Meera Velayudhan

Dr. Meera Velayudhan, has been involved in gender studies since its inception in India since early 1980s, to an extent, conducted within the discipline of History. Her doctoral research, focused on gender, caste, social reform,nationalism and popular movements in Kerala and an earlier CWDS study-the coir workers’ struggles in Kerala was one of the early labour studies which pointed to the complexities of studying gendered identities in social movements in a context where structural changes were taking place in the industry The focus of her research since then has been on strategies of organization of women in varied contexts, historical and contemporary. Meera also draws from her own social legacy. Coming from a family which had actively participated in the debate on citizenship, social policy and affirmative action in the 1930s and 40s and whose lives traversed several modernities- anti-caste, social reform, state peoples movement, nationalist movements. Meera has a vast body f publications- English, Malayalam, Hindi. She is a Policy Analyst and President of Indian Association For Womens Studies (IAWS).