By Geraldine Forbes and Usha Thakkar
Dr. Neera Desai [Neeraben] one of the pioneers of Women’s Studies in India, died on June 25, 2009 after a long struggle with cancer. Neeraben, born Neera Druv in Ahmedabad in 1924, lived most of her life in Bombay/ Mumbai where she founded India’s first Research Centre for Women’s Studies, called the Research Unit for Women’s Studies, at S.N.D.T. Women’s University in 1974. As the founder director of the Research Centre, she played a major role in designing and guiding research projects on women, linking academic Women’s Studies with women’s real-life issues, and introducing Women’s Studies to the curriculum. Trained as a Sociologist, she was also a pioneer in pushing her discipline to include women and gender in the analysis. Her first published work, Woman in Modern India (1957), belongs to history rather than Sociology and earned her a place in Gender and History’s series on “foremothers”: women who had written women’s history before the 1970s. In Woman in Modern India, the first analytical history of Indian women, Neera Desai called the new Indian republic’s constitution a ‘great proclamation,’ but added a cautionary note. The rights promised, she wrote, ‘could be actualized only by a very stern, active, ceaseless and conscious struggle guided by a very clear and comprehensive perspective.’ Published in 1957, this monograph was Neeraben’s M.A. thesis and marked the starting point of her long career in Sociology, History, and Women’s Studies in which she lived according to her own prescription for attaining women’s rights.
Brought up and educated in Bombay/Mumbai, Neeraben acknowledged the role of her dynamic mother, Anasuya, for encouraging her to look beyond the home, and of her liberal father, Bhadraji Baldevji Dhruv, for taking a keen interest in her education and the development of her character. The Fellowship School, a co-educational institution begun by Theosophists and influenced by Annie Besant, initiated her into nationalist ideas, while her neighborhood exposed her to political issues and communal tension. Her awareness of women’s issues, she recounted, began in childhood.
Neeraben joined the University of Bombay/Mumbai’s Elphinstone College in 1942, but left the university after Gandhi’s Quit India Resolution on August 9. This event changed her life and she continued to take a keen interest in politics throughout her life. She met Akshaya Ramanlal Desai, a brilliant sociologist with a keen interest in Marxism and the politics of the oppressed, at a political meeting. They wed in 1947, the year Neeraben completed her BA in History and Economics. In 1957, Neeraben gave birth to Mihir, now a human rights activist and lawyer, and Director of the India Centre for Human Rights and Law.
Neeraben began her career at S.N.D.T. Women’s University in 1954 as a lecturer in Sociology shortly after the University Grants Commission had recognized S.N.D.T. as a university. Teaching Sociology to women students–many of whom were already married and from traditional households–Neeraben noticed her discipline’s silence about their issues. She began to read and teach about women’s issues, attend conferences, and debate topics associated with women’s rights. In 1968-69, she spent nine months in the USA as a Fulbright Scholar. Back in India, she returned to teaching and writing, and in 1972 was appointed to the Social Task Force of the Committee on the Status of Women in India. Two years later, she established the Research Unit for Women’s Studies. This and the other programs developed by the founders of Women’s Studies in India were significantly different from Women’s Studies programs in the USA and Europe. Committed to change beyond the university, they wanted to influence political decisions and change the lives of women. For Neeraben, this began a life dedicated to building institutions: the Research Unit at SNDT Women’s University, the Indian Association of Women’s Studies, and programs for rural development in Udwada, Gujarat.
In the years that followed, Neeraben’s time was consumed with developing the Research Unit’s collection, writing grant proposals, and overseeing projects. However, she still found time for research and writing. In addition to writing gender-sensitive curricula, Neeraben wrote essays on the family, feminist pedagogy and Women’s Studies, and articles and a book on Gujarati history. Moving between four languages in her daily life, Neeraben wrote in two: English and Gujarati and was always aware of how little of feminist writing was available to non-English speakers. She pushed to have key works, e.g., Towards Equality: Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India, translated into regional languages. Later, she took this project a giant step further and collaborated with Usha Thakkar on Stri Abhyas Shreni, a series of basic Women’s Studies texts in Gujarati. In 1988, Neeraben became a Trustee of SPARROW [Sound and Picture Archives for Research on Women], an organization that she inspired and helped found. Her last major research project, on key figures in the development of the women’s movement in Western India, was begun in the 1980s but was consistently pushed aside by other commitments. Neeraben returned to it in her retirement and Feminism as Experience: Thoughts and Narratives was published by SPARROW in 2006.
Neeraben was a good friend and an inspiration to many people. We loved her optimism, an optimism that persisted through the dark days of riots, pogroms, and even 11/26. When she reflected on women’s position, she admitted the forces against gender equality were formidable. However, as a feminist, she believed in change and was inspired to keep working for change.
Her passion for secularism and human rights, and involvement in women’s movement were remarkable. So was her passion for detective stories; Agatha Christie was her favorite and she loved to watch the DVD of Murder She Wrote.
Joys of daily life are abundant, and Neeraben knew about this treasure. She liked good vegetarian food and could produce her own ‘healthy’ version of popular Gujarati delicacies. She was always a gracious hostess. She was particular about the saris she wore and ensured that the one she wore was right for the occasion. She loved flowers, a little garland of mogra was enough to make her happy. She would take it lovingly in her hands and put it neatly on her hair. Now all that remains with us is the fragrance of her memorable life.
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Geraldine Forbes is a Distinguished Teaching Professor of History at the State University of New York Oswego, where she teaches South Asian and Women’s history. She wrote Women in Modern India (1996) for the New Cambridge History of India, numerous articles on Indian women, and has edited the memoirs of Manmohini Zutshi Sahgal, Shudha Mazumdar, and Haimabati Sen. She can be reached at [email protected].
Usha Thakkar, former Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, is now Honorary Director of the Institute of Research on Gandhian Thought and Rural Development, Manibhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya, Mumbai. She writes on women and politics in India. She can be reached at [email protected].
Women and Foreign Policy would like to thank H-Asia for kindly permitting to share this obituary with our readers.
