“Gender Issues on Campus & in Society” – A Report by Prof. Dejamma A. & Ms. Seema Prabhu S. (Conveners)
A Two day Ammembal Subbarao Pai Memorial UGC Sponsored National Conference “Gender issues on campus & in society ” organized by Centre for Women and Gender Studies, Canara College, Mangalore in collaboration with Mangalore Sociology Association was held on 23rd & 24th January 2015 at Smt. Ratna S.Shenoy Memorial Seminar Hall.
Inaugural Session:-
The inauguration of the Conference was held on 23rd January 2015, in the morning session, laid a strong edifice to the conference with Dr.Jacintha D’Souza, Former Principal, School of Social Work, Roshni Nilaya as the inaugurator and Keynote speaker. Dr. Jacintha in her Key note speech expressed her concern on issues of disparity in providing education to girl child, the upbringing of the girl child in manner to remain domestic, child marriages, ill treatment of women, and discrimination & oppression of women in various stages of life. She also highlighted problems faced by the women in urban and rural areas. She gave a call to the youth to understand the issues of gender bias and reach the society in addressing the problem.
CA.S.S. Kamath the president of the inaugural function spoke on the hardships faced by women to get education in the beginning of the 20th century and how the society deprived women of education citing it as an insignificant matter and it took a century for the turn around.
Dr.Vinay Rajath D. President of Mangalore Sociology Association expressed his satisfaction that the conference has proactive approach to the gender inequality issues.
Dr.B.Y.Kamble, Principal of the college said that awareness of gender equality is very important not only in college campus but also in the society. He wished conference all success.
Prof. Dejamma A., Convener of the welcomed the guests and gathering. Ms. Seema prabhu S., Convener of the conference presented an introduction about the theme of the conference. Dr. Malini K.V., IQAC Convener proposed the vote of thanks. Shri M.Sudhir Pai, Correspondent of the College was present on the dais. The inaugural session was compeered by Mrs. Sushma R. Shetty, Faculty, Department of Conference.
First Technical Session:
The first technical session was on “Women’s Issues; Conceptual and Theoretical Perspectives”. Dr .Y. Ravindranath Rao, Vice Principal & Head, Department of Sociology, St. Mary’s Syrian College, Brahmavar, the resource person discussed different gender issues with reference to conceptual and theoretical perspectives. He identified various factors and conditions which became responsible for the emergence of concepts and theories in gender studies. The important theories and concepts analysed are gender and sex, feminism and its different theoretical approaches, patriarchy, feminist security and security studies, feminisation of stratification, gender planning and planning framework, sexism, gender justice and women’s rights, gender empowerment, women’s liberation, women’s culture, feminist consciousness, gender inequality, missing women and subordination of women along with concluding comments and observations.
Second Technical Session:
The second technical session was on “Women and Mass media”. While Ms. Florine Roche, Programme Executive, All India Radio, Mangaluru and Freelance Journalist appreciated the efforts of the mass media in welfare of women . At the same time she was critical for the projection of women as subordinate and domestic.
Another resource person of the session Mr. Manohar Prasad, Mangaluru Bureau Chief, Udayavani , was in consensus with Ms. Florine Roche about the projection of women in the mass media but at the same time appealed to the women to be rational before enacting such role.
Third Technical Session:
The third technical session was on “Gender issues on campus”. Dr. Sheeba K.M., Associate Professor in History, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady. In her interactive session she expressed her opinions on building healthy and democratic campus, providing gender sensitive infrastructure, sensitising the students towards mutual respect.
Panel Discussion:
A panel discussion was held on 24th January 2015, on the topic “Gender equality on Campus”.
One of the panelists Adv. Ranjan Rao, President, Hindu Vidyadayini Sangha, Surathkal shared his experience on the need for equality when the needs & strengths of the sexes are different.
Dr. Vinay Rajath D., Associate Professor, Department of Post Graduate Studies & Research in Sociology, Mangalore University shared his opinions on the behaviour expected by the society and the need to correct the imbalance.
Ms. Avni A., Student of Canara College, Mangaluru shared her views on the unequal opportunities existing in the college campus.
This interactive session was moderated by Prof. Bharathi Shevgoor, Editor, Magnum Intergrafiks Pvt.Ltd. Mangaluru.
Fourth Technical Session:
The last technical session was on “Women and their Legal rights”. Adv. Dejappa K.,of Udupi enlightened the audience on the fundamental rights of every citizen. He was of the opinion that it is not the absence of effective laws, but the ineffective exercise of rights, that should be the cause of concern.
Participation:
We had overwhelming response by the scholars and delegates. 278 delegates registered for this conference. 21 speakers enlightened the participants with their thought provoking presentations. 108 research papers were presented in 8 sessions in these two days.This conference also provided an opportunity for the students to present their research papers. 20 teams from various Colleges participated in this Student researcher competition.
Valedictory:-
The valedictory function was held on 24th January, 2015 at 3.15 pm. Sri. M. Ranganath Bhat, Secretary, CHS Association, presided over the function. Dr. B. Surendra Rao, Former professor of History, Mangalore University gave the Valedictory address. He said the increasing number of women in the employment is going to bring cultural change. The men need to accustom to these changes and provide sufficient space to the women.
Shri I.N.Noronha, Head of Department of Commerce welcomed the guest and gathering. Smt. Seema Prabhu S, Convener, presented a brief note of findings of the conference. Prof. Dejamma A., Convener, proposed the vote of thanks. Dr. B.Y.Kamble, Principal of the College, Dr.Melwyn Rego, Vice President, Mangalore Sociology Association were the other dignitaries present on the dais. The valedictory session was anchored by Ms. Namratha Pai, Student of the college.
Acknowledgement:
We are thankful to UGC and Canara Bank for extending sponsorship to this two day National Conference. We are also thankful to the Management of Canara College, the Mangalore Sociology Association, the Media, the Principal, faculty members and students of the College, delegates from various colleges and universities, the Guests, Resource persons, Moderators, Judges, Paper presenters and the well-wishers for their contribution for the success of the conference.
