With passing away of Dr. Vina Mazumdar, our Vinadi the Indian Women’s movement has experienced an irreparable loss. Veenadee personified in her a far sighted and strong willed thinker and forceful speaker and convincing debater who had faith in ‘human goodness’. Her intellectual prowess did not make her ivory tower in her approach towards her colleagues and fellow travelers- academicians, policy makers, researchers and feminist activists. She always remained warm at heart, easy to approach, instant building of rapport, kind and accessible to ‘inarticulate’, ‘less known’ and ‘less influential’ people from remote places, civil and decent with her adversaries, magnanimous in sharing her knowledge and institutional resources as Director of Centre for Women’s Development Studies. Her charm lay in her electrifying persona, always smiling face conveying optimism, down to earth approach, ideologically sharpness, story-telling with witty humour and the most important courage of conviction combined with honesty of purpose. This is what explained her commanding of agenda setting power whether she was in the decision making bodies of UGC, ICSSR, Planning Commission of India and several ministries or outside of them. She could galvanize students, teachers, researchers, women’s organizations, trade unionists, bureaucrats, politicians and law makers into action as she was one of the best ‘argumentative Indians’ produced by ‘women’s studies movement’. She was very good at coining catchy terms such as ‘women’s studies movement’ ‘The Indian psyche defined by binary ‘Ma’ versus “Maal’, dichotomy that worships motherhood and dehumanizes/commodifies the rest of women. Her contemporary powerful men in the Universities, research institutions and ministries called her ‘bulldozer’ while women scholars and practitioners found her the most trustworthy friend and mentor. I worked closely with Veenadee during 1981 for the I Women’s Studies Conference hosted by SNDT Women’s University, in 1985 for preparation of ‘End of the Decade’ alternate country report on Status of Women in India, in 1986 for Research Committee 32’s panel discussion on ‘Ante Natal Sex Selective and Abortions of Female Foetus in India’ for World Sociological Conference and in 1988 for a multi-centric research project on ‘Child Care as an Essential Input for women’s Development’.

1. Tribute to
Dr. Vina Mazumdar
by Prof. Vibhuti Patel, 31-5-2013
1

2. “Vinadi: An Argumentative Indian”
With passing away of Dr. Vina Mazumdar, our
Vinadi the Indian Women’s movement has
experienced an irreparable loss.
Vinadi personified in her a far sighted and
strong willed thinker and forceful speaker
and convincing debater who had faith in
‘human goodness’.
2

3. Vinadi launched Dr. Neera Desai’s
book: Feminism in Western India
published by SPARROW, Mumbai
3

4. An Electrifying Persona
• Vinadi’s intellectual prowess did not make her
ivory tower in her approach towards her
colleagues and fellow travelers- academicians,
policy makers, researchers and feminist activists.
She always remained warm at heart, easy to
approach, instant building of rapport, kind and
accessible to ‘inarticulate’, ‘less known’ and ‘less
influential’ people from remote places, civil and
decent with her adversaries, magnanimous in
sharing her knowledge and institutional resources
as Director of Centre for Women’s Development
Studies. 4

5. Idealism & Revolutionary Spirit
5

6. Vinadi’s charm lay in
her electrifying persona,
Always smiling face conveying optimism, down to
earth approach, ideologically sharpness, story-
telling with witty humour and the most important
courage of conviction combined with honesty of
purpose.
This is what explained her commanding of agenda
setting power whether she was in the decision
making bodies of UGC, ICSSR, Planning
Commission of India and several ministries or
outside of them. 6

7. An Argumentative Indian
7
Vinadi could galvanize
students, teachers,
researchers, women’s
organizations, trade
unionists, bureaucrats,
politicians and law
makers into action as
she was one of the best
‘argumentative Indians’
produced by ‘women’s
studies movement’.

8. Vinadi personified a Force to reckon with
She was very good at coining catchy terms such as
‘women’s studies movement’, ‘The Indian psyche
defined by binary ‘Ma’ versus “Maal’, dichotomy
that worships motherhood and dehumanizes/
commodifies the rest of women, ‘intellectual
purdah’ that came women out of public discourse.
Her contemporary powerful men in the Universities,
research institutions and ministries called her
‘bulldozer’ while women scholars and
practitioners found her the most trustworthy
friend and mentor. She was a strategic thinker.
8

9. Vinadi releasing poster of Savitribai &
book at IAWS Conference at SNDT
Women’s University, Pune Campus
9

10. Personal Experience
I worked closely with Vinadi during
• 1981 for the I Women’s Studies Conference
hosted by SNDT Women’s University,
• in 1985 for preparation of ‘End of the Decade’
alternate country report on Status of Women in
India, in 1986 for Research Committee 32’s panel
discussion on ‘Ante Natal Sex Selective and
Abortions of Female Foetus in India’ for World
Sociological Conference and
• in 1988 for a multi-centric research project on
‘Child Care as an Essential Input for women’s
Development’.
10

11. Academic Career
• Vina Mazumdar was born in 1927 and completed
her schooling in Calcutta. She did her honours
course from Benaras Hindu University as well as
Ashutosh College, Calcutta University and
completed D.Phil. from Oxford University.
• In 1947, she went to Oxford University to
complete her graduation in 1951. In 1960, Once
again she enrolled as a research scholar at Oxford
University and within 2 years was awarded D.
Phil. there in 1962.
11

12. Vina Mazumdar in her college days
12

13. Carving her niche in the male
dominated world
Vinadi taught Political Science at Patna University and
Berhampur University for couple of years. After that
she joined UGC. As an Officer in the UGC Secretariat
she made a mark as an energetic officer. She was also
selected as a Fellow of the Indian Institute of
Advanced Studies, Simla.
In 1972, when the Indian government agreed to honour
UN mandate to prepare a status report on women,
Vinadi was appointed as Member Secretary of
Committee on the Status of Women in India.
Her unique contribution while preparation of
landmark report “Towards Equality” as a researcher
and analytical rigour to explain material and
ideological conditions that determined women’s
predicament in India made her most sought after
13

14. National Impact
During International Women’s Year (1975), Vinadi
was appointed as Director, Programme of
Women's Studies, Indian Council of Social Science
Research for five years (1975-80).
She was Founder-Director of the Centre for
Women's Development Studies, New Delhi from
1980 to 1991, and thereafter was Senior Fellow at
CWDS and JP Naik National Fellow, ICSSR, for two
years. From 1996-2013, Dr. Vina Mazumdar was
the Chairperson, Centre for Women's
Development Studies, New Delhi. She was a heart
and soul of Indian Association of Women’s14

15. Dr. Vina Mazumdar & Prof. Lotika
Sarkar: Powerful Sisterhood
15

16. Activism & Policy Intervention
In 1974, When All India Institute of Medical Science began conducting
a sample survey of amniocentesis to find out about foetal genetic
conditions and easily managed to enroll 11000 pregnant women as
volunteers for its research, main interest of these volunteer
pregnant women was to know sex of the foetus. Once the results
were out, those women who were told that they were carrying
female fetuses, demanded abortion. When the young researcher of
AIIMS shared this observation with Vinadi, she mobilsed women’s
delegation to meet the health minister to stop abuse of
amniocentesis for sex selective abortions.
Vinadi was a great champion of participatory action research. Her
writings provided road map for developmental initiatives. Her
memoir, Memories of a Rolling Stone published by Zubaan Books in
2010 provides vivid description of her principles, programmes,
policy initiatives in collaboration with her team of ‘movers and
shakers’.
16

17. Vinadi will remain with us with her
insightful publications:
• Education & Social Change: Three Studies on Nineteenth
Century India. Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1972.
• Role of Rural Women in Development. University of
Sussex. Institute of Development Studies. Allied
Publishers, 1978.
• Symbols of Power: Studies on the Political Status of
Women in India. Allied, 1979.
• Emergence of the Women's Question in India and the Role
of Women's Studies. Centre for Women's Development
Studies, 1985.
• Peasant Women Organise for Empowerment: The
Bankura Experiment. Centre for Women's Development
17

18. We will celebrate your life & work
18
Mainstays of
Women’s Studies
movement
(In the front Row,
left to right)
Dr. Vina Mazumdar,
Dr. Leela Dube
Dr. Neera Desai