ABSTRACT
This essay on the early generation of women sociologists in India focuses on eight prominent women. It analyses their engagement with the subject of women and gender, drawing from feminist insights on location, reflexivity and intersectionality. How do these women feature in the legacies of sociology and of women’s studies? While some wrote sociologically on the topic of women and gender as their prime focus, for others it was one among several topics. Some were mostly silent on it. Given the overarching background of nationalism that had raised women’s issues in specific ways, this generation could not have been immune to the topic. Post-1970s feminism would also have played a role in their consciousness. Delving into their non-academic activities and informal interactions, the essay argues that the concern with women’s issues was indeed present in all eight women, although not always articulated formally as such. With the way social sciences defined professionalism, the informal hierarchy of subjects that ranked women’s studies lower than sociology and Marxist approaches that side-lined gender, the majority in our group could express themselves only sotto voce. Yet there was shared awareness and concern that made for a sense of ‘community’.
