The broad mandate of IITD’s gender unit named “Initiative for Gender Equity and Sensitization”, or simply IGES, is to address all gender-related issues on campus and to make IITD a world-class institution and leader in gender-just initiatives. Its specific goals are:
- To create an equal, inclusive and gender-just educational environment
- Advocate a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment
- Encourage gender dialogues in the field of STEM
IGES was formally inaugurated in March 2018 on the occasion of International Women’s Day, building on the foundational work done by the Gender Awareness Committee (GAC) since 2014. Its core group comprises faculty, staff, and students, who meet regularly to plan and work towards its goals.
IGES’ focus areas include:
- Supporting women, persons of diverse gender identities and sexual orientations to share their concerns around gender and sexuality, either directly or through referrals, maintaining confidentiality.
- Organising frequent interactive workshops for understanding gender discrimination and sexual harassment conducted by well-qualified resource persons.
- Helping IITD design processes to address the gender gap, abuse, and violence on campus.
- Revising IITD documents, extant processes and means of communication that are inherently male-biased.
- Creating Information Education and Communication (IEC) materials to spread awareness about gender issues.
- Following a data-driven approach by engaging in small research studies to understand the extent of everyday sexism and gender-harmful practices and follow-up on the efficacy of the steps taken.
- Strengthening the statutory Internal Complaints Committee (ICC).
Help us make IITD a diverse and egalitarian campus by contributing to this initiative.
