What is the ‘Campus Mothers’ Initiative?
The ‘Campus Mothers’ initiative at IIT Kharagpur is a program—set to be launched—where women living on campus, mostly faculty members, staff, or alumni mothers, volunteer to support students emotionally. These volunteers are to connect with students informally over tea, meals, or casual conversations to provide a warm and caring presence.
The goal is to help students deal with stress, loneliness, and homesickness by creating a support system that feels like home. It is part of a larger plan that includes professional counsellors and AI-based mental health tools.
While the idea of offering emotional support is thoughtful, the program has raised concerns because it focuses only on women as caregivers. By doing this, it sends a message that only women are suited for emotional roles, while men are not expected to offer the same kind of care.
This reinforces old stereotypes- that women should always put others first and be nurturing, and that men should stay distant from emotions. Psychiatrist Dr. Poorna Chandrika while speaking to ‘The Federal’ had pointed out that using the word “mother” adds to this gender bias and that trained professionals—not just volunteers— should be leading this kind of support.
What message does ‘Campus Mothers’ send about Gender and Care?
This venture coming from a respected institution like IIT Kharagpur, feels outdated and out of touch with the ongoing fight against gender roles and norms. Emotional intelligence and the ability to support others are inherently human traits that are not tied to any one gender. It would be more inclusive and progressive to involve all members of the campus community, regardless of gender, in such efforts.
Programs meant to care for students should reflect equality, diversity, and awareness of social issues and social cues, especially when they come from leading educational institutions.
The ‘Campus Mothers‘ initiative follows a majorly functionalist perspective, which assumes that every part of society has a role to play in maintaining social order, even if those roles are based on traditional norms.
In this case, caregiving is assigned almost exclusively to women, reinforcing the long-held idea that emotional support is naturally a woman’s responsibility. While the initiative aims to create a nurturing environment, it risks promoting outdated gender roles rather than challenging them.
The Backlash
IIT KGP’s initiative also unintentionally or intentionally undermines or demeans the professional expertise of mental health practitioners as also mentioned by Dr. Poorna Chandrika. By relying on untrained or minimally trained volunteers to offer emotional support, it gives the impression that mental health care is something anyone— particularly women— can do with just a bit of guidance.
This downplays the complexity of emotional and psychological issues. It also diminishes the value of psychiatrists, psychologists, and trained counsellors, especially those who are seeking meaningful roles in such institutions. Mental health support requires deep understanding, sensitivity, and continuous training. It is something that cannot be replicated through informal volunteerism alone.
For a prestigious academic institution, this approach may appear to oversimplify mental health care and treat it as a community obligation rather than a professional field.
While community-based empathy is important, it should not be a replacement for trained care. A more balanced, inclusive, and respectful model should be a collaboration of the ‘warmth’ of informal support with the discipline of professional mental health services, without falling back on traditional gender norms.
For more such news, stay tuned at The World Times.
