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Peace Prints, published by WISCOMP is an initiative to provide space for research on issues that lie at the intersection of gender, conflict, peace and security. The journal has served as a resource for furthering writing and research in the field of peace building in the South Asian Region. It foregrounds women's leadership in the areas of peace and security and promotes cultures of pluralism and coexistence in the region, promoting research at the intersections. While interdisciplinary scholarship has contributed to research in gender, the disabled men, women, transgender and queer identity remains largely underrepresented and under-theorized. Thus, the aim of the special issue, titled Disability and Gender, is to fill this gap in academia and advance the exploration of disability studies.

More than one billion people in the world live with some form of disability, of whom nearly 200 million experience considerable difficulties in functioning. As per Census in India 2011, 2.68 Cr persons are ‘disabled’ which is 2.21% of the total population. In the Indian context, Disability has largely been seen through the lens of charity and medicine, focusing on the health and welfare perspectives without any attempt at cultural analysis. Along with this bias, the women’s movement in India has been equally exclusionary in acknowledging disability. The movement’s aim predominantly has been to recast the traditional gender roles and to rewrite the experience of a single category labeled ‘woman’ and ‘man’. However, with past and emergent scholarship, we are now aware that there cannot be a single category that can be labeled, ‘woman’ and ‘man’ on the basis of unifying experiences. Caste, religion, economic class, and disability come into play while describing an experience and thus experiences of men and women from different backgrounds will differ.

Disability is not just a physical or mental condition; it is also a social condition, one that is heavily stigmatized. Although men and women with disabilities experience similar forms of devaluation, isolation, and discrimination from the society, the gender quotient has a profound effect on the material and non-material experience of gender. The prevalence of disability among women is higher than among men. The WHO 'World Report on Disability' (2011) estimates that 19% of women and 12% of men have a disability. Women are more likely to develop a disability throughout their life course through, e.g., childbirth, abuse, poor health and poverty. Women with disabilities face exclusion from education and employment and are at higher risk of violence, neglect and poverty than women without disabilities. Gender and disability combine to form some of the most severe forms of marginalisation and discrimination. Experience has shown us that unless disability is specifically included into development programmes and activities, women and girls with disabilities will not benefit from them. It is crucial then to rethink definitions and approaches to disability, alongside social and political action. Disability has gained interest spike in disciplines such as history, literature, philosophy but more often than not scholarly work refuses to recognize disability broadly in their reflections on gender. 

This special issue edited by Professor Anita Ghai ([log in to unmask]) invites scholars to demonstrate the ways in which intersectional gender scholarship is central to the field of disability. Analyses attentive to disability will enhance the conversation and fill the gaps in gender scholarship.

Contributions might focus on, but should not necessarily be limited to the following topics

 

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Submit your abstract by 10th April, 2018 for consideration to [log in to unmask] . It should concisely describe your work and be 150-200 words in length. The acceptance after review of the abstract will be sent by 30th April. The last date for submitting the complete paper (5000-8000 words) for review is 30th June, 2018.

 






Anita Ghai


 The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house,"  Audre Lorde (1979).

Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken. 
Albert Camus 

 

Permanent Address

Prof in School of Human Studies
Ambedkar University 
Lothian Road
Delhi 110006




Resi:- J12/68 B Rajouri Garden
New Delhi, 110027 India
110027
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