A daylong symposium titled, ‘Her Game, Her Story: Emerging Issues in Women’s Sports‘ was held on Friday, 1st March 2024, at Professor Anita Banerjee Memorial Hall, Jadavpur University (JU), which was supported by the British Council and was organized by School of Media, Communication and Culture, Department of Physical Education and School of Women’s Studies, Jadavpur University, in collaboration with Bath Spa University, United Kingdom. 

The symposium began at 10:30 am with the welcome address by Professor Abhijit Roy, the project coordinator in JU of ‘Her Game, Her Story’, who introduced the theme of the symposium and welcomed the esteemed speakers and the participants. This was followed by the inauguration of the symposium by Professor Amitava Datta, Pro Vice Chancellor, Jadavpur University. Professor Datta highlighted the importance of women’s sports and mentioned how sporting activities are promoted in Jadavpur University. It was then Professor Amites Mukhopadhyay, the Director of the School of Media, Communication and Culture, JU, who welcomed all on behalf of the school. Dr. Debanjan Chakraborty, the director of the British Council (East and North East India) graced the symposium with his presence and mentioned why the British Council thought of pursuing such a project. Professor Aishika Chakraborty, the director of the School of Women’s Studies, Jadavpur University, and Dr. Asish Paul, the Head of the Department of Physical Education, Jadavpur University, also spoke focusing on the theme of the symposium in the inaugural session.

The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Payoshni Mitra, Director and Trustee, Centre for Sport and Human Rights, Geneva, and a renowned sports activist who helps women sportspersons in their fight for justice. She shared her valuable experience of working with athletes, elaborated on her case studies and also pointed out the major challenges that women sportspersons face. 

It was then time for the first academic session to begin.  In this session, the speakers were Dr. Suman Ghosh, Subject Leader of Film and Television, Bath Spa University, UK and Dr. Subhranshu Roy, Department of History, Sonarpur Mahavidyalaya. The session was chaired by Prof. Nilanjana Gupta, Department of English, Jadavpur University. Dr. Ghosh spoke on ‘Women’s Sport, Media, the Wider Humanities: Genesis of a Project’ and Dr. Roy’s talk was on ‘Beyond the Sporting Field: Issues and Challenges of Sportswomen in Rural West Bengal’. 

Ms. Elizabeth Ann Powell, Course Leader of Sports Production, Bath Spa University and Mr. Peter Smith, Bath Spa University spoke in the second session. Ms. Powell spoke on ‘Tackling Gender Bias in Sports Media Production’, and Mr. Smith’s talk was on “Tech for Non-techies, or Sports Journalists with Enough to Think About”. Both presentations were very intriguing and focused on diversified topics. The session was chaired by Professor Aishika Chakraborty, Director, School of Women’s Studies, Jadavpur University. 

The third session presented two young research scholars of the University, Ms.Sima Naskar and Mr.Suvam Maity. Ms.Sima Naskar, a research scholar of the School of Women’s Studies, Jadavpur University presented excerpts from her research work. Her presentation was titled ‘A Study on the Participation of Sportswomen in Olympic Games: From the Perspective of West Bengal’. The other presentation was by Suvam Maiti, a research scholar at the Department of History, Jadavpur University, titled, ‘Women’s Cricket and Fan Culture in India: Issues in Representation’. This engaging session was chaired by Professor Sanjib Mridha, Department of Physical Education, Jadavpur University.

A number of practicing sportswomen of JU shared their sporting journeys in the fourth session titled ‘Her Story’ which was chaired by Dr. Rahi Soren, School of Oceanographic Studies JU. The participants were Drikpriya Paul from the Department of Electrical Engineering associated with the sport of Rowing, Tejasweeta Pradhan, an American Football player from the Department of Comparative Literature and Dyuti Ghosh, a rifle shooter from the Department of Philosophy. They spoke of their experiences, achievements and the infrastructural and social constraints they face. 

Following this session there was an audio-visual presentation of the recorded interviews of women from the world of sports, produced by Ebong Alap, an NGO from Kolkata. These interviews taken by Dr. Payoshni Mitra showcased the stories of women sports personnel, sports journalists, nutritionists and others associated with women’s sports from different parts of India.

The day ended with vote of thanks by Professor Abhijit Roy.

Gallery