Main Banner Image

What is behind the recent rise in women’s workforce participation?

Women’s workforce participation in India increased from 32% in 2022-23 to 37% in 2023-24, with the rise concentrated in rural areas. This article demonstrates that this significant change may be dri...

  • Articles

Can conversations about minorities reduce discrimination? Evidence from anti-transgender discrimination in Chennai

Discriminatory behaviour is known to adversely impact equity and efficiency in a range of economic and social domains. In the context of discrimination against transgender people in urban Chennai, thi...

  • Articles

How class and caste influence school choice

Families' socioeconomic status impacts how parents make decisions regarding their children's education. Taking into account the interplay of caste and class, this paper finds that when families are to...

  • Articles
Refine list by:
--Please Select--
--Please Select--

Caste-based differences in self-help groups: Evidence from a rural livelihood programme

The National Rural Livelihood Mission aims to increase income and improve wellbeing for rural households. Using survey data from nine states in India, this article analyses the existence of caste-base...

  • Articles

'Indian Matchmaking': The marriage market penalty for working women

Despite female education rates rising, India has one of the lowest female labour force participation rates globally. Using data gathered through profiles on Shaadi.com, this article by Diva Dhar estim...

  • Articles

The psychosocial value of employment: Evidence from a refugee camp

Many of the world’s most vulnerable groups – including refugees –lack access to employment opportunities, which along with the obvious benefit of income generation also produces psychosocial ben...

  • Articles

Hypergamy violation and domestic violence

Whether violation of hypergamy – when the wife’s economic status equals or exceeds that of her husband’s – increases or decreases domestic violence is a priori ambiguous. Analysing 2015-2016 N...

  • Articles

The impact of displacement on women’s marriage outcomes: Evidence from the partition of India

Women and children are made particularly vulnerable by displacement – the high incidence of gender-based violence and vulnerability to child marriage is well-documented in literature. Using data fro...

  • Articles

Caste inequalities within socio-religious groups: Evidence from Uttar Pradesh

The Mandal Commission and Sachar Committee reports, among others, have indicated the existence of caste inequalities within the four major caste groups. However, data on this subject remain limited. U...

  • Articles

A signal to end child marriage: Evidence from Bangladesh

Child marriage remains common even where female schooling and employment opportunities have grown. Based on a field study in Bangladesh, this article seeks to experimentally evaluate the impact of a f...

  • Articles

Who benefits from indoor piped drinking water supply? A gender analysis

In India, there is limited access to indoor piped drinking water (IPDW) in households, and this has a disproportionate impact on women as they bear the burden of fetching water. Using 2005-2012 India ...

  • Articles

Urbanisation, gender, and social change: Role of the media in shaping women’s political preferences

What is the role of information sources in forming political preferences, and under what conditions do women have the cognitive agency to form political opinions distinct from men? To examine this, us...

  • Perspectives

Urbanisation, gender, and social change: Intra-marital hierarchies and perceptions about working mothers

Women in India spend thrice as much time doing unpaid domestic work compared to the men in their household, and twice as much time on care-giving activities for children and dependent adults. Based on...

  • Articles

Urbanisation, gender, and social change: Women’s mobility in north India

Although India has experienced structural and social changes that promote gender equality in many respects, women’s physical mobility remains very low. Analysing primary data from three urban cluste...

  • Articles

Urbanisation, gender, and social change: Why is female labour force participation so low in India?

India’s low female labour force participation is a complex social phenomenon, resulting from – among other things – patriarchal norms, rural-urban transitions, and a mismatch of supply and deman...

  • Articles

Recent Contributors

Nandana

Nandana Sengupta

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Swati

Swati Sharma

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Priyanshi

Priyanshi Chaudhary

O.P. Jindal Global University

Avanindra Nath

Avanindra Nath Thakur

O.P. Jindal Global University

Karan

Karan Bhasin

University at Albany, SUNY

Surjit

Surjit Bhalla

International Monetary Fund

Tirthatanmoy

Tirthatanmoy Das

Indian Institute of Management Bangalore

I4I

I4I Team

Ideas for India

View all Contributors

Most Popular Social Identity Posts

Hindu-Muslim fertility differentials in India: An update

Building on past research, Saswata Ghosh and Pallabi Das estimate the state- and district-level fertility differentials between Hindus and Muslims using data from the latest round of the NFHS. They sh...

  • Articles

A division of labourers: Caste identity and efficiency in India

Castes in India are closely associated with certain occupations and determine the jobs done by millions. This study uses a new dataset to show that a large proportion of workers still work in their ca...

  • Articles

Measuring caste inequality across Indian states

Although recent research on inequality shows that upper castes have the highest levels of material well-being, there is a wide variation in caste inequality across India. Measuring three forms of cast...

  • Articles