Face to Face with Rural Women: CWDS’ Search for New Knowledge and an Interventionist Role

Abstract

Established in 1980, the Centre for Women’s Development Studies (CWDS) carried a legacy of the traumatic experience shared by most members of the Committee on the Status of Women in India (1971-74); five years (1975-80) of attempts at sponsoring  compensatory research on the majority of Indian women whose life experiences had remained ‘invisible’ to policy makers and social analysts alike; and three years (1977-80) of a frantic search for new development strategies and policies in collaboration with the Planning Commission and a few allies within the bureaucracy.