Women’s Development Cell

The Women’s Development Cell (WDC) of Lady Shri Ram College for Women is a student-run organization that is committed to promote gender equality and empower women both within and beyond the college community. The cell was established in 1985 with the aim of creating a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment for women to thrive in, and has since been actively working towards achieving this goal through a range of initiatives and activities. Guest lectures, book reading, creative performances, movie screenings and ‘Let’s Talk’ sessions are all tools regularly employed to mirror the values and spirit that the cell upholds. This academic year, the cell conducted plethora of activities that were representative of the unheard voices of tomorrow and yesterday. These involved invigorating discussions around gender, politics and the milieu in which these two overlap. the theme ‘Feminism from A Queer Perspective’ on 27th June 2022. Dr. Banerjee shared with the student body a series of experiences of the queer community from an intersectional perspective and how not all identities may be affected by the same.

WDC also collaborated with the Queer Collective for an open Mic session, which encouraged participation by the student body in any form of expression – poems, monologues, songs etc. A Let’s Talk session was held on 22nd September 2022 on the subject ‘Utopia: What would your ideal society be like?’ facilitated by the WDC Union members. A guest lecture on ‘Gender and Conflict Zones’ was held on 9th February 2023, with Prof. Mondira Dutta. A second Let’s Talk session was held on 10th February 2023. A session called ‘Understanding What We Do’ was conducted on 12th January 2022 by the former students of this institution and aimed at making the new members of this cell acquainted with the basic ideas and themes that the cell concerns itself with. A panel discussion was held with Dr. Sujata Chavan and Ms. Haseena Khan on 15th February 2022, on the topic ‘Understanding the Implications of Increasing Women’s Marriageable Age’. The discussion aimed to explore the impact of the bill on marginalized communities, the education of women, infertility, forced marriages, and other relevant issues. Further a lecture with REACH, LSR was held on 7th April 2022 addressing the theme ‘Disability, Gender & Psyche’. The speaker of this session was Ms. Pooja Nair. WDC in collaboration with the Queer Collective, hosted a guest lecture with Dr. Niharika Banerjee on the theme ‘Gender and Censorship’. This event observed a brief reading of Uma Chakravarty’s work, ‘Gendering Caste through a Feminist Lens’, followed by a discussion on censorship.

Tasveer, WDC’s newsletter, invited all forms of creative and critical submissions from across the student body on the theme ‘Deconstructing Gender’. Gender, like all social identities, is socially constructed. During Tarang, the Annual Cultural Fest of the college, WDC hosted the event ‘Love and Rage: Performance of Freedom’ on 24th March 2023. It focused on the Queer-Feminist understanding of love and rage as a political tool. Performers graced the stage with monologues, songs and poems, and inculcated in their performances the true spirit of ‘Love and Rage’. “Aaina – Reflection of the self and the furies that shape our lives” was an Art exhibition held from 24th to 26th March 2023. The Art pieces took distinguished perspectives and bedecked the theme with diversity and inclusivity.

Established in 1985, WDC has earned the reputation of being a liberal space with a voracious appetite for conversations that empower the existential core. WDC finds its true power in initiating conversations on everything from the pressing social issues of domestic violence, oppressive intimate relationships, sexual harassment to the psychological and spiritual issues of self discovery, uninformed compliance, the power structures of patriarchy and the like. Guest lectures, book readings, slam poetry performances, movie screenings and “Let’s Talk” sessions are all tools regularly employed in an effort to reverse the whims of the centuries.

The WDC organized a panel discussion with the SC/ST Cell, LSR on 26^th August, 2021. The theme was ‘Dalit Feminism in the Contemporary Age’ and the speakers for the event were Ms. Cynthia Stephen and Dr. Sowjanya Tamalapakula. The session helped explore the intersectionality of oppression by looking at the conceptual frameworks provided by Dalit Feminism. On 19^th September, 2021, the reading and analysis of Lihaaf by Ismat Chughtai was organized.  A session called ‘Understanding What We Do’ was held on 12^th January, 2022 with Devanshi Ranjan, Ayushi Mahajan, Jasmin Naur Hafiz, Medha Prakash and Rida Kulsum.The aim of the talk was to acquaint WDC members with the basic ideas and themes that the cell concerns itself with, and how they play out in our lives and in college spaces.A panel discussion was held with Dr. Sujata Chavan and Ms. Haseena Khan on 15^th February, 2022. The topic was ‘Understanding the Implications of Increasing Women’s Marriageable Age.’The multifacetedness of the Supreme Court’s decision to increase the marriageable age of women was explored through insights from people who are well-acquainted with the Indian landscape on the ground.


On the occasion of International Women’s Day (8^th March, 2022)WDC had an exhibition on the theme of ‘BreakTheBias’ and a panel discussion on ‘Women in LSR’ with Dr Megha Dhillon, Ms Nancy Pathak, Dr Maitreyee Mandal and Dr. Suman Bhanoo.



Further a lecture with REACH, LSR was held on 7^th April, 2022 addressing the theme ‘Disability, Gender & Psyche.’ The speaker was Ms. Pooja Nair. Members of WDC (Anjika, Adya, Eesha, Tanveen, Rida, Satabdi and Shrishti) participated in the Global Intercultural Dialogue on 6^th November, 2021 organized by the University of Brescia.The event saw participation of over 80 students and faculty members from institutions across USA, UK, Canada,Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam,  Bahrain, Italy and LSR from India.