Dr. V. S. Elizabeth

Education

• M.A. (History) Bangalore University – 1984
• Ph.D., Mangalore University – 1995
• LL.B., Bangalore University – 1997
• Certificate Course in Spanish Bangalore University (2010-11), and in Counselling Skills from Montfort College, Bangalore University (2014-15)

Profile

Prof. Elizabeth joined NLS in September 1991. During the period between 1991 and 2019, she taught core courses in History, and also taught optional seminar and elective courses to both the 5 year B.A. LL.B. (Hons) and LLM students from a feminist perspective. This included courses on Violence Against Women; Understanding Sexual Violence Against Women and State responses to it through feminist lenses; History of Women’s Property Rights; Lesser Known Aspects of the Struggle for Independence, Feminist Jurisprudence, History of Rights, Women’s Human Rights, and Women, Law and Development.

She was on lien from 30th December, 2019 to 30th June, 2023 during which she served as the Vice-Chancellor of the Tamil Nadu National Law University, Tiruchirappalli. She resumed her responsibilities at NLS from 1st July 2023. Prior to joining NLS, Prof. Elizabeth was a UGC Senior Research Fellow at the Department of History, Mangalore University. Currently, Prof. Elizabeth is the President of the All India Association of Legal History and President of the Managing Committee of  Equitable Tourism Options (EQUATIONS).  She is also a member of the Academic Council of NLU (O).

Positions held: She has been a Founder Member of the Governing Board of the International Association of Law Schools.  She was appointed Member of the High Level Committee on Status of Women, Government of India (2012-13) and resource person on gender issues at the National Judicial Academy due to her insights on gender issues and contributions to the teaching of feminist jurisprudence. She has also been an external member of the Internal Complaints Committees of numerous organisations –  Central Power Research Institute, Bangalore (2015-19), National Institute of Public Policy and Child Development (2018-19), Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platform, UAS and Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (2019). She has served as a member of the Internal Ethics Committees of St. Martha’s Hospital and the Baptist Hospital, Bangalore.

Research

Prof. Elizabeth’s research interest in History is the socio-economic changes that took place in the early medieval kingdoms of South India.  Since joining NLS however, she has researched and published on legal issues that have affected women, particularly on violence against women, both domestic and sexual violence.

Publications

• “The Necessity Of Teaching History To Law Students”, in the Indian Yearbook of Law and Interdisciplinary Studies: Pluralistic Discourses, (ed.) Prof. (Dr.) Ranita Nagar, Routledge (Taylor & Francis), 2022.
• “Gender, Violence and the Law in Indian Society” in Gender Justice in the Church and Society, ed. Shaji George Kochuthara, CMI, Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 2016
• “Searching for the Elusive Glass Ceiling in Higher Education” in Unveiling Women’s Leadership: Identity and meaning of leadership in India (ed.) Payal Kumar, 2015.
• “Distributive Justice – Poverty and Economic Development” in Penn State International Law Review, Symposium issue: IALS Conference Sep. 11-12, 2009  Vol. 28 Winter 2010, No. 3
•  “Philosophising vis-à-vis Communalism and Human Rights Violations” in Saju Chackalackal ed. Indigenous Philosophising: Indian Horizons, Bangalore, Dharmaram Publications, 2010
• “Violence Against Women within the Family: A Human Rights Violation” in Family Violence, (ed.) Swati Shirwadkar,  Rawat 2009
• “Feminism and International Law in India” in India and International Law Vol. 2 (ed.) Bimal Patel, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2008
• “Gender Justice Today”, in Journal of Dharma, April-June 2004, Vol. XXIX, No.2, Centre for the Study of World Religions, Dharmaram Vidhya Kshetram, Dharmaram College, Bangalore.
• Chapters 4 and 7 in History for Law Students, Vol. II, Joint editor with Prof. H. V. Sreenivasa Murthy, Eastern Book Company, 2004
• Co-authored with Devaki Jain, Enabling Population Stabilisation through Women’s Leadership in Local Self-Government: A proposal for the department’s new scheme, NIHFW, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi, 2003.
• “Inevitability of Rewriting Indian History from a Feminist Perspective” in Journal of Dharma, April-June 2003, Vol. XXVIII No.2 Centre for the Study of World Religions, Dharmaram VIdhya Kshetram, Dharmaram College, Bangalore
• “My Journey into Women’s Studies” in Narratives from the Women’s Studies Family, (eds) Pam Rajput & Devaki Jain, Sage Publishers, New Delhi, 2003
• Sections on Socialism, Industrial Revolution and Nationalism for the Encyclopaedia on World History, in Kannada published by Prasaranga, Kannada Vishwavidyalaya, Hampi, 2001
• “Teaching of the Social Sciences in the National Law School of India University”, Social Advocate, NLSIU, 2000