Malashri Lal

During Malashri Lal’s tenure as the Director of the Women’s Studies and Development Centre, University of Delhi (2000-2006), several national and international projects on women’s empowerment were carried out with support from the Govt. of India and the UNIFEM. These included projects on Women and Violence, Women’s Human Rights, the Girl Child, Women’s Studies in India, and the Widows of Vrindavan. Malashri Lal has been a Senior Consultant to the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India, and member of international book award juries including the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, London. She is currently Member, English Advisory Board of the Sahitya Akademi (Govt. of India), and serves on the advisory committees of several universities and civil society organizations. Among other recognitions, Malashri Lal recently received the Maharani Gayatri Devi Award for Women’s Excellence, 2022.

Workshop on “Home Based Women Workers”, organised by Women’s Interlink Foundation, Kolkata and Women’s Studies and Development Centre, Delhi University, December 2002

Malashri Lal at Janaki Devi Memorial College, Delhi University, in association with Amarjyoti Charitable Trust, 2003

As a gender specialist and a feminist scholar for four decades, Malashri Lal, after her retirement, has taken up voluntary work for women’s organizations in India. She is Vice President and Executive Committee member of The Guild of Service, a national developmental NGO holding a consultative status with ECOSOC of the United Nations. She assists women’s empowerment through educational programmes in Rajasthan and is also the Secretary General of SANWED (South Asian Network for Widows Empowered in Development) a multi-country alliance headquartered at The Guild’s office in New Delhi. SANWED’s latest documentation, Widows Empowered: Giving Dignity, Voice and Wellbeing, coauthored and edited by Meera Khanna and Malashri Lal, contains comprehensive country reports from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Earlier, Lal had been a member of projects in Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal in her capacity as a gender specialist.

Malashri Lal at Amar Bari (Now known as Ma Dham), Vrindavan, a widow shelter run by Guild of Service

Malashri Lal in the seminar ‘Widow: Not a Victim but a Survivor’ at Janaki Devi Memorial College in association with Guild of Service

Malashri Lal is now also associated with the Venu Geriatric Institute, New Delhi, a new initiative that promotes the idea of ‘joyful ageing’. She writes frequently on women’s issues in journals and newspapers, her latest being on the social impact of the Covid pandemic on women. A popular speaker on stage and online portals, she has addressed women’s issues at numerous forums. A fine researcher and communicator, Lal’s strength lies in conducting effective ground level interactions with women from different backgrounds, and rendering the analysis in readable , well-documented form.

Visit to Vimukti Sanstha, NGO for Girls education, Sep 2016

Hand made paper Lab inauguration

Guild of Service – SANWED - https://www.guild.org.in/index.php