• 
• 
• 

Role of Women Faculties in Art Institutions

Sameena Siddiqui, an art history student in Santiniketan goes around and visits the women art practitioners settled in Santiniketan and finds out that the opinions are divided even amongst women on the issue of having women faculties in art institutions.

Manjari

Twenty First Century....an Era of Hi-Tech....a time which has abundance of choices...which is free of all shackles...a time which believes in freedom...the freedom of thought...the freedom of mind and body...the freedom of masses and classes. It is also believed that this liberal atmosphere has given fillip to the social status of women. The modern day woman has started setting the new parameters
for herself as well as for the society in general. But, does this notion hold water on the touchstone of reality around us. Does a woman really enjoy the fruits of modern day advancements? The more we try to unravel these queries, the starker is the picture. While looking from the stand point of a woman, we find that in the name of equality, prejudice and discrimination still rule; in the name of technology, capitalism dominates our day to day life. These realities become harsher when as a student you try to practice what you are taught. The idealistic teaching becomes Utopia and the biting reality evokes total disillusionment. This enfolds the “promises” of “change”. The change in the obdurate social structure through education, the change in the mental set up of people living
in a society, a change in the perception towards world. But what happens when ,”education” and “change” become the superficial layers of our society and are not able to strike at the core of the structure. One can still find the old notions affecting the psyche of the people. The old has not replaced the new. The struggle in the name of transition has not brought the freshness of ideology. And this came as a realization to me more, when I began to explore the role and position of women in our present day social structure.

On the basis of these realisations, I tried to discuss the role of women professors in an art institution with my friends. There were different views on this topic. For some, women professor can be a“role model” and for a lot of female students, she can shape up their imagination and bring clarity to their thought line. She will always be someone to look up to. She can be a “representative” in putting forth the problems of female students in front of authorities of institution. Her presence will help in breaking many glass ceilings within the institutions. For example many a times, because of the vulnerable position of the women in the society male professors out of sympathy give undue leverage to female students. According to Jhankar Nazary, a senior teacher, Department of Art History,  these  “preferences” sometime become a vicious circle. They give little to take away too much. Because this phenomenon stops female students from experimental work which involves risk, as a result there creativity is hampered. If the preference is extended to a female student because of the vulnerability of women in the society, then the concept of a strong woman evaporates. The image of the new woman is shattered. This kind of behaviour, propagates "gender conciousness" which pushes women back to the confines of 19th century rather than projecting her as a WOMAN of 21st Century. According to Chandrima Bhattcharya, practicing artist in Santiniketan ,if women have all the serious potential, in today’s context nothing can stop her from reaching the zenith of whatever profession she is in. But again, perhaps she has to struggle more to prove her mettle than her male counterparts.

Now, after this grueling struggle a woman ultimately makes it to the final. And successfully gets the professorship in an Art Institute how successfully she can accomplish her duty? How can she contribute in the development of the art institute, she is associated with. Will she be as good as her male colleagues? Or she will be better or worse? According to Manjari Chakravarti (an exstudent of kala bhavan and presently a practicing artist residing in Santiniketan) women professor plays a very important role in “nurturing” the mind of students. As woman is the source of life, the birth giver, the nurturer, mentor, and molder of the present and the future, when she is a professor in an institution, she nurtures the sense of integrity in her students. Being a woman her thinking is generally unbiased. This helps in creating a healthy intellectual space. She does not allow “pity”, sympathy or preferences to play a role in the education of students. Manjari prefers to struggle for whatever she wants in her life rather than going through the short cut of preferences. Manjari has addressed
gender issues in her series of paintings during 1997 and 1998. According to her, women professor can help female students in overstepping the boundaries. The illusive four walls which their backgrounds have erected around them. In a sense she can be a counselor to them. she can certainly bring different view points in the way we perceive art as women have got very subtle ways to look at and understand things.

Mini Shivkumar, a practicing artist in Santiniketan says, on many social issues the perception of men may differ from that of women. And it is very important in academics to sort these differences out. This is required to amalgamate several view points to broaden the horizon of general thinking. The acceptance of diverse views is always healthy for the growth of an academic institution . She further deduces that the biological differences between man and woman are the reason behind social differences. According to her, in academics, there are less women because of more familial responsibilities. One woman has to play many roles in our present social structure. The responsibilities at family front delimit the professional abilities of a woman. Mini adds," "a professional woman, at a time, may reach to certain standard in her career but she would not be able to maintain that level for a longer period of time. And the reason for this she again assigns to the pressures a woman has to
encounter at family front. Especially in the feild of art, where continuous efforts are required to attain excellence. This is because the perfection in art needs creativity. And creativity requires freedom not pressures. It is said that regular familial pressures take away the artistic sensitivity and creative
sensibility.

When a topic is raised, different opinions crop up, and naturally argument ensues. Lipi Biswas, a woman potter residing in Santiniketan, has her point to put forth. According to her why should anyone make such a hue and cry for woman professor? She asks. Lipi says that this is an ideological debate. She has serious doubts whether the presence of women professor in campus makes an difference or not. Lipi goes a step further and says that in Indian tradition we always had a concept of  ardhnareshvera". Shiva as a deity has masculine as well as feminine attributes to his personality. So if a student is clear about his or her purpose, he or she can always look up to the feminine aspect in the male professors.

In my opinion, this kind of view point consequently leads to petty politicking and does not give any space to substantial debates. As I went for more elaboration, I found many people clueless on this issue. And if dark clouds of "cluelessness" and "narrow thinking" kept hovering over the minds of so called educated people the Sun of "change" will never rise. Certainly, every debatable issue has two sides-for and against. But in my opinion the final conclusion should be drawn after looking at the realities. And the reality is this that women professors require more representation in the Art Institutions. This is not for their upliftment but for the sake of bringing better harmony and balance in the structure of an Art Institute.