Neera Desai was one of the leaders of Women's Studies in India and was noted for her contributions as a professor, researcher, academician, political activist, and social worker. She founded the first of its kind Research Centre for Women’s Studies and the Centre for Rural Development in 1974. She joined the SNDT Women's University in 1954 and was a part of various governing bodies as a professor and the Head of Department of Sociology.
Early life
Desai was born in 1925 to a Gujarati family that was involved in and supported the Indian Independence Movement. Desai herself joined the freedom movement at an early age as a schoolgirl when she became a part of the Vanar Sena, founded by Indira Gandhi which helped the underground circulation of political messages and banned publications. Neera did her primary education at the Fellowship School, a co-educational institution which was founded on Theosophist ideology. She joined Elphinstone College in 1942, but soon gave up formal education to take part in the freedom movement after Mahatma Gandhi's initiation of the Quit India Resolution. Neera married Akshay Ramanlal Desai, a fellow sociologist, in 1947. Eventually completing her studies, Desai concluded her postgraduate studies shortly post Indian independence. Her M.A. thesis focused on Women in Modern India, which was later published in 1957. Desai died on 25 June 2009 in Mumbai.
Professional timeline
Desai’s professional works focused on improving gender studies, bringing in practical experience into academic life through many policy recommendations, harboring and propagating an understanding the links of the civil society and educational curriculum. Listed below is short and by no way complete timeline of some of the positions she held during her career.
1954 - Joined SNDT
1965 - Completed her PhD in Sociology
1972 - Appointed as a member of the Social Task Force of the Committee on the Status of Women in India
1975 - Founded the Research Unit for Women’s Studies
1982 - Was one of the founding members of Indian Association for Women’s Studies
1987 - Became a member of the National Commission on Self Employed Women and Women in the Informal Sector
1988 - Became one of the founding members of SPARROW
Notable works
Desai has written in both English and Gujarati at the intersection of sociology, history, and women's studies. Her books include:
Neera Desai, Traversing through Gendered Spaces: Insights from Women’s Narratives, in Sujata Patel and Krishna Raj, Thinking Social Science in India: Essays in Honour of Alice Thorner. Another version was published in Gujarati in 1997.
N. Desai and S. Gogate, ‘Teaching of Sociology through the Regional Language’
Neera Desai, Women and the Bhakti Movement, in Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid, Women and Culture.
