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● First woman chairperson of the 51-year-old institution. Appointed in September 2014, her candidature was suggested by HRD minister Smriti Irani. Previously vice-chancellor of Maharaja Ganga Singh University, Rajasthan and professor, political studies at Banaras Hindu University, she was also a National Fellow at IIAS in 2003-04.
● Has 88 research papers to her credit, and has published several books on women’s studies such as Bhartiya Manisha ke Agradoot: Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Women in Dharmashastras: A Phenomenological and Critical Analysis (edited) and Feminism, Tradition and Modernity (edited).
In her new role, Padia plans to focus on work that probes India’s intellectual tradition and third world feminism.
● In Feminism, Tradition and Modernity: an Essay in Relation to Manusmriti, Padia writes, “The freedom for women for which the feminists of today cry is taken to mean equality regarded as mere sameness. But let us pause for a while and consider whether such a view of equality is workable.
What I mean is simply this. Pay equal attention to the different needs and capacities of men and women, and then give them appropriate opportunities for work. How many of our male participants present here would welcome being assigned the task of assuaging crying babes in the absence of their mothers? Here, it is obvious, the mothers have to lend a helping hand.”
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