UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
HONORARY CONFERRING
Saturday, 7 May 2016
TEXT OF THE INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR COLIN SCOTT, College of Social Sciences and Law on 7 May 2016, on the occasion of the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa on V. MOHINI GIRI
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President, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Born in Lucknow, Dr V. Mohini Giri is a graduate of Lucknow University, the University of Delhi and G.B. Pant University, from which she received her doctorate. Dr Giri is a social worker who has dedicated her life to understanding and enhancing the conditions for women in India, a mission for which she has achieved the highest international recognition nationally and internationally.
Dr Giri’s career has embraced academia, public service and social activism, with a strong unifying concern with the rights and opportunities of women and children.
In her academic career Dr Giri established the Department of Women’s Studies in Lucknow University. Dr Giri’s widely cited publications offer a systematic analysis of differing dimensions of inequality facing women in India and include Emancipation and Empowerment of Women (1998), Living Death: Trauma of Widowhood in India (2002), Deprived Devis: Women’s Unequal Status in Society (2006).
With regard to public service Dr Giri’s expertise and experience has been drawn on by government extensively. She was chair of Delhi State Social Welfare Advisory Board between 1987 and 1990. She chaired the National Commission for Women, between 1995 and 1998 and used this role to focus on developing initiatives which empowered women. More recently she has led on the development of a National Policy for Senior Citizens.
It is in the field of social activism that Dr Giri’s most significant contributions have been seen in the building and deployment of civil society capacity in India. She founded the War Widows Association in 1972 following the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. She established the North Indian branch of the Guild of Service, established in 1979, as an advocacy body for the rights of women and children to education, employment and financial security. The Guild of Service has had a very significant impact across India over many decades. Dr Giri has emphasised in her social activism that all who engage are agents of social change. Empowerment is found wherever people act and are supported to act to enhance their society.
As a social activist Dr Giri has been at the centre of campaigns around political rights for women and gender justice. She has been centrally involved in the development of education and micro-financing for women in India. Dr Giri has recognised that, in the development of grass roots organisations to support women,– it is not simply a matter of building the capacity and confidence of women, it is very important to secure also the participation of men. This approach finds an echo in the contemporary HeforShe campaign of the United Nations, which seeks to engage men as agents for change in women’s equality.
Dr Giri has been very active in the campaign for reservation of seats in the lower house of the Indian Parliament for women. This campaign can be traced back to the foundation of the Women’s Indian Association in 1917, one of a number of women’s organisations in which Irish women played a significant role at the early stages. While the percentage of women representatives remains very low by international standards Dr Giri has been central to ensuring the issue remains at the forefront of political debate both nationally and locally in India.
Dr Giri’s international contributions to civil society organisations have included being a founding trustee of the Women’s Initiative for Peace in South Asia, and her membership of the board of the New York based Hunger Project. She was awarded the Padma Bushan by the Indian Government for her outstanding contributions to social service in 2007.
Dr Giri, you have devoted your knowledge, skills and commitment to enhancing the life chances of women, through education, finance and political rights and through your campaigning have demonstrated and drawn countless others to the significance of gender inequality and the continuing struggle to establish a true equality for women in India, and for these actions we honour you today.
Praehonorabilis Praeses, totaque Universitas,
Praesento vobis hanc meam filiam, quam scio tam moribus quam doctrina habilem et idoneam esse quae admittatur, honoris causa, ad Gradum Doctoratus Scientiae; idque tibi fide mea testor ac spondeo, totique Academiae.