Gendered Citizenship and Liminal Space: The Ambiguity of Women’s Organizing

Abstract

Abstract In this reflection on Natasha Behl’s book, Gendered Citizenship: Understanding Gendered Violence in Democratic India, I highlight its singular contributions to political science, which I attribute to its exemplary engagement with lived experience and reflexivity. Behl leverages both to demonstrate how the wide spectrum of violence committed in the public and private spheres is of central importance for citizenship. I then turn to several conundrums the book raises about women, gender, religion, and politics. Contesting Behl’s characterization of Indian women’s participation in Sikh sex-segregated religious groups as a form of democratic political interaction, I argue that groups like these are more ambiguous and characterize them as liminal. The distinction is fruitful because it provides a conceptual opening for empirically analyzing the many religious and civic sites in which women organize to better understand the role this participation plays in shaping democratic citizenship.