Gender studies most researched topic of sociology, says study

AS PER RESEARCH, THE SUBJECT CONTRIBUTES 20% ARTICLES AND 17% BOOKS OF SOCIOLOGY IN THE COUNTRY,

Gender Studies has emerged as the favourite topic of research scholars and writers. According to a report on emerging themes of social sciences by Lucknow-based Giri Institute of Development Studies (GIDS), it is the most prominent area of social science research, contributing 20% articles and 17% books of sociology in India.

While the subject explores a variety of experiences of women including girl child, widow, married women, and women workers, new areas of research like Sexuality Studies and violence against women have attracted a substantial number of articles but not many books.

The study was carried out as part of a survey on Social Science research in India initiated by Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR) in collaboration with International Development Research Centre.

“One of the major focus areas of this study is mapping of social science research output under various disciplines and their respective sub-categories. There are 12 chapters being worked upon by 12 social science institutions across the country,” said Prashant Trivedi, assistant professor, GIDS, who was a

LUCKNOW:

part of the project. Quoting the report, which was submitted last week after a year-long research, Trivedi said, “Body politics has emerged as a subject matter of Gender Studies in the past one decade with its specific focus on embodiment and personhood. The work focuses mainly on questions related to sexuality and problematising gender binaries.”

The report observes that sexual violence and sexual harassment are two emerging concerns being addressed through disciplinary lenses of Law and Sociology.

Violence has emerged as another major category with studies focusing on ‘domestic/ marital/spousal violence, honour killings etc, according to the survey. Questions related to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender issues, challenging the binary of ‘masculinity’ and ‘feminity’ are also emerging areas of research, says the report.

Among social determinants of health, drinking water is the most frequently researched issue. Subjects such as gendered costs of drinking water and women’s participation in water governance are some of the common topics covered in books and articles.

According to the report, issues related to Dalit and Muslim women have not been adequately researched.

“Unlike many other disciplines, Feminist theory and methodology has been visited and revisited in many of these writings. But except a couple of books on land and gender or women farmers’ agrarian relations from a gender perspective still remain an under-researched area,” the study observes.

Critical engagement with Law has been a forte of Gender Studies. But in recent times, new works are mainly focused on domestic and sexual violence laws. Some works on ‘women and religion’ have been published, but it is still an inadequately researched theme, says the report.

Prof Rakesh Chandra, head, department of Philosophy, Lucknow University said, “Gender Studies is the latest branch of social sciences. But a point that needs to be looked into is whether researches in the subject are representing diversity. The second thing that should be kept in mind is whether the researches are affecting policy decisions.”