Vina Mazumdar facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Vina Mazumdar
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Mazumdar while a student of Asutosh College
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| Born | 28 March 1927 |
| Died | 30 May 2013 (aged 86) |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Education | D. Phil. |
| Alma mater | Oxford University |
| Occupation | women studies academic and researcher |
| Organization | Centre for Women's Development Studies, Delhi |
Dr. Vina Mazumdar (born March 28, 1927 – died May 30, 2013) was an important Indian scholar, activist, and a champion for women's rights. She was a leader in the field of women's studies in India. She helped start the women's movement there. Dr. Mazumdar was one of the first women scholars to mix her activism with her research about women.
She was the secretary for the first Committee on the Status of Women in India. This committee wrote an important report called Towards Equality (1974). This report looked at the situation of women in India. She also helped start the Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS) in 1980. This was an independent group under the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). She was a National Research Professor at the Centre for Women's Development Studies in Delhi.
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Early Life and Education
Vina Mazumdar was born in Kolkata, India, on March 28, 1927. She grew up in a middle-class Bengali family. She was the youngest of five children. Her father, Prakash Majumdar, was an engineer. Her uncle was a famous historian named R.C. Majumdar.
Vina went to school at St. John's Diocesan Girls' Higher Secondary School in Kolkata. She then studied at Women's College, Banaras Hindu University. Later, she went to Asutosh College at the University of Calcutta. While there, she became the secretary of the Ashutosh College Girls Students Union. She helped organize a meeting to support the Rama Rao Committee. This committee wanted to give daughters more rights to inherit property through Hindu Law Reform.
In 1947, after India became independent, she went to St Hugh's College, Oxford, in England. She finished her first degree there in 1951. She returned to Oxford University in 1960. She earned her advanced degree (a D.Phil.) in 1962.
Career and Important Work
Vina Mazumdar started her career in 1951. She taught Political Science at Patna University. She became the first secretary of the Patna University Teachers' Association. Later, she taught at Berhampur University. She then joined the University Grants Commission in New Delhi. She worked there as an Education Officer. She also became a Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies in Shimla. There, she researched 'University Education and Social Change in India' from 1970 to 1970.
Committee on the Status of Women
From 1971 to 1974, she was a key member of the Committee on the Status of Women in India. The Indian government formed this committee in 1971. Vina Mazumdar joined in 1973 as the Member Secretary. The committee's report, Towards Equality, was very important. It showed how poverty among women was increasing. It also highlighted a decrease in the number of women compared to men in India. This report changed how people thought about women's issues in India. It also boosted the women's movement.
Leading Women's Studies
After this, Mazumdar became the Director of the Programme of Women's Studies. This was at the Indian Council of Social Science Research from 1975 to 1980. She also helped organize a meeting to support the Rama Rao Committee's ideas. These ideas aimed to give daughters more inheritance rights.
In 1980, she helped create the Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS) in New Delhi. She was its first Director until she retired in 1991. CWDS started a new idea called "action-research." For example, they worked with landless women farmers in the Bankura district of West Bengal. CWDS became a very important place for women's studies in India.
Vina Mazumdar always connected her academic research with her activism. She called this the "women's studies movement." She also helped start the Indian Association of Women's Studies (IAWS) in 1982. Later, she was a Senior Fellow at CWDS. She was also the Chairperson of the Centre for Women's Development Studies from 1996 to 2005.
In 2010, she published her life story, called Memories of a Rolling Stone.
Personal Life
Vina Mazumdar married Shankar Mazumdar, a musician, in 1952. She met him while working in Patna. After getting married, she changed her last name from Majumdar to Mazumdar. They had four children: three daughters and one son.
Dr. Mazumdar passed away in a hospital in Delhi on May 30, 2013. She was 86 years old and had been ill for a short time. Her children survived her.
See also
In Spanish: Vina Mazumdar para niños
- State feminism
