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Empowered or Entangled: Agency and Choice in Women’s Employment in India

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  • Neetha N.

Abstract

In India, formation of NGO-aided self-help groups (SHGs) for production was seen as an important step to lift women out of economic marginalisation and, thus, for women’s empowerment. With changes in economic policies, challenges of wage employment for women were also assumed to have been addressed. In this context, this article, drawing from the history of empowerment discourse and its obsession with the economic aspect, examines women’s employment and its multiple dimensions The analysis provides insights into the gender-based inequalities in the labour market which are evident in the concentration of women workers in precariat, feminised jobs either under the control of the family or without any recognition or legal protection. The prevalence of regressive gendered ideologies in employment and in the division of housework raises critical questions about the understanding of the two critical pillars of empowerment, namely, choice and agency.

Suggested Citation

  • Neetha N., 2020. "Empowered or Entangled: Agency and Choice in Women’s Employment in India," South Asian Survey, , vol. 27(2), pages 98-116, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:soasur:v:27:y:2020:i:2:p:98-116
    DOI: 10.1177/0971523120947282
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Indrani Mazumdar & Neetha N, 2011. "Gender Dimensions: Employment Trends in India, 1993-94 to 2009-10," Working Papers id:4502, eSocialSciences.
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    3. World Bank, 2006. "Gender Equality as Smart Economics: A World Bank Group Gender Action Plan (Fiscal Years 2007-10)," Working Papers id:685, eSocialSciences.
    4. Roy, Satyaki, 2009. "Footwear Cluster in Kolkata: A Case of Self-Exploitative Fragmentation," MPRA Paper 23468, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Indira Hirway, 2010. "Understanding Poverty: Insights Emerging from Time Use of the Poor," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Rania Antonopoulos & Indira Hirway (ed.), Unpaid Work and the Economy, chapter 2, pages 22-57, Palgrave Macmillan.
    6. Ashwini Deshpande & Smriti Sharma, 2013. "Entrepreneurship or Survival? Caste and Gender of Small Business in India," Working papers 228, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
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