Patriarchy, Community Rights and Institutions for Education: Counter-discourse and Negotiation for Rights

The normality of covert forms of discrimination, and the manner in which intimate, familial and everyday forms of oppression determine political practices and institutional spaces, present a great challenge to women negotiating spaces and rights in public life. Specifically, the paper looks at women’s education in one of the historic centres of education and ‘reforms’ for Muslims of north India, which continues to be representative of educated Muslim opinion and remains centre stage of Muslim politics. The paper also looks at the attempts by women on the campus to negotiate spaces and challenge the constraints put on them. It seeks to bring out innovative ways and use also of the cultural resources to counter the discriminatory discourses and practices. The paper notes the moments of breaking silence and overt resistances as well as non-confrontational strategy of shifting issues that girls employ in order to avoid disciplinary actions.