Gender inequality is one of the central problems affecting the well-being and development of wome... more Gender inequality is one of the central problems affecting the well-being and development of women and men today. No country or society is immune to, and free from, the relative deprivation of women vis-à-vis men. The extent and manifestation of women’s deprivation varies enormously across countries and also among groups and regions within countries. In many countries, especially in the South Asia, female deprivation is evident even in such basic aspects as survival, health and nutrition, and primary education. In India, as in some of the other South Asian countries, the deprivation seems to have permeated other aspects of well-being. Growing number of empirical studies from India reveal female deprivation in these and a number of other aspects. For instance, National Family Health Survey of India (1998-99) reports that mortality rate of girls (37 per 1000 live births in 1- 4 age group) is 48 percent higher than that of 25 per 1000 boys. The Survey also shows greater incidence of ma...
India is one of the developing countries where women’s participation in the workforce continues t... more India is one of the developing countries where women’s participation in the workforce continues to remain quite low, both in absolute and relative terms. As per the recent estimates, 28.7 percent of women as against 54.7 percent of men participated in workforce in 2004-05. Not simply such low
The paper analyses the claim that paid employment would enhance women’s autonomy in India. By arg... more The paper analyses the claim that paid employment would enhance women’s autonomy in India. By arguing as to why all forms of paid employment under all conditions may not enhance women’s autonomy, it seeks to extend the scope of the claim and empirical analysis. This is attempted by incorporating some of the obvious, but neglected factors underlying women’s paid employment. It examines two interrelated issues: a) whether poverty induced paid employment contributes significantly to women’s autonomy in the household; and b) does the extent of women’s autonomy in the household vary with varying types of women’s paid employment? The paper attempts to show why there is a need to go beyond the basic premise on the association between women’s paid employment and autonomy. It states that participation in paid employment is necessary both to sustain and enhance employed women’s autonomy. I. INTRODUCTION The paper engages with and tries to extend the claim that paid employment would enhance wo...
Does women’s participation in paid work lead to their better well-being? This analysis, through a... more Does women’s participation in paid work lead to their better well-being? This analysis, through a primary survey carried out on the outskirts of Jaipur in Rajasthan, suggests a mixed picture. Participation in paid work is likely to bring some benefits to women but beyond a point the benefits are context-specific – whether women enter the labour force out of sheer survival necessity or due to other reasons. These findings provide neither a neat narrative that paid work is empowering women by providing them with choices and freedom, nor do they convey that paid work is demeaning and devoid of any important benefit. Instead, the findings call for considering a context-specific view of the potential of paid work for women’s well-being and underline the significance of public policy in enhancing the well-being of poor women in India.
... E-mail: sunny@cds.ac.in, gosmansunny@yahoo.com ... 38th rounds of National Sample Survey in I... more ... E-mail: sunny@cds.ac.in, gosmansunny@yahoo.com ... 38th rounds of National Sample Survey in India reveals that 90 per cent of the women attributed 'pressing need for domestic work' as the primary constraint for their non-participation in outside work (Kundu and Premi 1992, p ...
Can online education enable all students to participate in and benefit from it equally? Massive o... more Can online education enable all students to participate in and benefit from it equally? Massive online education without addressing the huge access gap and disparities in digital infrastructure would not only exclude a vast majority of students from learning opportunities but also exacerbate the existing socio-economic disparities in educational opportunities.
Why do poverty and hunger tend to coexist with substantial economic progress and abundance in pro... more Why do poverty and hunger tend to coexist with substantial economic progress and abundance in production of food grains? Why do chronic malnutrition and premature mortality of children prevail despite the availability of and access to ways and means to address them? These are important questions which no one can afford to ignore. There are no simple answers we believe for these questions. Rather than addressing these issues explicitly what we attempt to do here is to examine their association and development consequences. Broadly we tend to examine the association as well as the interaction between poverty and mortality. Specifically we try to understand and identify how poverty is interrelated with malnutrition and mortality of children and the mechanisms through which they operate. South Asia will be our locus of discussion as despite a reasonably better record in economic growth and alleviation of poverty it tends to suffer from pervasive malnutrition and mortality of children. T...
The paper is an attempt to review critically the association between women’s paid work and empo... more The paper is an attempt to review critically the association between women’s paid work and empowerment in India. As a prelude, the author seek to assess the extent of women’s participation in paid work during the last three decades (section two), and offer a glimpse into the nature and quality of women’s work in India (section three). A discussion on the probable causes underlying women’s participation in paid work becomes necessary (section four) so as to assess and contextualise the empowering potentials of women’s paid work (section five). An attempt will also be made to reflect on the issues arising from the assessment with a view to suggest, if necessary, possible directions for further work (section six).[CWDS OP]
The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown the educational system of the country in disarray. The closure o... more The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown the educational system of the country in disarray. The closure of schools and colleges began before the completion of the end-semester or annual exams and cast a blight on the entire academic cycle. A reinforcing web of issues, such as prolonged closure, uncertainty about the timing of reopening, likely constriction in the academic calendar and the resultant learning discontinuity among students, among others, has forced the states and educational institutions to find a feasible option to assuage the varied impacts. Online education has emerged as a preferred, predominant option. In fact, it has been pontificated to the status of TINA—there is no alternative to it. On the face of it, online education appears as a safe interim bet. Yet, its scale, scope and reach raise serious issues, both on the process preceding it and the outcome proceeding from it.
We examine whether access to aspects of social infrastructure, such as toilet facilities, drinkin... more We examine whether access to aspects of social infrastructure, such as toilet facilities, drinking water on the premises and clean cooking fuels, leads to a decline in the incidence of undernutrition among women, which remains quite high in India. The analysis, based on the National Family Health Survey-3 (2005-06) unit-level data, suggests that access to these three aspects of social infrastructure is likely to enhance women’s nutrition in India. Of these three aspects, the influence of access to clean cooking fuels remains quite significant. The findings, which assume importance from multiple angles, underline the importance of policies and programmes that ensure access to social infrastructure to the poor, in general, and poor women, in particular.
The prevalence of discrimination against women along with the absence of data led to an assumptio... more The prevalence of discrimination against women along with the absence of data led to an assumption that a large gender gap existed in adult under-nutrition in India. The availability for the first time of comparable all-India nutritional data for men and women enables us to examine the empirical basis of this belief. The analysis suggests that a huge gender gap in iron deficiency anaemia coexists with an absence of a gender gap in chronic energy deficiency. While gender gap in anaemia is a combined outcome of biological and social factors, the absence of gender gap in CED goes along with a stark socio-economic inequity in India.
Assessing the progress made in reducing under-nutrition among children who are less than two year... more Assessing the progress made in reducing under-nutrition among children who are less than two years old in Maharashtra between 2005-06 and 2012, this article points out that child under-nutrition, especially stunting, declined significantly in the state during this period. It holds that this decline can be associated with the interventions initiated through the Rajmata Jijau Mother-Child Health and Nutrition Mission, which began in 2005, and that this indicates the critical role the state can play in reducing child under-nutrition in India.
Working Paper Gujarat Institute of Development Research Ahmedabad, 2009
Page 1. Page 2. Working Paper No. 193 Asset Creation and Local Economy under NREGS: Scope and Cha... more Page 1. Page 2. Working Paper No. 193 Asset Creation and Local Economy under NREGS: Scope and Challenges Amita Shah Sunny Jose April 2009 Gujarat Institute of Development Research Gota, Ahmedabad 380 060 Page 3. ...
... Agarwal 1994). Though recent studies do not dispute the north-south divide, they do suggest t... more ... Agarwal 1994). Though recent studies do not dispute the north-south divide, they do suggest that changes are happening which call for a reconsideration of such simplified perceptions (Rahman and Rao 2004). Similarly, the ...
Gender inequality is one of the central problems affecting the well-being and development of wome... more Gender inequality is one of the central problems affecting the well-being and development of women and men today. No country or society is immune to, and free from, the relative deprivation of women vis-à-vis men. The extent and manifestation of women’s deprivation varies enormously across countries and also among groups and regions within countries. In many countries, especially in the South Asia, female deprivation is evident even in such basic aspects as survival, health and nutrition, and primary education. In India, as in some of the other South Asian countries, the deprivation seems to have permeated other aspects of well-being. Growing number of empirical studies from India reveal female deprivation in these and a number of other aspects. For instance, National Family Health Survey of India (1998-99) reports that mortality rate of girls (37 per 1000 live births in 1- 4 age group) is 48 percent higher than that of 25 per 1000 boys. The Survey also shows greater incidence of ma...
India is one of the developing countries where women’s participation in the workforce continues t... more India is one of the developing countries where women’s participation in the workforce continues to remain quite low, both in absolute and relative terms. As per the recent estimates, 28.7 percent of women as against 54.7 percent of men participated in workforce in 2004-05. Not simply such low
The paper analyses the claim that paid employment would enhance women’s autonomy in India. By arg... more The paper analyses the claim that paid employment would enhance women’s autonomy in India. By arguing as to why all forms of paid employment under all conditions may not enhance women’s autonomy, it seeks to extend the scope of the claim and empirical analysis. This is attempted by incorporating some of the obvious, but neglected factors underlying women’s paid employment. It examines two interrelated issues: a) whether poverty induced paid employment contributes significantly to women’s autonomy in the household; and b) does the extent of women’s autonomy in the household vary with varying types of women’s paid employment? The paper attempts to show why there is a need to go beyond the basic premise on the association between women’s paid employment and autonomy. It states that participation in paid employment is necessary both to sustain and enhance employed women’s autonomy. I. INTRODUCTION The paper engages with and tries to extend the claim that paid employment would enhance wo...
Does women’s participation in paid work lead to their better well-being? This analysis, through a... more Does women’s participation in paid work lead to their better well-being? This analysis, through a primary survey carried out on the outskirts of Jaipur in Rajasthan, suggests a mixed picture. Participation in paid work is likely to bring some benefits to women but beyond a point the benefits are context-specific – whether women enter the labour force out of sheer survival necessity or due to other reasons. These findings provide neither a neat narrative that paid work is empowering women by providing them with choices and freedom, nor do they convey that paid work is demeaning and devoid of any important benefit. Instead, the findings call for considering a context-specific view of the potential of paid work for women’s well-being and underline the significance of public policy in enhancing the well-being of poor women in India.
... E-mail: sunny@cds.ac.in, gosmansunny@yahoo.com ... 38th rounds of National Sample Survey in I... more ... E-mail: sunny@cds.ac.in, gosmansunny@yahoo.com ... 38th rounds of National Sample Survey in India reveals that 90 per cent of the women attributed 'pressing need for domestic work' as the primary constraint for their non-participation in outside work (Kundu and Premi 1992, p ...
Can online education enable all students to participate in and benefit from it equally? Massive o... more Can online education enable all students to participate in and benefit from it equally? Massive online education without addressing the huge access gap and disparities in digital infrastructure would not only exclude a vast majority of students from learning opportunities but also exacerbate the existing socio-economic disparities in educational opportunities.
Why do poverty and hunger tend to coexist with substantial economic progress and abundance in pro... more Why do poverty and hunger tend to coexist with substantial economic progress and abundance in production of food grains? Why do chronic malnutrition and premature mortality of children prevail despite the availability of and access to ways and means to address them? These are important questions which no one can afford to ignore. There are no simple answers we believe for these questions. Rather than addressing these issues explicitly what we attempt to do here is to examine their association and development consequences. Broadly we tend to examine the association as well as the interaction between poverty and mortality. Specifically we try to understand and identify how poverty is interrelated with malnutrition and mortality of children and the mechanisms through which they operate. South Asia will be our locus of discussion as despite a reasonably better record in economic growth and alleviation of poverty it tends to suffer from pervasive malnutrition and mortality of children. T...
The paper is an attempt to review critically the association between women’s paid work and empo... more The paper is an attempt to review critically the association between women’s paid work and empowerment in India. As a prelude, the author seek to assess the extent of women’s participation in paid work during the last three decades (section two), and offer a glimpse into the nature and quality of women’s work in India (section three). A discussion on the probable causes underlying women’s participation in paid work becomes necessary (section four) so as to assess and contextualise the empowering potentials of women’s paid work (section five). An attempt will also be made to reflect on the issues arising from the assessment with a view to suggest, if necessary, possible directions for further work (section six).[CWDS OP]
The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown the educational system of the country in disarray. The closure o... more The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown the educational system of the country in disarray. The closure of schools and colleges began before the completion of the end-semester or annual exams and cast a blight on the entire academic cycle. A reinforcing web of issues, such as prolonged closure, uncertainty about the timing of reopening, likely constriction in the academic calendar and the resultant learning discontinuity among students, among others, has forced the states and educational institutions to find a feasible option to assuage the varied impacts. Online education has emerged as a preferred, predominant option. In fact, it has been pontificated to the status of TINA—there is no alternative to it. On the face of it, online education appears as a safe interim bet. Yet, its scale, scope and reach raise serious issues, both on the process preceding it and the outcome proceeding from it.
We examine whether access to aspects of social infrastructure, such as toilet facilities, drinkin... more We examine whether access to aspects of social infrastructure, such as toilet facilities, drinking water on the premises and clean cooking fuels, leads to a decline in the incidence of undernutrition among women, which remains quite high in India. The analysis, based on the National Family Health Survey-3 (2005-06) unit-level data, suggests that access to these three aspects of social infrastructure is likely to enhance women’s nutrition in India. Of these three aspects, the influence of access to clean cooking fuels remains quite significant. The findings, which assume importance from multiple angles, underline the importance of policies and programmes that ensure access to social infrastructure to the poor, in general, and poor women, in particular.
The prevalence of discrimination against women along with the absence of data led to an assumptio... more The prevalence of discrimination against women along with the absence of data led to an assumption that a large gender gap existed in adult under-nutrition in India. The availability for the first time of comparable all-India nutritional data for men and women enables us to examine the empirical basis of this belief. The analysis suggests that a huge gender gap in iron deficiency anaemia coexists with an absence of a gender gap in chronic energy deficiency. While gender gap in anaemia is a combined outcome of biological and social factors, the absence of gender gap in CED goes along with a stark socio-economic inequity in India.
Assessing the progress made in reducing under-nutrition among children who are less than two year... more Assessing the progress made in reducing under-nutrition among children who are less than two years old in Maharashtra between 2005-06 and 2012, this article points out that child under-nutrition, especially stunting, declined significantly in the state during this period. It holds that this decline can be associated with the interventions initiated through the Rajmata Jijau Mother-Child Health and Nutrition Mission, which began in 2005, and that this indicates the critical role the state can play in reducing child under-nutrition in India.
Working Paper Gujarat Institute of Development Research Ahmedabad, 2009
Page 1. Page 2. Working Paper No. 193 Asset Creation and Local Economy under NREGS: Scope and Cha... more Page 1. Page 2. Working Paper No. 193 Asset Creation and Local Economy under NREGS: Scope and Challenges Amita Shah Sunny Jose April 2009 Gujarat Institute of Development Research Gota, Ahmedabad 380 060 Page 3. ...
... Agarwal 1994). Though recent studies do not dispute the north-south divide, they do suggest t... more ... Agarwal 1994). Though recent studies do not dispute the north-south divide, they do suggest that changes are happening which call for a reconsideration of such simplified perceptions (Rahman and Rao 2004). Similarly, the ...
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