Women Development Cell (WDC)

SLC, in its efforts to sensitize the students and the faculty towards gender equality and harmony, has formed the Women Development Cell (WDC) in the academic year 2015-16. The important events organized and initiatives taken by this Centre has evidently opened the minds of the students to newer ways of thinking. WDC has taken up cross-cutting issues related to professional challenges and social anomalies etc.

The cell is a forum for debate, interaction and meditation on a range of issues concerning gender, sexuality, inequality, discrimination, empowerment, crime against women. The WDC aims to create awareness around gender issues, injustices against women and facilitate an atmosphere free of gender discrimination and prejudices on the campus. It not only provides platform for deliberation and dialogue but also initiates the process of resolving gender perceptions prevalent in contemporary times.

To accomplish these goals, the cell holds year-round activities such as seminars, symposiums, film screenings, workshops on gender sensitization, street plays, self-defense camps, public reading sessions to engage students in discussions on matters concerning gendering of people and spaces, denial or limited access to education, sexual and reproductive wellbeing and rights, oppressive practices and customs, sexual exploitation in public and private sphere, safety in public conveyance and suppression of women's voices in civic and private realm.

WDC, in collaboration with Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), has been conducting workshops, counseling sessions, film screenings, and nukkad naatak for both students and staff members. WDC and ICC also organises workshops separately for students, teaching faculty and the office staff on "Gender Sensitization" by various eminent personalities specializing in this area. Both WDC and ICC teacher members regularly attend workshops and training programmes organized by the WSDS, University of Delhi and other such agencies. WDC has started gender counseling on bimonthly basis from 2016-17 session so as to provide a forum to students (both girls and boys) where they can unhesitatingly articulate and clear their gender and other behavioral related queries.

• Dr. Kusha Tiwari (Convenor)
• Dr. Mast Ram
• Ms. Manila
• Dr. Ashu Gupta
• Dr. Gayatri Chaturvedi
• Dr. Niranjan
Dr. Sunaina Zutshi
• Ms. Neelam Dabas
• Dr. Anuj Sharma

WDC & IQAC National Webinar, June 16, 2020

WDC in collaboration with IQAC of the college organized a National Webinar on "Credibility Crisis in Media amidst Covid-19" on 16th June, 2020 in which Prof. Sidharth Mishra, VIPS, IP University Delhi was the resource person. Prof. Mishra talked about how media plays constructive as well as negative role in assessing and exploring real events, episodes and happenings in the world. The webinar was attended by over 300 delegates from different part of the country and abroad. It was a very insightful and interactive session..

WDC & IQAC International Conference, January 9-10, 2020

WDC & IQAC SLC (University of Delhi) in collaboration with Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) organized an International Conference on "Through a (New) Looking Glass: Challenges for Women in the 21st Century" on 9-10 January, 2020 at Indian Society for International Law (ISIL) and Seminar Hall, SLC respectively. The International Conference was inaugurated by Chief Guest Ms. Arushi Nishank, Founder- Sparsh Ganga at ISIL. The conference hosted well known academicians from across disciplines in India and abroad like Prof. Aditya P. Padhi, EC Member, NAAC, , Prof. K.B. Das, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU, New Delhi , Prof. Kaisa Sorsa, University of Turku, Prof. Slagijana Stojanobska, Integrated Business Faculty, Macedonia, Prof. Ari Lindeman, XAMK, Finland, Dr. Anu Lähteenmäki-Uutela, University of Turku, Finland , Ms. Jayashree Vyas, MD, Sewa Bank, , Prof. Madhu Kishwar, Chair Professor, ICSSR and many more.

WDC National Conference, Dec 14-15, 2016

WDC, on 14-15 December, 2016, organized the National Conference on "Gender and Popular Culture: Representations and Embodiment" in which over 200 researchers, academicians, industry experts participated and deliberated on the cultural nuances and representations of gender.

Conference Report:

WDC National Conference Report
World Congress Against Sexual Exploitation









Workshop for Students on Gender Sensitization, 11 January, 2016

Women Development Cell and Internal Complaints Committee, Shyam Lal College in its efforts to make the students aware of the issues related to gender relations and perceptions organized a workshop for students on Gender Sensitization. We had Ms. Kamla Bhasin, the eminent social and gender activist, as the key speaker. A social scientist by training, Kamla Bhasin has been actively engaged with issues related to development, education, gender, media and several others for over 35 years. From 1976 to 2001, she worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Currently, she works with Sangat- A South Asian Feminist Network, as an Advisor; with JAGORI, Women's Resource and Training Centre, New Delhi and Jagori Grameen in Himachal Pradesh as an active member. She is the co-chair of the worldwide network, Peace Women Across the Globe and South Asia Coordinator of One Billion Rising. She has written extensively on gender, women's empowerment, participatory and sustainable development, participatory training, media and communication.

The workshop aimed at enabling the participant students to
• Understand and analyze perceptions of self and also to analyze gender as a social and religious construct.
• Identify different stereotypes associated with male and female sex and analyze how these affect the developing understanding of the adolescent mind about his/her environment.
• Identify and analyze the issue of sexual harassment in both the private and the public domain.
• analyze gender relations as power relations

Kamla Bhasin had a long interactive session with the students in which she discussed and took up questions on issues related with gender inequality, patriarchal system and dehumanization of the male psyche. By the end of the session, the student participants and other members of the audience gave Kamla Bhasin a standig ovation and a huge round of applause.