3rd Distinguished Lecture: Gender norms and women’s work

Résumé

The prediction that economic growth will raise labor market opportunities for both men and women equally has failed in most countries, particularly in South Asia. This talk focusses the evolution of female labor force participation (LFP) in India. There, female LFP is low and rapidly decreasing. The talk will argue for the pervasive role of social norms in suppressing female LFP, looking at how existing power structures might sustain these norms and why these are present, to some level, across the income distribution. A complementary argument that will be developed is the need to recognize equity and justice considerations in designing policies. Looking forward to the 2019 Indian elections, we discuss potential policy innovations using examples from within India and abroad.