Dr Shivani Sawhney
shivani9419191387@gmail.com
“Oh, so you teach cooking and stitching?” The question is usually accompanied by a polite smile-sometimes curiosity, often condescension. For those of us who have studied or taught Home Science, this reaction is familiar. It is also revealing. It tells us how deeply a powerful discipline has been misunderstood, boxed into outdated gender roles and stripped of its scientific and social significance.
The reality is far removed from popular perception. Modern Home Science is a multidisciplinary domain that integrates biology, chemistry, psychology, sociology, economics, design, and communication. It prepares professionals not merely for households but for hospitals, industries, policy spaces, classrooms, communities, and entrepreneurial ventures.
A Discipline Ahead of Its Time
Home Science today is far away from its narrow popular image. Home Science draws extensively from core science disciplines such as physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, and hygiene. At the same time, it incorporates perspectives from economics, sociology, anthropology, psychology, community development, communication, media, and technology. This unique blend makes Home Science a truly interdisciplinary field that bridges the sciences and the arts. It is a rigorous,
Ironically, what India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 now strongly advocates-integration of disciplines, real-world applications, and societal relevance-has been the essence of Home Science education for decades. Students are trained not just in theory but through laboratories, internships, fieldwork, community projects, and research.
Expanding Career Horizons
The career pathways emerging from Home Science are as diverse as they are impactful. Graduates in Food and Nutrition work as clinical dieticians, public health professionals, food safety experts, and wellness consultants. Fabric and Apparel Science prepares students for textile technology, fashion design, sustainable apparel, and even textile conservation for museums and heritage institutions. Human Development and Childhood Studies equip professionals to work in early childhood education, special needs intervention, counselling, and mental health support. Development Communication and Extension open doors to NGOs, CSR initiatives, media, policy advocacy, and grassroots development. Family Resource Management offers diverse career opportunities in interior designing, housing and space planning, and event management. Increasingly, Home Science graduates are also becoming entrepreneurs-launching millet-based food products, eco-friendly clothing brands, childcare centres, and community-focused social enterprises-quietly contributing to India’s economy and social well-being.
Breaking the Gender Myth
Despite its academic evolution and growing professional relevance, Home Science continues to struggle against deeply rooted gender stereotypes. The discipline is still offered largely in women’s colleges, a practice that unintentionally reinforces the outdated notion that Home Science is a subject meant exclusively for women. Over time, this association has narrowed public understanding of the field and limited its wider acceptance as a serious, science-based discipline.
This imbalance is reflected in enrolment patterns. According to the latest All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), 84,999 students were enrolled in undergraduate Home Science programmes across India during the academic year 2021-22, of whom 77,585-over 91 per cent-were women. At the postgraduate level, women constituted more than 93 per cent of total enrolment. While the strong participation of women reflects their academic engagement, the near absence of men highlights how persistent social perceptions continue to shape educational choices.
In reality, the core concerns of Home Science are not gender-specific roles or domestic responsibilities. They address universal aspects of human life-nutrition and health, child development, mental well-being, resource management, sustainable living, communication, and community development. These areas are central to public health, human development, and national progress, and they require the involvement and expertise of all genders.
Labelling Home Science as a “women’s subject” not only undermines its scientific foundation but also discourages many capable male students from exploring a field that offers diverse career opportunities in healthcare, food industries, education, development sectors, entrepreneurship, and policy implementation. More importantly, such narrow branding limits the discipline’s potential contribution to society at a time when India needs multidisciplinary professionals to address complex social and human challenges.
Breaking this gender myth is therefore essential-not just for the growth of Home Science as a discipline, but for building a more inclusive, balanced, and informed approach to education and development. The gender branding of Home Science has also discouraged many male students from exploring a field that offers strong career opportunities in health care, food industries, education, development sectors, entrepreneurship, and policy implementation. Those men who do pursue the discipline often acknowledge its versatility and applicability.
Why the Name Needs to Change
While the content and scope of Home Science have evolved significantly, its name has not kept pace with the transformation. The term Home Science continues to evoke images of domesticity, reinforcing gendered stereotypes and discouraging many capable students-especially men-from considering the discipline. Recognising this gap, several Indian universities have already begun renaming their departments. Swami Keshwanand Rajasthan Agricultural University and Punjab Agricultural University now refer to it as Community Science. MSU Baroda has renamed it as the Faculty of Family and Community Sciences.
While a change in name alone cannot dismantle decades of bias, it can serve as an important starting point. It opens space for dialogue, challenges entrenched stereotypes, and encourages a more inclusive understanding of the field. If Home Science is to claim its rightful place in contemporary higher education, it must be seen and offered as a discipline for all genders, preparing professionals to address real-world human challenges in an increasingly complex society.
Introducing Home Science Through a Multidisciplinary Pathway
To overcome stereotypes and build wider awareness, universities should introduce multidisciplinary, value-added, and minor courses in Home Science across colleges. Such early exposure will help reposition Home Science as a scientific, applied, and career-oriented field, creating informed interest and acceptance. This phased approach, aligned with NEP 2020, can lay the foundation for launching full-fledged major programmes in the future-driven by demand rather than assumption.
Rebranding, reforming, and reintroducing Home Science is not about changing a subject; it is about changing mindsets.
(The author is Assistant Professor, PSPS GCW Gandhi Nagar, Jammu.)
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