Centre for Studies in Gender & Sexuality, Ashoka University

What Centre for Studies in Gender & Sexuality, Ashoka University does

The Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality (CSGS) is an academic research and programming centre established in 2015 within Ashoka University, a private liberal arts university in Sonepat, Haryana, India. CSGS operates as one of Ashoka's Centres of Excellence and is positioned as the first Centre of its kind in India dedicated to studying the full spectrum of gender and sexuality questions — including inequality, fantasy, pleasure, identity, and politics — through scholarship and activism. It serves Ashoka University students and faculty as the primary internal constituency, while also serving external schools, colleges, universities, NGOs, and corporate organisations through commissioned workshops.

CSGS delivers its work through a portfolio of recurring programmes: flagship speaker series ISHQ (monthly during the academic year) and its summer extension, Summer of ISHQ; the ADA arts series covering theatre, dance, poetry, and visual arts; the Reading Group; Candid: A Queer Feminist Baithak; and the Theory and Practice transnational webinar series co-developed with NYU CSGS. Research outputs include the 'Sex/Ed' international conference (2017, with Wellesley Centers for Women), the 'Sexuality and Harassment' roundtable (with Partner for Law in Development), the 'Picture Abhi Patriarchy Hai' Hindi cinema study, and the five-year Mellon Foundation-funded 'Governing Intimacies' project with the University of Witwatersrand. Open-access resources comprise ten anti-sexual harassment training films, posters, a CSGS Manual, the Qurbatein portal, and a publicly listed reference library.

The Centre does not generate commercial revenue. All activities are funded through Ashoka University's institutional budget as a Centre of Excellence, supplemented by external research grants (notably the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation). Programmes and workshops are provided free of charge, and there is no proprietary technology, software product, or monetisation model. Its roughly five-person team is led by Director Madhavi Menon, with affiliated faculty spanning English, Biology, Economics, History, Political Science, and Performing Arts at Ashoka, supported by students, interns, and volunteers.

Name

Centre for Studies in Gender & Sexuality, Ashoka University

Legal name

Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality

Website

https://csgs.ashoka.edu.in

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

CSGS is an academic Centre of Excellence at Ashoka University, founded in 2015 as the first of its kind in India to study gender and sexuality through scholarship and activism. It serves Ashoka students and faculty while delivering workshops, speaker series, and research on gender, sexuality, law, and diversity to external schools, universities, NGOs, and workplaces, funded institutionally and by research grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education Research

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (61131)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Sexual Health & Relationship Wellness Education (EDAAAHAM)

Keywords

• Gender studies
• Sexuality research
• Academic workshops
• Queer studies
• Liberal arts education

Headquarters

HQ city

Sonepat (NCR)

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. University Institutional Funding: The Centre is funded as one of the Centres of Excellence at Ashoka University. It does not generate commercial revenue. All activities including speaker series, workshops, research meetings, and student programmes are funded through institutional support from Ashoka University.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

An academic research and education centre within Ashoka University that advances scholarship on gender and sexuality through speaker series, arts programming, workshops, conferences, reading groups, and dedicated research projects. It produces and disseminates resources such as training films, posters, and a reference library, and conducts capacity-building workshops on gender, sexuality, law, and diversity for schools, colleges, and workplaces.

Product overview

The Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality (CSGS) is an academic research and educational center at Ashoka University, established in 2015 as the first Centre of its kind in India studying both gender and sexuality. Rather than a unified software product, CSGS offers a portfolio of educational programs and research initiatives: flagship speaker series (ISHQ and Summer of ISHQ), arts programming (ADA), transnational academic dialogues (Theory and Practice with NYU), discussion platforms (Candid and Reading Group), and workshops on gender, sexuality, law and diversity. The Centre conducts research projects (Sex/Ed conference, Sexuality and Harassment roundtable, Picture Abhi Patriarchy Hai film analysis, Governing Intimacies with Mellon Foundation funding) and produces educational resources including anti-sexual harassment training films, posters, and a reference library. CSGS Specials encompass film festivals (Q-SCREEN, Samabhav) and events like The Vagina Monologues.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ISHQ (Issues in Society, History, and Queerness): Cross-disciplinary speaker series hosting scholars, thinkers, and activists once every month during the academic year. Inaugurated in 2015.
• ADA (Art-Desire-Activism)
• Reading Group
• Summer of ISHQ
• Candid: A Queer Feminist Baithak
• Theory and Practice: Transnational Conversations on Gender and Sexuality

Products and services

• Workshops on Gender, Sexuality, Law, and Diversity
• Anti-Sexual Harassment Training Films
• Anti-Sexual Harassment Posters
• CSGS Reference Library
• ISHQ Speaker Series
• ADA Arts Series
• Sex/Ed Conference
• Governing Intimacies Research Project
• Picture Abhi Patriarchy Hai Research Project

Quantifiable outcome

• First Centre of its kind in India established in 2015
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality, New York University (CSGS NYU)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021The Theory and Practice: Transnational Conversations on Gender and Sexuality series is a collaboration between CSGS Ashoka and CSGS NYU. This programme brings together scholars and activists from around the world to address global questions of politics, rhetoric, and history. The series features webinars on topics such as Bodies and Spaces, Colonialism and Sex, Trans-Bodies and Cultures, and Engendering Caste.
• University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South AfricacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019CSGS and the University of Witwatersrand are collaborating on 'Governing Intimacies', a five-year research project funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation. The project seeks to understand the terms on which gender and intimacy are constituted in post-colony societies, theorising gender and desire in South Africa, Uganda, and India. CSGS housed the project and organised a research meeting in Delhi in September 2019 with 18 grantees.
• Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) is the largest academic women-and-gender-focused, social-change-driven, research-and-action institute in the United States, located at Wellesley College. WCW and CSGS co-organised the international conference 'Sex/Ed' in November 2017 at Bikaner House in New Delhi — the first conference in India to explicitly address sex in relation to education. Scholars from WCW (including Layli Maparyan and Nan Stein) participate in joint panels and research exchanges.
• Partner for Law in Development (PLD)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPLD co-organised the 'Sexuality and Harassment' roundtable with CSGS in December 2018 at the India International Centre in New Delhi. The roundtable featured three panels addressing Psyche, Agency, and Law in relation to sexuality and harassment.
• CREAminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCREA partnered with CSGS and the Questioning Queer Collective (Q2C) at Ashoka University to screen Moses Tulasi's documentary 'Walking the Walk' about the Swabhimana Walk in Telangana.
• The Questioning Queer Collective (Q2C) at Ashoka UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerQ2C, a student collective at Ashoka University, partners with CSGS for events such as film screenings and the Walking the Walk documentary screening in collaboration with CREA.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• CREA: India- and South Asia-focused feminist organisation working at the intersection of gender, sexuality, and rights. CSGS is a documented partner, and CREA's programmatic scope (training, advocacy, research) closely mirrors CSGS's external workshop and resource work.
• Nazariya: A Queer Feminist Resource Group: Delhi-based queer feminist organisation offering resources, workshops, and safe spaces. Comparable in target audience (Indian students, NGOs, queer community) and workshop delivery model, though with a more grassroots/activist orientation.
• NYU Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality: Identically-named and purposed academic centre at NYU. Most direct peer globally; CSGS Ashoka already runs a flagship collaboration (Theory and Practice series) with this institution.
• Wellesley Centers for Women: Largest US academic women-and-gender-focused research-and-action institute. Co-organised the 'Sex/Ed' conference (2017) with CSGS and shares the scholarship-plus-activism model.
• Sakhi for South Asian Women: US-based but South Asia-rooted organisation addressing gender-based violence with research, resources, and community programming. Comparable in combining scholarship with direct service and India-specific content.
• University of Witwatersrand — Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (Wits): Active Mellon Foundation-funded research partner on the Governing Intimacies project. Comparable as an academic institution studying gender, sexuality, and inequality in postcolonial contexts.
• Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS): Delhi-based autonomous women's studies research institution. Closest Indian academic peer — comparable in being a research-and-training centre focused on gender, though centred on women rather than the broader gender-and-sexuality spectrum CSGS covers.

Regional players

• The Humsafar Trust: Mumbai-based organisation focused on LGBTQ+ health and rights. Comparable in serving Indian queer communities, though with a stronger health-services orientation rather than academic/research orientation.

Broad incumbents

• Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) — Centre for Women's and Gender Studies: Established Indian academic institution with a long-standing Centre for Women's and Gender Studies. CSGS team members (e.g., alumni from TISS's Women's Studies programme) and external workshop facilitators frequently come from this ecosystem.

Emerging players

• POINT OF VIEW: Mumbai-based organisation working on gender, sexuality, and social justice through media, research, and advocacy. Comparable in integrating arts/media approaches (e.g., film) into gender and sexuality programming.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/centre-for-studies-in-gender-sexuality

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Centre for Studies in Gender & Sexuality, Ashoka University