Femicide in Colonial and Post Colonial India: A Study of Varanasi

Wed, October 5, 2022 3:00 PM at 303 International Center

Globally, discrimination against women and girl children is rampant. But in some South Asian countries, it
is manifested in its worst form – femicide, where a female child is eliminated before or immediately after
birth. There is evidence of female infanticide in colonial India that continues in the post-colonial period in
the form of female feticide. Professor Prasad will discuss this issue in the context of Varanasi, India,
because the city has been at the center of femicide in both eras.

SPEAKER: Prof Shweta Prasad is a professor in the Department of Sociology, since November 2015 and the Director of the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. She is a Managing Committee member (2018-2023) of the Indian Sociological Society (ISS), the professional association of Sociologists of India. She also served as the Convener of the RC 10 (Research Committee on Gender Studies) of the ISS (Jan 2015 to Dec 2017). Recently, she has been appointed Review Editor for the journal, Frontiers in Tropical Diseases, a US-based open access journal.