Delhi: At DU meeting on syllabuses, ‘gender’ units under scrutiny

According to a copy of the proposed syllabus seen by HT, the Economics of Gender course included a unit on “crime and gender” that examined economic theories of intimate partner violence, domestic and workplace violence.

Objections were raised during Monday’s meeting of Delhi University’s Standing Committee for Academic Affairs against units dealing with “crime and gender” in a course titled “Economics of Gender”, even as several readings in the History syllabus, including Shireen Moosvi’s “Work and Gender in Mughal India”, were dropped, at least two committee members confirmed, adding that the panel also sent back an additional elective paper proposed by the Department of Economics for revision.

Delhi: At DU meeting on syllabuses, ‘gender’ units under scrutiny

According to a copy of the proposed syllabus seen by HT, the Economics of Gender course included a unit on “crime and gender” that examined economic theories of intimate partner violence, domestic and workplace violence, and the relationship between women’s socio-economic and political representation and crimes against women.

Monami Sinha, who was one of the 20 members of the committee who was present at the meeting on Monday (committee includes all HoDs and academic council members who are elected to join the committee), said strong reservations were expressed by some members, who argued that the topics had no correlation with economics, were not aligned with the course title, and were “ideologically loaded”. This was despite counter-arguments that gender-based violence is a well-established area of economic inquiry, with extensive empirical and theoretical literature. The paper was finally sent back for revision

“The members concerned remained adamant. It would just take an empathetic view to understand how relevant this is to economics and how much monetary loss a society faces due to violence against women,” Sinha said.

The university is currently framing syllabi for the second semester of postgraduate programmes, as part of a major restructuring under the one-year postgraduate model introduced by National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

Concerns were also raised during the meeting over what some members described as an “increasing bias towards global history”. Another member termed this claim “absurd”, arguing that academic history, by its very nature, includes global perspectives and comparative frameworks.

Sinha added that objections were also raised for the paper titled, “Themes in Ancient Indian Economy and Society” for using the term “society” in the title. It was argued that since three discipline specific core (DSC) courses already cover India’s economic history across ancient, medieval, and modern periods, “society” was a misfit and social readings should be removed.

“I argued that economy and society are analytically inseparable, particularly in historical analysis,” Sinha said, “However, several readings were dropped, including Shireen Moosvi’s ‘Work and Gender in Mughal India’ in idem, People, Taxation, and Trade in Mughal India.”

To be sure, the standing committee does not have the final say on changes in syllabus. Once recommendations are made, the syllabus goes back to the respective departments for revision and the revised syllabus will be tabled at the academic and executive council.