NXHLillian at 23:36, 18 January 2026

2026-01-18T23:36:25Z

New page

{{Short description|Indian queer feminist, activist and educator}}
{{Fan POV|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Chayanika Shah
| alma_mater = IIT-Bombay
| organization = LABIA – A Queer Feminist LBT Collective
Forum Against Oppression of Women
Forum Against Sex Determination and Sex Preselection (FASDSP)
| known_for = Work and activism at the intersection of science, feminism, and queer rights.
| notable_works = Bharat ki Chaap
We and Our Fertility: The politics of technological intervention
No Outlaws in the Gender Galaxy (Zubaan Books)
Space, Segregation, Discrimination: The Politics of Space in Institutions of Higher Education (Yoda Press)
| movement = People’s science movement, Feminist and queer rights movement, Feminist science studies, Women in STEM
}}

'''Chayanika Shah''' is a queer feminist, activist,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aleya |first=Shikha |date=2019-06-01 |title=Interview: Chayanika Shah |url=https://www.tarshi.net/inplainspeak/interview-chayanika-shah/ |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=In Plainspeak |language=en-US}}</ref> [[educator]] involved in various women's rights movements in India since the late 1970s. She is known for her work in feminist science studies, initiating courses where science is explored using the lens of gender. Shah's work in science, feminism and [[queer rights]], has involved a critique of science's control over women's bodies and sexualities. Shah has published several essays and publications on topics of gender, science and [[feminism]] and is a contributor in the field of feminism, [[queer rights]] and science.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bazzul |first1=Jesse |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=afaEDwAAQBAJ&dq=chayanika+shah&pg=PA29 |title=Critical Voices in Science Education Research: Narratives of Hope and Struggle |last2=Siry |first2=Christina |date=2019-01-23 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-99990-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Rosario">{{Cite news |last=Rosario |first=Kennith |date=2020-02-25 |title=No NRC-NPR in State, say women, queer collectives, demand assurance from CM |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/no-nrc-npr-in-state-say-women-queer-collectives-demand-assurance-from-cm/article30917613.ece |access-date=2023-03-29 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

Shah was one of the earliest members of the [[Forum against Oppression of Women|Forum Against Oppression of Women]], Forum Against Sex Determination and Sex Preselection (FASDSP),<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |title=Resistance |url=https://fiftytwo.in/story/resistance/ |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=Fifty Two (52)}}</ref> a coalition of women's organisations. She is one of the founding members of a queer collective called [[LABIA|LABIA – A Queer Feminist LBT Collective]] in 1995.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-09-07 |title=Legal battle reflects a broader rights struggle: LGBT activists |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/legal-battle-reflects-a-broader-rights-struggle-lgbt-activists/story-hIDGc9ad7ytTniXPWKWW7N.html |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Interview with Chayanika Shah, 2019 – QAMRA |url=https://qamra.in/collections/377interviews/chayanika-shah-2019/ |access-date=2023-03-29 |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Shah grew up in [[Nagpur]] (now a part of Maharashtra) in the 1960s-1970s. In 1977, she entered [[IIT Bombay|IIT-Bombay]] to earn a master's degree in physics, and receiving her PhD in 1986.<ref name=":02"/><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-04-27 |title=Chayanika Shah |url=https://fundamatics.net/author/chayanika-shah/ |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=Fundamatics |language=en-US}}</ref> She published her dissertation titled "Many Body Effects in Homogenous and Inhomogenous Electron Systems" in the mid-1980s, followed by a stint at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy, where she attended summer school for researchers from developing countries.<ref name=":02" />

She was one of the 70 women on IIT campus amongst 3000 men at a time when [[sexual harassment]] from colleagues and professors was rampant, despite efforts to make the campus a safe and equitable space.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Vellanki |first=Vivek |date=2014-03-01 |title=Feminism and Science: Teaching and Learning 'Science in the Making' • In Plainspeak |url=https://www.tarshi.net/inplainspeak/feminism-science-teaching-learning-science-making/ |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=In Plainspeak |language=en-US}}</ref> Shah, along with other women on campus, campaigned to rename the "Ladies’ Hostel" as "Hostel Number 10."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2017-04-26 |title=Chronicles of a Queer Relationship with Science |url=https://www.epw.in/journal/2017/17/review-womens-studies/chronicles-queer-relationship-science.html |language=en |volume=52 |issue=17}}</ref><ref name=":02"/> In tandem, she helped reform the hostel's regulations as they restricted women.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Datta |first=Sayantan |title=Indian Science Institutes' Curious Penchant for Gendered Hostels – The Wire Science |date=20 September 2022 |url=https://science.thewire.in/the-sciences/gendered-segregated-hostels-science-institutes/ |access-date=2023-03-29 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

In 1980, when the National Forum Against Rape (which later became the [[Forum against Oppression of Women]]) was set up in response to the [[Mathura rape case]], Shah was among 200 women who attended the forum's first conference to discuss the importance of drafting laws for women.<ref name=":1"/> Around the same time, the [[The Emergency (India)|Emergency]], [[Bhopal disaster|the Bhopal Gas tragedy]] and the heavily contested [[Narmada Bachao Andolan|Sardar Sarovar dam Project]] were raising questions about technological progress in India. Scientists and activists around the country started organizing under the banner of [[People's science movement|People's Science Movement]] (PSM) and questioning science's emancipatory versus oppressive potential. As part of PSM, Shah volunteered for the Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme<ref>{{Cite web |title=HOSHANGABAD SCIENCE TEACHING PROGRAMME |url=http://www.cisl.columbia.edu/grads/presi/EKLAVYA/HSTP_5fNote.html |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=www.cisl.columbia.edu}}</ref> which encouraged children to step outside the classroom and get their hands dirty. The idea was to inculcate “[[Learning-by-doing|learning by doing]]” and deploy science in pursuit of social justice.<ref name=":02"/>

== Work ==
=== Feminist science studies ===
Shah is one of the earliest academics working in feminist science studies in India. She was a lecturer of physics (now retired) at K. J. Somaiya College of Science and Commerce, Mumbai. At the Advanced Centre for Women's Studies at Mumbai's [[Tata Institute of Social Sciences]], Chayanika co-designed and co-taught a course on Feminist Science Studies, with sociologist Gita Chadha.<ref name=":02"/> She also designed and taught a course on Science Education at Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai. In association with various movements, she has campaigned, researched, taught, and written on the politics of [[Population control in india|population control]] and reproductive technologies, feminist studies of science, and [[sexuality]] and sexual rights.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Calendar |first=The Events |title=Atelier: Talking Policy Through Cinema – Ashank Desai Centre for Policy Studies, IIT Bombay |url=https://www.cps.iitb.ac.in/cps-events/atelier-talking-policy-through-cinema/ |access-date=2023-03-29 |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Autonomous collectives ===
She has been part of two urban, autonomous collectives in [[Mumbai]], [[India]]. The first, [[Forum against Oppression of Women|Forum Against Oppression of Women]] (The Forum), was founded in 1979, and the second, [[LABIA|LABIA – A Queer Feminist LBT Collective]], was founded in 1995.<ref name="Rosario"/><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Understanding Trans & Queer Issues in Women's Movements – An Interview with Chayanika Shah – The YP Foundation |url=https://theypfoundation.org/resources/interview-chayanika-shah/ |access-date=2023-03-29 |language=en-US}}</ref>

The Forum was founded in January 1980 and Chayanika has been a member since 1983.<ref name=":1" /> Issues they have tackled include rape, domestic violence, personal laws, family laws, health issues, communalism, and most recently, concerns relating to civil rights and liberties.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title='Autonomy as Resistance': A conversation with Chayanika Shah {{!}} AWID |url=https://www.awid.org/news-and-analysis/autonomy-resistance-conversation-chayanika-shah |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=www.awid.org}}</ref> To tackle cases of [[domestic violence]], members of the Forum set up another organisation called the Women's Centre in 1982, which was imagined to run in tandem with the Forum but has since become a separate organisation. The Forum was also a member of the Forum Against Sex Determination and Sex Preselection, which was a coalition of organisations formed in 1986.<ref name=":02" />

Originally known as Stree Sangam, [[LABIA]] was founded by ten queer women at a cafe in Mumbai in 1995. Some of the initiatives they took include working to equip organisations working on domestic violence to take on cases of lesbian women and transgender people in particular, raising funds from people who are financially better off in the queer community for those in crisis, for education, for queer people living in isolated areas to travel and meet others like them.<ref name=":2" /> Chayanika conducted sexuality workshops through LABIA, and would open her workshops by questioning who a woman is, discussing gender, and leading debates that led to larger questions about how science produces knowledge.<ref name=":02" />

=== Activism ===
As a queer feminist activist and member of LABIA, Chayanika has been an advocatie for decriminalisation, partnership rights, and anti-discrimination legislation for the LGBT community.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2018-07-09 |title=Why Section 377 must go: The Leafet talks to Chayanika Shah – The Leaflet |url=https://theleaflet.in/why-section-377-must-go-the-leafet-talks-to-chayanika-shah/ |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=theleaflet.in |language=en-US}}</ref> Since 1995, she has been an active participant in the petition to repeal Section 377. Chayanika had been involved the Lawyers' collective case challenging the constitutionality of Section 377 since 2004.<ref name=":0" />

In 1986, she, along with other activists advocated against population control<ref name=":02" /> methods such as hormonal implants and anti-fertility vaccines, and emphasised the need for transparency in contraceptive trials conducted by pharmaceutical companies and government. As part of [https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/UNFPA_Publication-39860.pdf FASDSP forum] in 1988, they successfully lobbied for state bans on sex-selective abortions and sex determination tests in all hospitals, government-run or not.

She has also advocated for inclusive education in Indian Higher Education institutions. As a part of the research team at The Advanced Centre for Women's Studies, TISS, Mumbai, she and her peers documented discriminatory practices faced by queer students on campus across five areas, namely health, education, housing, public accommodation and political formations in a blog titled The Glass Closet.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://tiss.edu/uploads/files/An_Exploratory_study_of_Discrimination_16_March_2020_compressed.pdf |title=An Exploratory Study of Discriminations based on Non-Normative Genders and Sexualities |publisher=Advanced Center for Women's Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences |year=2019}}</ref> Shah has also questioned [[National Council of Educational Research and Training|NCERT]] and [[National Commission for Protection of Child Rights|NCPCR]] when they dropped a teacher training manual on school education that was inclusive of trans and other gender-nonconforming people on grounds that it would affect school children badly.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-11-19 |title=What furore over NCERT's teacher sensitisation manual reveals |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/ncert-teacher-sensitisation-manual-reveals-7630029/ |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref>

== Publications ==
Shah has co-authored several books, including “Bharat ki Chaap”, “We and Our Fertility: The politics of technological intervention”,<ref name=":3" /> “No Outlaws in the Gender Galaxy” ([[Zubaan Books]]), and “Space, Segregation, Discrimination: The Politics of Space in Institutions of Higher Education” ([[Yoda Press]]). She has also authored and co-authored several research papers published in journals such as [[Economic and Political Weekly]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chayanika Shah |url=https://www.epw.in/author/chayanika-shah |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=Economic and Political Weekly |language=en}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Chayanika}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian feminists]]
[[Category:Indian LGBTQ rights activists]]
[[Category:Indian academics]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian LGBTQ people]]

Chayanika Shah - Revision history

NXHLillian at 23:36, 18 January 2026