Saini, R. & Spear A (2024). Teachers’ Understanding of Gender-Based Violence in Two Public Schools in Burkina Faso. Online Ahead of Print. Journal of Gender-Based Violence. https://doi.org/10.1332/23986808Y2024D000000019

Abstract: Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in schools in Burkina Faso is a central concern for international organizations, as well as local NGOs and the national government. Yet, the voices of school teachers have received limited attention. In this article, we draw on focus group discussions and interviews conducted with school teachers at two public schools in Burkina Faso to investigate how they conceptualize GBV, as well as the factors shaping their understanding. The findings foreground the situated and subjective nature of their conceptualization; which is shaped not just by international and national policies, but also by the sociocultural context in which the policies are enacted. Existing gender norms, the acceptance of corporal punishment as a disciplinary tool inside homes, and the practice of child marriage in Burkina Faso emerged as key factors shaping the participants’ perceptions. Based on the findings we argue that teachers must be 1) empowered to critically assess contextually relevant gender norms and cultural practices, and 2) provided with clear codes of ethical conduct in schools. It is equally important that teachers are given a seat at the table of policy formulation at regional, national, and international levels, and the challenges faced by them are given consideration when designing interventions to curb GBV.

Saini, R. (2023). “It is as if They are Taking Advantage of a Bad Situation”: Female School Teachers’ Narratives About Care Work and Online Teaching during Covid-19 in India. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 25(2). https://doi.org/10.52214/cice.v25i2.10730

Abstract: This article analyzes six female school teachers’ narratives of navigating increased care work at home with online teaching during COVID-19 in India. A theoretical framework of decolonizing feminist research, with an emphasis on moving beyond Anglo/Eurocentric forms of feminist knowledge-making, frames the study. Based on the interviews, the research reveals that the home emerged as a site for resistance to the gendered division of care work in marriages via the use of the tactical strategy of relying on family members other than the husband. Within the limited scope of the study, the schools emerged as sites of institutional betrayal manifested in administrative actions and inactions such as removing contractual teachers, scheduling meetings outside work hours, increasing surveillance, and not providing digital support. These administrative decisions were perceived by the participants as motivated by profit-making; displaying complete disregard for the teachers’ well-being. The findings advance our understanding of how emergencies such as COVID-19 exacerbate the exploitation of those female members in the labor force who are already marginalized through contractual undervalued work or the inordinate burden of caregiving. It also offers important suggestions for policy makers concerned with creating safe and inclusive working spaces for female teachers in the global south.

Saini, R. (2022). Using” Positioning” Theory to analyze a female school teacher’s experiences with care-work during COVID-19 in India: Towards Decolonizing Feminist Research. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.52214/cice.v24i1.8850

Abstract: The past few decades have been marked by growing awareness about the need to move beyond Anglocentric/Eurocentric epistemes, to instead engage in intellectual projects that effectively (re)present the voices and consciousness of marginalized populations (Manion & Shah, 2019). The term decolonizing research methodologies has thus come to acquire a central place within feminist research in the field of Comparative and International Education (CIE), with rallying calls to foreground the complexities and uniqueness of female participants lived realities through non-hierarchical, non-categorical, and non-dichotomous modes of meaning-making (Lugones, 2010). However, methodological literature on decolonizing feminist research is largely linked to the data collection phase, with limited engagement with how to effectively analyze data once it is collected. This study demonstrates the potential use of “positioning theory”, a form of discourse analysis, as a decolonial analytical framework to investigate the micro details of a female school teachers’ experiences with caregiving during COVID-19 in India. The analysis revealed the shifting, often contextual nature of the identities that the participant claimed for herself throughout the narrative, such as a pampered daughter, critical observer, adjusting daughter-in-law, guilty mother, strategic choice maker, and so on.  Positioning theory thus helped problematize the tendency to essentialize women’s experiences and identities by drawing attention to the multiple, sometimes contradictory identities that they claim for themselves, a complexity that is often neglected within feminist research because of its messiness and lack of amenability to generalization.

Saini, R. (2022). College Faculty’s Narratives of Addressing Gender-Based Violence at a Higher Education Institution in Delhi (India). Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 13(5S). https://doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v13i5S.4140

Abstract: Despite the central role played by faculty as teachers, advocates, and policymakers in addressing gender-based violence (GBV) within higher education
institutions (HEIs), their experiences have received limited attention in the context of India. The study seeks to fill this research gap by exploring teaching faculty’s (n=10) experiences with addressing GBV at a public HEI in Delhi( India) through the use of narrative inquiry. Analysis of data from a pilot interview with an associate professor at the college reveals that female students who experience GBV typically refuse to lodge a formal complaint due to the fear of social stigma, and advocating for them in the absence of institutional support takes a psychological toll on the faculty. Further, safeguarding the college’s reputation is a key concern for the organization, which often dissuades victims from coming forward. The preliminary findings highlight the need for great institutional support for HEI faculty in India to advocate for survivors of GBV
and draw attention to the nexus between the gendered social structure at the macro level and institutional/personal responses to GBV at the meso and micro level.

Saini, R. (2021). A Comparative Analysis of Academic Freedom within Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in India and the USA. Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education, 12(n6S1), 37-44. https://doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v12i6S1.3078

Abstract: Despite having one of the largest and fastest-growing post-secondary sectors in the world, there has been increasing protest against the lack of academic freedom within HEIs in India in the past decade. This research study carries out a comparative analysis of academic freedom within HEIs in India and the U.S., with a specific focus on how the notion is formulated within key policy documents and the provisions to safeguard it. Preliminary data from the systematic review revealed that while policy documents within both the countries frame the notion along similar lines, various sections within the Indian Penal Code are used to criminalize useful dissent and freedom of expression within HEIs. The study recommends that in order to safeguard academic freedom in India, certain specific sections within the Indian Penal Code (Section 124A, Section-153A, Section-292, Section-295A) should be either Repealed or reformulated so that they are not amenable to misuse by the government.

Saini, R & Mok, J (Under Review). Gender-Based Violence in Schools and Universities in India: A Scoping Review. Journal of Trauma, Violence, and Abuse.

Abstract: Despite the intrinsic and instrumental advantages linked to freedom from gender-based violence (GBV) in formal spaces of education, it continues to remain a hidden experience of students’ and teachers’ lives globally. Qualitative research on GBV thus plays a critical role in centering the voices of vulnerable groups in schools and universities, and foregrounding the dynamic and contextual nature of the phenomenon.  Given the small but growing body of qualitative research on the topic in India, a five-stage scoping review process following Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) model was undertaken to provide an overview of the scope and the nature of existing empirical research on the topic. Specifically, the review seeks to a) synthesize key themes within qualitative research on GBV in formal education institutions in India,  b) center the policy and prevention recommendations, and c) critically analyse the “silences” (limitations) within the studies reviewed. Five bibliographic databases and five peer-reviewed journals were searched, yielding thirty-five studies that met the inclusion criteria. While policy and prevention recommendations seemed to place emphasis on both micro and macro level interventions, community-based intervention emerged as a crucial missing link. In terms of the silences, research in university settings overwhelmingly focused on explicit, overtly sexualized encounters faced by female students, with limited attention given to GBV faced by disabled or LGBTQ+ students in both schools and HEIs.  Based on the findings, we argue for the need for future empirical research on GBV in India to adopt an intersectional framework that includes within it not only the voices of female students, but other marginalized groups such as Dalit students, gender minorities, individuals with disabilities, and religious minorities .

Saini, Ruchi. “Gender Stereotypes Must be Questioned” The Pioneer, 3 Dec, 2022

Saini, Ruchi. “Having it all, redefined: Every woman gets to have her own definition” The Times of India, 8 March, 2021.

Saini, Ruchi. “Corona Bug bites Careers” The Pioneer, 1 August, 2020

Saini, Ruchi. “ With heads held high” The Hindu, 16 February, 2020

Saini, Ruchi. “My Body, My Rules” The Pioneer, 8 March, 2019