Gender has been an issue of great concern in society from time immemorial. Yet, even today, India as a society has still not clearly established a respectable position for it’s women.

I spent a period of eight weeks at CSR (from May to July), which have been period of enormous learning for me. The rationale behind a summer placement, given by Delhi University is to provide students an understanding of the work culture, and to gain more than just a theoretical understanding of social issues. The eight weeks that I spent in CSR have provided me just that. An understanding of the various processes involved at work, the structured character of any task and the inter personal relationship building are aspects that I tried to imbibe here.

I had been interested in a work profile, which would involve a judicious mix of academic understanding, and administrative visualization of the planning. At CSR’s Research department I found both. Research is not an individual process, it requires group work. I have tried to value this group experience through my inputs at the department.

I was involved in a number of tasks. I spent my initial days doing a short study on the international and national funding organizations and some of their features. Creating a document that classified these organizations was a huge learning for me. Research is an area that requires financial infrastructure. While the developing countries are receiving tremendous amount of aid, there is still a tremendous gap between what this aid aspires to do and what it actually does.

Another task that I was a part of was the group research exercise of the Study on Impact Assessment of Gender Sensitisation of Law Enforcement Agencies. I was involved in the collection of research material, mainly books and manuals from key research libraries and in the content analysis of some of these manuals. After this exercise I am wholly convinced that the need for manuals for trainers on gender sensitisation is imperative. Most of the existing manuals are incomplete, full of clichés, and often do not address several key issues at all.

I also wrote a paper titled ‘Female Foeticide in India: An Overview of the Problem & Related Issues’. The paper gave me an important insight into the issue of sex selection and foeticide. This crude and inhuman form of gender discrimination has recently entered the arena of public debate and discussion. Nevertheless, the gravity of the situation demands immediate measures to be taken. The paper would be used as the discussion paper for CSR’s Interactive session on Female Foeticide, held in partnership with the National Commission for Women and UNFPA, on the 18th of July 2005.

CSR provided me wonderful opportunities to expand my understanding of the gender issue. I have interacted and learnt a lot not only from my department, but also through interaction with the gender training Institute. I would like to thank Dr Hamsa for being a wonderful guide, and Barnali and Dr Sanghita for being excellent work mates, and helping me out at various junctures. I also thank all the CSR personnel who have endured my madness for these two months.