Establishment in April 2000, the department offers four-year BSS (Hons) and one-year MSS courses. The research areas include Gender and Militarization; Gender, Poverty, Livelihood, and Entitlements, etc. The Department organizes seminars and special speeches on the occasion of various National Days as Rokeya Day, Women’s Day, etc. and sometimes arranges conferences.
Department’s Activities
Fellowships:
a) As a part of Education Exchange Programme under the project entitled Institutionalizing the Department of Women’s Studies, three students completed MA fellowships at ISS(Institute of Social Studies), Netherlands.
b) Six students from different semesters participated in Student Exchange Programme at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Thailand from 22 August to 28 September 2008.
Publications:
c) The department has successfully carried out two research projects titled “Women and Militancy: South Asian Complexities” and “Lives Livelihood, Leadership: Gendered Perspectives on Poverty.” Publication of the first research work is underway.
d) Two working papers – Household Diplomacy: Access To Income and Women’s Agency in Bangladesh by Tania Haque and Understanding Masculinity: Men’s Perspectives and Gender Studies Curriculum in Bangladesh by SMS Imtiaz – were published in June 2009.
Training and Workshops:
e) The department arranged a tribute program on 1st September 2008 to honor Professor Dr. Najma Chowdhury for her outstanding contribution as one of the leading pioneer in institutionalizing women and gender studies in Bangladesh. The program was held at the R.C. Majumder Auditorium, University of Dhaka.
f) A training workshop on “Gender in our everyday lives” was held on 12-14 January 2009 at the Special Seminar Room of Senate Building. The training program was attended by 20 teachers from different disciplines of the University and facilitated by Kamla Bhasin.
g) In collaboration with the South-South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Sexualities (SEPHIS), Netherlands, a workshop on Sexuality Research Methodology was held on 12-21 March 2009 at the Special Seminar Room of Senate Building. Eight researchers from overseas countries including China, India, Zimbabwe, and Brazil attended the workshop and Prof. Sanjoy Srivastav from Delhi School of Economics and Assistant Prof. SMS Imtiaz from the Dept. of Women and Gender Studies participated as resource persons.
h) Under the auspices of co-curricular activities, a Students Retreat Program was arranged at Cox’s Bazar from 22 to 26 March 2009. During the event, students visited the Development Projects of a Local Non-Government Organization (NGO).
i) The department arranged a round table meeting entitled as “Discussion Meeting on Designing a Syllabus on Policy Issues: Contemporary Perspectives” was held on 9 April 2009 at the Conference Room of Dean Office, Faculty of Arts.
j) The department arranged a three-day training program on “Discourse Analysis in Social Research” from May 17-19, 2009 at the Senate Building of the university. The program was designed for senior faculty members of different disciplines of Dhaka University. Professor Des Gasper, Institute of Social Studies, Netherlands, facilitated the sessions.
k) Training on “Gender and Governance” was arranged on 25-29 May 2009 at Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Thailand for six government officials working at the planning cell under Planning Commission, University Grants Commission, and Dhaka University.
l) A symposium on Contextualizing Men and Masculinity issues in Bangladesh were held on 21-20 June 2009 at the Special Seminar Room of Senate Building. Around 180 participants from home and abroad joined the symposium.
Day Observance & Book Fair:
m) The department arranged “Rokeya Memorial Lecture 2008” on February 5, 2009. Professor Hasna Begum, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Dhaka, presented a paper on “Rokeya’s Thought on Women and Religion: National Women Policy”. Chair of the University Grants Commission was presented as the chief guest.
n) The department observed International Women’s Day ’ on March 8, 2009. The department brought out a colorful rally headed by the honorable Vice- Chancellor of Dhaka from the foothill of Aparajayo Bangla. Respected faculty members from different departments along with students joined the rally. The celebration was concluded with the Potgan (awareness raising song sung with local tempo and rendition) by Rupantar Folk Theatre.
o) “Gender Book Fair” a students’ led initiative of the department was held on 18-19 July 2008 at the British Council premises, Dhaka. The fair experienced overwhelming and spontaneous participation of about fifty publishing houses and NGOs with around three thousand women and gender-related publications for display and sale.
Resource Person Lectures:
p) For the sake of students, the department routinely organizes Resource Person Lectures. In doing so following lectures were held:
1. Lecture on Women and Civil War in Nepal was arranged on September 17, 2009, at the Special Seminar Room of Senate Building. Bina Pradhan, advisor to the National Planning Commission (Social Development Division) of Nepal was the speaker.
2. Lecture on Shifting Strategies: Contemporary Dutch Gender Policies was delivered on 12 March 2009 at Room no. 5020 in Arts Building. Ambassador of Royal Netherlands Embassy Bea – Ten – Tusscher was the speaker.
3. Bina Agarwal, a researcher on the socio-economic sector of India, delivered a lecture on Gender Inequality: Neglected Dimensions, Hidden Facts, and New Alliances on 27 May 2009 at the Special Seminar Room of Senate Building.
Seminar/Conference/Workshops attended by the Faculties:
Dr. Mahmuda Islam, Dr. Maleka Begum, Soheli Khadiza Azad, and Tania Haque attended the 53 Session of UN Commission on the Status of Women held at New York in March 2009.
2. Ayesha Banu and Dr. Fouzia Mannan participated in the conference on Gender at Crossroad at Cyprus in April 2009
3. Runa Laila joined the conference on International World Congress on Public Health held in April 2009 at Istambul, Turkey.
4. Ten faculties and two officers attended the department sponsored International Convention at Bali of Indonesia. This was arranged in association with KARTINI Network of South Asia Pacific Region. .. papers were presented by …
5. With the funding assistance of SEPHIS Sayed Md. Saikh Imtiaz, Asstt. Professor participated as resource persons in various workshops and seminars, which took place at the American University of Cairo, Rio de Zenario of Brazil and Hanoi of Vietnam. Also, with the funding support of ISS Project, he joined the Asia Pacific Conference on AIDS at Bali of Indonesia.”