In this presentation I focus on the ways in which women’s feminist claims to public space in the 21st Century have evolved. I trace the trajectory of the idea of loitering in the feminist discourse. I reflect on the connections between women’s claims to public space as citizens over the last two decades and the recent protests in December 2019 and January 2020 where women led movements against the Citizenship Amendment Act (2019) making visible public claims to a democratic citizenship. I reflect on the gains that feminist activism in relation to public space have, even as I imagine what kinds of gendered formulations a post pandemic public space might have. How will we re-access the public, reclaim the streets for protest and pleasure and build on the claims to public space?

Shilpa Phadke is a Professor at the School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She is co-author of the critically acclaimed book, ‘Why Loiter: Women & Risk on Mumbai Streets’ (Penguin-Random House) which examines women’s access to public space. She is co-director of the documentary, Under the Open Sky (2017). She has published widely both academically and in popular media. Her areas of interest include cities and public spaces, middle-class sexuality, practices of consumption, feminist pedagogy, feminist mothering, young women's relationship with feminism, online public spaces.