Reclaiming Spaces

A woman’s endeavour to claim her space is not a recent phenomenon. It is as eternal as mankind itself. Even before the gender discourse gained prominence with the Women’s Liberation movement around 1970, women were known to have negotiated their space within the unwritten, strict code of conduct ordained for them. The rigid patriarchal norms, the lingering cultural hegemonies, cherished and revered stereotypes and rigid belief systems have often left a woman with little choice or free will and have forced her to fit into a formula. This has placed a woman in a subordinated position, where her identity is compromised and her Self is withered. In such a scenario, reclaiming her space is a crucial exercise for peaceful survival. ‘Reclaiming’ implies that she has to ‘earn’ her space, which, by virtue of being a human, she is actually a legitimate claimant. Her trajectory of reclaiming space is navigated through diverse modes of resistance such as silence, noncompliance, assertion or defiance—which are ways to deal with the existing power structures to carve a niche for herself. Professor Sukhija has tried to address these subtle negotiations that women generally make to reclaim their space within the hegemonic structures.