12th February 2016: Jaipur: National Conference on Women, Health and Identity: Re-visioning a Multidisciplinary Perspective organized in the collaboration of Department of Psychology of The IIS University and Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi commenced Friday at IIIM Auditorium.

Dr. Madhu Kishwar, Professor Center for the Studies of Developing Societies, Director, Indic Studies Project, CSDS, Delhi was the chief guest on the occasion.

The inaugural address of the conference began by the welcome address given by the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Dr. Ashok Gupta in which he welcomed all the research scholars, delegates and the chief guest.

Dr. N. K. Jain, Dean, Department of Arts and Social Sciences apprised audience about the relevance of this conference in today’s time he said that the concepts of women’s health are embedded in aspects of lived experience from family to spirituality, from childhood to old age. The way that one considers health, not only in terms of illness but also in terms of well-being affects all aspects of one’s existence. He further said that health is also a highly gendered concept with biological health and the reproductive cycle becoming a natural gender division. Within this division, it has been argued that women’s health has become objectified through patriarchal social constructions in health provision, science, economics, politics, society and culture.

Income Generating Assets should be given as Dowry: Dr. Madhu Kishwar

While delivering the keynote address on the occasion, Dr. Madhu Kishwar discussed that when a women is asked to define herself her answer begins with her role towards parents, family and community which means she identifies herself what other people perceive of her rather what she perceives of herself.

Violence, sense of dependency and victim-hood leads to marginalization of women. To ensure women’s health, she should be given a peaceful social life and safe environment to live in, she added.

She also had an altogether different take on dowry. She said that parents should give income generating assets to her daughter so that after marriage she could not feel dependent on her husband or family.

Dr. Kishwar also talked about the role of media in women’s identity. She opined that films, television or internet media is manipulating the identity of women. Actresses with size zero, Barbie doll kind models are the new role model of today’s generation women. Therefore, while trying to become one of them, a women is losing her own identity.

This two-day conference will conclude in eight technical sessions which are based on various topics related to women, health and identity like marginalization and women’s health, identity and gender politics, women’s health, activism and mass media, gender identity and mental health, women’s health and identity in modern times etc.

In the conference, 30 oral and 65 poster presentations will be made. Dr. Roopa Mathur is the conference convener while Dr. Chandrani Sen and Dr. Bhawna Arya are the organizing secretaries.