Research on the theme of women’s access to public space in India has shown effectively how it is both conditional and limited (Phadke 2010, Vishwanathan  2007 among others). Elsewhere I have argued that this is underpinned with a deep seated misogyny directed against women who are seen as transgressors in public spaces (Datta 2016). This paper explores the spaces of social media where the same misogyny is unleashed on women seeking to voice their opinions on matters related to gender and nation. The focus here is to explore the resistances to such genderscapes of online hate. These genderscapes of online hate  freely invoke the idea of Bharat mata (mother India) to silence their victims with threats of extreme gendered violence.  Online resistance to such misogyny and the prevailing patriarchal culture has spawned several sites, memes and grassroots movements among which in one instance women have countered ‘ Bharat ki mata nahin banenge !’ (We will not be mothers of India !) 

Global Gender Matters organizes workshops which examine the transnational ways in which gender is configured socio-culturally, economically, and politically in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Europe. Scholars with a particular interest in global gender matters are invited to get together to meet and explore how sexualized and racialized roles, relationships, powers, and conflicts interact with ideas about gender both in the Global South and the Global North.

Previous workshops were organised around themes such as Gendered Movements: Transgressions, Powers, and Vulnerabilities (2015), Gendered Migration: Global Flows of Visions and Agency (2014), Civil Society, Politics, and Opposition (2013), Post-Colonialism and Spaces of Resistance (2012), and News from “The Field”: Work in Progress (2010).

Very welcome to this edition of Global Gender Matters Workshop. Please press here to download the programme.