‘Women writers are anthropologists of the future’

Raising the query on why visibility was important in today’s world, the Delhi poet–cum-author, who spoke bi-lingually in English and Hindi, emphasised strongly that it was essential as visual culture was on the rise and access to social media was increasing steadily.

Making a distinction between voice and visibility for women writers, Prof. Nair said that both are not necessarily same.

She added, “You have a voice when you have a choice.” She shared the findings of a survey commissioned by Thomson Reuters recently which studied the topic ‘Women & Stress’ and concluded that out of the 35 countries it took up for this activity, Indian women said that they were the most stressed (a whopping 87 per cent), followed by Russian and Mexican women. While adding that stress was good for writers as they experience the essence of their writings better, she deliberated upon the status of women writers in India, whom she confidently asserted are the ‘anthropologists of the future’.

However, she elaborated on the ‘narrowing down of scope’ for them in day-to-day existence, when they are more seen penning poems/novels and fiction, which is clearly restrictive. While she agreed that women knew men think about beauty, she was not sure whether women of today knew what they themselves think about it, not to speak about other serious issues affecting our lives like corruption and governance.

Prof. Nair’s project, based on Charles Darwin’s findings and backed by Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, were a series of 20 films which traced human behaviour and linking it to women especially. This was exhibited to the 150-strong overwhelmingly female audience, comprising Shaheen volunteers and vocational institute students, apart from Intermediate students of Hussaini Alam Junior College. This was followed by discussion with local women writers.

Earlier, during her inaugural address, Jameela Nishat from Shaheen, said, “In Hyderabad, women’s writing is conspicuous by its absence by and large, especially in Urdu and Telugu languages.

Citing the case of Sohra Humayun Mirza, the noted Urdu writer, she added that despite the phenomenal work the former had done in Urdu, hardly anything could be collated about it from modern day media, including Google.”