Women’s Studies Centre, Holy Cross College was established on 20th December 2010. The Centre has been approved under the XI plan of the University Grants Commission. The Centre aims to work for the downtrodden women and girl children who face challenges in their daily life in our patriarchal society. We need to understand that women have always been the cornerstones to any success and it is with this conviction that the Centre functions with special focus on areas such as teaching and training, research, filed action, advocacy, documentation, networking and coordination with governmental and voluntary organisations. The Centre has been receiving funds from the University Grants Commission regularly.

VISION

We are committed to build a gender-just humane society and make a difference in the lives of women.

MISSION

Our mission consists of knowledge¬ creation and dissemination, capacity building and women's leadership development, policy development, networking and coordination.

OBJECTIVES

i. Knowledge Creation and Dissemination: Through research and collaborative learning we analyze the socio-economic, cultural and political, ideological and environmental factors that affect the lives and well-being of women. We create new pedagogical methods and alternative systems of knowledge that will enhance the place of women in all Social Institutions.

ii. Capacity Building and Women Leadership Development: With a view to increase the confidence level of women, to create a climate of solidarity and to foster women leaders at all levels, various awareness and capacity building programmes such as conferences, workshops, seminars, and training programmes are organized.

iii. Policy Advocacy: We work towards a sustainable development of women through active public campaigns and policy change at local and national levels.

iv. Networking and Coordination: We network with government agencies, national and international NGOs, women movements and academic institutions to further the cause of women empowerment.

COURSES OFFERED:

     1.Course on Gender Studies :

A course on Gender Studies is offered to all the II UG students except II BASLP Audiology and Speech Language Pathology as per the guidelines of Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli.

    2.Certificate Course in Gender and Development

Certificate course in Gender and Development was offered to the students in the even semester since 2012 - 2013. So far 7 batches of students have completed the course with 100 % pass percentage. The course is modeled on life-oriented syllabus which consists of three papers namely (1) Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, (2) Gender and Health and (3) Gender and Work. Ms.R. Saraswathi, Co-ordinator, Women’s Studies Centre and Ms.K. Dhanalakshimi, Assistant Professor of Mathematics (S - II) handled the classes. The CIA is for 25 marks and the external examination is for 75 marks.

    3.Certificate Course in Women and Law

This course is introduced a Certificate Course in Women and Law in the year 2018 - 2019 with a aim to create legal awareness about women specific laws as well as to capacitate them to face legal procedures for day to day needs. The duration of the course is 30 hours. Students should attend a minimum of 26 hours to acquire a certificate as well as do field work and submit assignments. Entry level and exit level evaluation will be conducted to assess students learning level. There were 59 students from Shift I & Shift II studied the course. During the year 2019 – 2020, a total of 60 students have successfully completed the course.

NATIONAL CONFERENCE/SEMINAR CONDUCTED:

  UGC sponsored National Conference on “Exploring Gender Issues in Multi-Dimensional Approaches” (Inter-Disciplinary Relevance) on 6th February 2015. A book entitled “Exploring Gender Issues in Multi – Dimensional Approach (Inter – Disciplinary Relevance)”, consisting of 50 papers was released at the UGC sponsored National Conference

  IMPRESS – ICSSR sponsored National Seminar on the Role of Media and Culture on Indian Family System in the Process of Nation Building on 13th December 2019

NATIONAL NUTRITION WEEK CELEBRATION

  WSC in collaboration with NSS conducted various competitions on nutrition for different target groups such as teaching staff, administrative staff, students of Shift – I, students of Shift – II, male students and hostellers in the College from 1st to 7th September and gave prizes during the valediction on 7th September with the awareness on nutrition since 2012 to till date.

GENDER CHAMPION CLUB (S-I & S-II)

  Gender Champion Club is one of the initiatives of Women’s Studies Centre which organizes many programmes for women and men on gender equity. It come under Service Oriented Hour (SOC) of our College.

LEGAL AID CLINIC

Inauguration of Legal Aid Clinic & Awareness Camp on Women and Children’s Rights, Sexual Violence against Women and Children and Self Defense on 24th January 2013.The Clinic is being run in collaboration with District Legal Services Authority of Tiruchirappalli. An Advocate visits the Legal Aid Clinic on all first and third Thursday of each month from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. to give legal awareness, advice and refer some cases to District Legal Services Authority, Tiruchirappalli. The Advocate has been assisted by the Para Legal Volunteer (Ms.R. Saraswathi, Co-ordinator, WSC). The Para Legal Volunteer acts as a bridge between the advocate and various kinds of beneficiaries such as students, students’ parents, teaching and non-teaching staff and public. Then the Advocate’s visit day was shifted from Thursday to all Wednesdays.

Few Success Stories:

  One widow was unable to get her widow certificate for the past 23 years due to her illiteracy. The Para Legal Volunteer accompanied her to Taluk office and guided her. At last she got her widow certificate

  An educated woman who has less salary was unable to the pay fee to the advocate. Hence her matrimonial dispute case was in struggle. The Volunteer arranged an advocate through District Legal Services Authority, Tiruchirappalli and the case is in progress now

  An economically weaker section woman’s name was excluded in the Slum Clearance Board’s house allotment name list. She was helped by the volunteer through Mediation Centre at District Legal Services Authority, Tiruchirappalli and her name has been included in the house allotment list

Law College Students’ Observation Visit / Internship Programme Visit :

As part of summer internship programme, the Law students of Tamil Nadu National Law School, Tiruchirappalli and Government Law College, Tiruchirappalli attended various training programmes at District Legal Services Authority, Tiruchirappalli and its branches. They visited our Legal Aid Clinic for observation and exposure. So far 3 batches of students have visited our clinic and appreciated our activities

NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR WOMEN SPONSORED LEGAL AWARENESS PROGRAMME

Women’s Studies Centre conducted a “Competition on Laws related to Women” as per the guidelines and sponsored by National Commission for Women, Government of India in the academic year 2017-18 and 2018-19.

DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION

The Centre does dissemination work by carrying out the following activities such as Newsletters, College Magazine, Video Clips, Newspaper Clippings, Library, Notice Board, Audio-Visual Documentation, Wall Hanging Posters, Pamphlets and Samyukta Journal.