : The Feminist Press, 1995.
2. Search for Equality - A Resource Book on Women in Asia, 1996.

Is a member of the Editorial Board of the Asian Journal of Women's Studies based in EWHA Womans University, Seoul, Korea.

Has co-edited Breaking the Silence: Violence against Women in Asia, Hong Kong: Equal Opportunities Commission together with Women in Asian Development and UNESCO National Commsision of the Philippines.

As Editor of Indian Journal of Gender Studies published by Sage for CWDS is actively involved with the planning, commissioning, selection, and editing of contributions to the issues. In many ways, the Journal published since 1994, is a pioneer in the geographic region, and aims at providing a more holistic understanding of society through articles, personal narratives, archives, discussion and point of view sections, from all parts of the world. It is distributed internationally by Sage through its offices in the UK and USA.

Human Rights Activities

Has been actively working with Burmese refugees since 1990 particularly with students, for their rehabilitation in India. Is a founder member of the Friends of Burma Trust and has written widely on the restoration of democracy in Burma.

Following the project on Violence against Women, has been writing and speaking on this aspect of social reality in national newspapers such as The Hindu, The Hindustan Times and the Indian Express.

Publications

Since 1975 has been writing papers, making presentations and giving guest lectures at a range of fora. Significant publications include:

Books and Monographs:
-- Poverty and Women's Work - A Study of Sweeper Women in Delhi , New Delhi; Vikas, 1982 (Earlier circulated as Balmiki Women in India ,ICSSR monograph, 1981).
-- Voices from Within - Early Personal Narratives of Bengali Women, New Delhi : Oxford University Press, 1991. (pb 1992).

Co-Editor:
--Women's Studies Women's Lives - Theory and Practice in South and Southeast Asia, New Delhi : Kali for Women, 1994. Also brought out in an Australian edition by Spinifex Publications and as Changing Lives, New York : Feminist Press, 1995.
-- Together with Barbara Lazarus, have written the Introduction as well as an essay "A Field Worker in Women's Studies" in the volume.
-- Breaking the Silence: Violence against Women in Asia, Hong Kong: Equal Opportunities Commission together with Women in Asian Development and UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines.

Selection of Chapters/Essays in Books and Journals:
-- "Education and Inequality", one of five chapters in an inter-disciplinary book entitled Equality and Inequality - Theory and Practice, edited by Andre Beteille, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983.
-- Chapter on Education in Neera Desai and Maithreyi Krishnaraj's Women and Society in India, New Delhi: Ajanta, 1986 (pb. 1990).
-- "Woman's Nature and Access to Education in Bengal" in Carol Chapnick Mukhopdhayay and Susan Seymour's edited Women, Education, and Family Structure, Boulder: Westview Press, 1994.
-- "Education in India" in Douglas Ray et al Education for Human Rights - An International Perspective, UNESCO: Paris, 1994.
-- "Gender Dimensions in Labour Migration: An Overview" in Loes Schenk-Sandbergen's edited Women and Seasonal Labour Migration, New Delhi, Sage Publications, 1995.
-- During 1988-89 wrote 4 units entitled "Education : Processes", "Education: Institutions", "Women and Education" and "The Status of Women in India" for the B.A. (Sociology) course conducted by the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi.
-- "Search for Women's Voices: Reflections on Fieldwork - 1968-93", Economic and Political Weekly, Review of Women's Studies, April, 1995.
-- "The Girl Child in India - Does She have any Rights?" in Canadian Women's Studies, Vol.15, Nos 2&3, 1995.
-- "Case Studies of Women's Empowerment in India", Asian Journal of Women's Studies, Vol. I, No. 1, 1995.
-- "Reflections on Kulin Polygamy: Nistarini Debi's Sekeley Katha in Patricia Uberoi edited Social Reform Sexuality and the State, New Delhi:Sage Publications, 1996.
-- "Domestic Violence" in Economic and Political Weekly, vol. XXXIII no.27, July 4-10, 1998.
-- "Kulin Widowhood in Nineteenth Century Bengal - The Life and Times of Nistarini Debi" in Amita Dhanda and Archana Parashar edited Engendering Law - Essays in Honour of Lotika Sarkar, Lucknow: Eastern Book Company, 1999.
-- "Women's Health - A View from the Household" in CWDS edited Shifting Sands - Women's Lives and Globalisation, Calcutta: Stree Publications, 2000.
-- "Girls' Access to Schooling :An Assessment" in Rekha Wazir's edited The Gender Gap in Basic Education - NGOs as Change Agents, New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2000.
-- "Breaking the Silence and Choosing to Hear: Perceptions of Violence against Women in Asia" in Breaking the Silence: Violence against Women in Asia, Hong Kong: Equal Opportunities Commission, 2000.
-- "The Total Literacy Campaign: An Overview" in Malavika Karlekar's edited Reading the Wor(l)d - Understanding the Literacy Campaigns in India , Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education, 2000.

Consultancies

1995-96: Consultant for the Nagaland Environment Protection and Economic Development Project (NEPED) funded by the Government of Nagaland and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada. Was commissioned to write the following two papers:
"Role of Women in Jhum cultivation in Nagaland" and"Action Plan for Integrating Women into NEPED"
The writing of these papers involved secondary research, a field visit and interviews in Nagaland.

October 1996: Short-term consultant for the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) of the Government of India; wrote a paper entitled "The Girl Child in India - An Overview and Agenda for Action and Research".

January - September 1997: Coordinator for a UNESCO-funded four-state study entitled "Empowering Women as Agents of Change in Community Development, Population Programmes and Environmental Protection". Apart from conceptualising the study, guiding the four senior researchers and coordinating with UNESCO officials, I have written the Introduction and the Action Plan. The case studies focus on the role of NGOs and women's organisations in bringing about communal harmony, community development and people's empowerment.

March-April 1998: Commissioned to write a paper on "Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Children in India" by the Commonwealth Secretariat, 1998 as a part of a regional survey of the problem.

June 1999-October 2000: Editor and Co-ordinator of a six-state study of the National Literacy Mission funded by the Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education. A publication entitled Reading the Wor(l)d - Understanding the Literacy Campaigns in India that was brought out in 2000 is under consideration for release as a book by Sage Publications.

Current Commitments

Paper
--Contributing a section on Domestic Violence for The Oxford Companion Encyclopedia of Sociology and Social Anthropology. This volume, which is to be edited by Veena Das with Andre Beteille and T.N. Madan as Consulting Editors, is to have about 60 entries based on contributions by established Indian and foreign sociologists and anthropologists.

Projects
--Recipient of a grant (2000-2002) from Indian Foundation for the Arts for a project entitled Re-visioning the Past through Photographs : A History of Early Photography in Bengal.
--Is curating an exhibition of photographs and coordinating a companion publication for the Centre for Women's Development Studies entitled for CWDS entitled A Century of Women's Expanding Horizons 1849-1947. Tentative date: late 2001.
--Editing Reading the Wor(l)d - Understanding the Literacy Campaigns in India for Sage Publications.

Membership of Academic and Professional Organisations / Groups

--Asian Centre for Women's Studies, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea (Executive Committee Member)
--Centre for Women's Development Studies, New Delhi
--Committee on Women Studies in Asia (CWSA)
--Friends of Burma Trust (Founder Member), New Delhi
--Indian Association for Women's Studies, New Delhi
--Indian Sociological Society
--Oxford Cambridge Society of India (Executive Committee member)
--National Resource Group, Mahila Samakhya
--National Book Trust, Advisory Panel on Young India Library (member)
--Women in Asian Development, Manila