EFLU Lucknow Holds Workshop on Gender Sensitization, Inclusivity and Empowerment
She also articulated the need for rigorous empirical research based on understanding of both men and women’s positions in Vedic, post-Vedic and modern times.
Lucknow University
As part of International Women’s Day celebrations, The English and Foreign Languages University, Regional Campus, Lucknow organized a one-day workshop on ‘Gender Sensitization, Inclusivity and Empowerment: An IKS Perspective’ on 18 March 2026. The workshop provided an important platform to address issues related to gender roles, equality and empowerment bringing in the perspective of Indian Knowledge Systems, in consonance with the goals of National Education Policy, 2020.
It was presided by Prof. Rajneesh Arora, Director, Regional Campus, Lucknow who emphasized the need for creating gender awareness, confronting entrenched attitudes and reducing asymmetry in order to encourage research on gender in Indian contexts from social, cultural, literary and historical perspectives. The workshop included talks by two eminent speakers who stressed upon the themes of interdisciplinarity, inclusion and reinterpretation of texts to engage in more academically informed gender analyses. Prof. Akansha Singh from Department of Education, University of Lucknow spoke about gender sensitization and the role of women in contemporary education.
She also articulated the need for rigorous empirical research based on understanding of both men and women’s positions in Vedic, post-Vedic and modern times. Dr. Alka Singh from Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University articulated the need for reinterpreting classical Indian texts to bridge the gap between abstract and metaphysical knowledge on one hand with sociocultural lived realities on the other. Dr. Saumya Sharma, the organizing secretary, of the workshop linked women’s socialization and gendering with questions of women’s autonomy and choices through the devout lives of women saints across India, focusing on the need for integrating IKS in social research. Overall, the workshop addressed ways of dealing with gender gaps across social and professional contexts and creating gender balance through renegotiation and re-integration of texts and cultures, linking past to the present as a way of sustainable development and nation-building.