Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2022.2066265
D. Chopra, M. Krishnan
ABSTRACT Our research on government policy responses to address the increase in women’s unpaid care and domestic work during COVID-19, across 59 countries of Asia and the Pacific, shows that less than 30 per cent of measures are care-sensitive and of these only 12 per cent are gender-differentiated. From this analysis, this paper proposes a care-integral approach to ensure gender-transformative outcomes. This approach comprises a unique three-tier framework for policy action constituting: (1) seven foundational care normative principles, (2) typology of four care-sensitive policy categories, and (3) seven levers of change to guide implementation. Together this 7-4-7 framework presents comprehensive strategies for policymakers to operationalise the Triple R agenda of ‘Recognise’, ‘Reduce’, and ‘Redistribute’ unpaid work. Further, this paper makes a unique contribution by redirecting attention of the Triple R approach on quantity of care, to make a case for improving the overall quality of care.
{"title":"‘Care is not a burden’: a 7-4-7 framework of action for operationalising the Triple R","authors":"D. Chopra, M. Krishnan","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2022.2066265","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2022.2066265","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Our research on government policy responses to address the increase in women’s unpaid care and domestic work during COVID-19, across 59 countries of Asia and the Pacific, shows that less than 30 per cent of measures are care-sensitive and of these only 12 per cent are gender-differentiated. From this analysis, this paper proposes a care-integral approach to ensure gender-transformative outcomes. This approach comprises a unique three-tier framework for policy action constituting: (1) seven foundational care normative principles, (2) typology of four care-sensitive policy categories, and (3) seven levers of change to guide implementation. Together this 7-4-7 framework presents comprehensive strategies for policymakers to operationalise the Triple R agenda of ‘Recognise’, ‘Reduce’, and ‘Redistribute’ unpaid work. Further, this paper makes a unique contribution by redirecting attention of the Triple R approach on quantity of care, to make a case for improving the overall quality of care.","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":"30 1","pages":"35 - 57"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44717443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2022.2066816
Monica Orozco, Javier A. Franco, Mélanie Marchant, Rodrigo Valdivia
ABSTRACT Women face disproportionate care burdens on their time because of traditional gender roles, lack of public policies supporting them and the lack of government services for satisfying society's care needs. This unequal distribution of care responsibilities reduces their opportunities to fully participate in labour markets. We argue that all else equal, women's physical proximity to affordable care services is key to determining their accessibility to them. In addition, services may have different effects on women's labour force participation (LFP), depending on their care responsibilities and other characteristics of their social and economic local conditions, such as size and type of economic output. We use geospatial analysis to explore the relationship between the local supply of care services and women's LFP. We use the population census and the intercensal population survey of Mexico, together with data from economic censuses and directories of care and financial services. We also develop an exploratory data analysis model for the Colombian case. We find that, given gender roles in care provision and women's accessibility to economic sectors, the supply of care services and the type of local economies are quite significant in determining their LFP, regardless of their educational level. Accordingly, mere investment in care services may not be enough since the economic output and type of activities also interfere with LFP. Besides, this effect increased considerably during the COVID-19 pandemic.
{"title":"The role of care and the local economy in women’s labour force participation: evidence from Mexico and Colombia in the pandemic era","authors":"Monica Orozco, Javier A. Franco, Mélanie Marchant, Rodrigo Valdivia","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2022.2066816","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2022.2066816","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Women face disproportionate care burdens on their time because of traditional gender roles, lack of public policies supporting them and the lack of government services for satisfying society's care needs. This unequal distribution of care responsibilities reduces their opportunities to fully participate in labour markets. We argue that all else equal, women's physical proximity to affordable care services is key to determining their accessibility to them. In addition, services may have different effects on women's labour force participation (LFP), depending on their care responsibilities and other characteristics of their social and economic local conditions, such as size and type of economic output. We use geospatial analysis to explore the relationship between the local supply of care services and women's LFP. We use the population census and the intercensal population survey of Mexico, together with data from economic censuses and directories of care and financial services. We also develop an exploratory data analysis model for the Colombian case. We find that, given gender roles in care provision and women's accessibility to economic sectors, the supply of care services and the type of local economies are quite significant in determining their LFP, regardless of their educational level. Accordingly, mere investment in care services may not be enough since the economic output and type of activities also interfere with LFP. Besides, this effect increased considerably during the COVID-19 pandemic.","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":"30 1","pages":"145 - 175"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43172016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2022.2083344
Pritika Pariyar, Beena Pallical, Juno Varghese
Shakuntala, a mother of eight, used to work as a manual scavenger in a village called Chamari in India’s largest state Uttar Pradesh – whose population at over 200 million is larger than that of Brazil. Shakuntala is the sole breadwinner for her family as her husband is ill and bedridden. Whatever little she earned, stopped during the pandemic, especially during the lockdown months. They survived on one meal a day. ‘The local villagers gave us some flour and lentils, and that’s how we managed to eat once a day’, she says. ‘Whom shall I share my problems with? How will the people suffering along with us help? We haven’t benefited from any government schemes during the pandemic.’ Shakuntala is a Dalit woman. Her experience is no different from what others from her community experienced during the pandemic. Another Dalit woman, Urmila who was a farm labourer lost her livelihood during the pandemic. Now she waits to collect leftover vegetables and grains from vegetable markets to survive. The farm where she worked before the pandemic paid everyone for the days of work they did before the pandemic. However, she and her brother-in-law did not receive their pay. When she went to access the government-provided ration, she was surprised to find that her name was not on the list of beneficiaries. These testimonies were collected by the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), to assess the impact of COVID-19 on India’s 200 million strong Dalit community. Despite their number, they are among the most marginalised and oppressed communities worldwide. In India’s highly oppressive and hierarchical caste system, the Dalits (or the so-called ‘lower castes’) lie at the absolute bottom. While India has advanced economically at a rapid pace in the last seven decades, the community remains socioeconomically marginalised. The pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have reproduced the same exclusion and discrimination faced by the Dalit and Adivasi communities for centuries. The pandemic had also impacted them disproportionately – with over 51 per cent of Dalits having lost their livelihood during the lockdowns as opposed to 31 per cent of upper-caste workers (Chakravarty et al. 2021). Also, Dalit women continued to be the most vulnerable in terms of equal access to opportunities, welfare programmes and social benefits, and fears of sexual violence. They are also disproportionately engaged in precarious work such as manual scavenging – which
{"title":"Interview with the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR): ‘COVID-19 disproportionately affected India’s Dalit women sanitation workers’","authors":"Pritika Pariyar, Beena Pallical, Juno Varghese","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2022.2083344","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2022.2083344","url":null,"abstract":"Shakuntala, a mother of eight, used to work as a manual scavenger in a village called Chamari in India’s largest state Uttar Pradesh – whose population at over 200 million is larger than that of Brazil. Shakuntala is the sole breadwinner for her family as her husband is ill and bedridden. Whatever little she earned, stopped during the pandemic, especially during the lockdown months. They survived on one meal a day. ‘The local villagers gave us some flour and lentils, and that’s how we managed to eat once a day’, she says. ‘Whom shall I share my problems with? How will the people suffering along with us help? We haven’t benefited from any government schemes during the pandemic.’ Shakuntala is a Dalit woman. Her experience is no different from what others from her community experienced during the pandemic. Another Dalit woman, Urmila who was a farm labourer lost her livelihood during the pandemic. Now she waits to collect leftover vegetables and grains from vegetable markets to survive. The farm where she worked before the pandemic paid everyone for the days of work they did before the pandemic. However, she and her brother-in-law did not receive their pay. When she went to access the government-provided ration, she was surprised to find that her name was not on the list of beneficiaries. These testimonies were collected by the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), to assess the impact of COVID-19 on India’s 200 million strong Dalit community. Despite their number, they are among the most marginalised and oppressed communities worldwide. In India’s highly oppressive and hierarchical caste system, the Dalits (or the so-called ‘lower castes’) lie at the absolute bottom. While India has advanced economically at a rapid pace in the last seven decades, the community remains socioeconomically marginalised. The pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have reproduced the same exclusion and discrimination faced by the Dalit and Adivasi communities for centuries. The pandemic had also impacted them disproportionately – with over 51 per cent of Dalits having lost their livelihood during the lockdowns as opposed to 31 per cent of upper-caste workers (Chakravarty et al. 2021). Also, Dalit women continued to be the most vulnerable in terms of equal access to opportunities, welfare programmes and social benefits, and fears of sexual violence. They are also disproportionately engaged in precarious work such as manual scavenging – which","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":"30 1","pages":"361 - 372"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45462190","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2022.2076850
P. Swaminathan
{"title":"Mobile Girls Koottam: Working Women Speak","authors":"P. Swaminathan","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2022.2076850","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2022.2076850","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":"30 1","pages":"415 - 417"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47793787","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2022.2064068
Sabin Muzaffar
{"title":"Journeys Towards Gender Equality in Islam","authors":"Sabin Muzaffar","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2022.2064068","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2022.2064068","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":"30 1","pages":"417 - 419"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43127087","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2022.2072014
Adenike Fapohunda
ABSTRACT Domestic labour or care work creates the conditions through which other labour can occur, however, the value that this work provides is scarcely recognised when lawmakers consider its remuneration and regulation. This paper investigates legal discrimination against providers of domestic labour in South Africa, especially at home involving women in relationships and domestic workers. This is done by considering how labour law and gender equity law as well as the Constitution produce inequitable outcomes for women providing care services and contrasting the realities of care workers with legal protections. It also considers the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the reality of care. Lastly, it outlines the ways in which the law can enable more equitable dispensations of labour.
{"title":"‘My mother was a kitchen girl’: legal and policy responses to the problem of care for women who provide care in South Africa","authors":"Adenike Fapohunda","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2022.2072014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2022.2072014","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Domestic labour or care work creates the conditions through which other labour can occur, however, the value that this work provides is scarcely recognised when lawmakers consider its remuneration and regulation. This paper investigates legal discrimination against providers of domestic labour in South Africa, especially at home involving women in relationships and domestic workers. This is done by considering how labour law and gender equity law as well as the Constitution produce inequitable outcomes for women providing care services and contrasting the realities of care workers with legal protections. It also considers the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the reality of care. Lastly, it outlines the ways in which the law can enable more equitable dispensations of labour.","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":"30 1","pages":"321 - 339"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48619246","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2022.2071996
Bhumika Muchhala, Andrea Guillem
ABSTRACT This paper examines the dynamics and implications of gendered austerity in Ecuador in the context of the fiscal consolidation framework recommended in the country's International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme, through three channels. First, that of the public health sector and the experiences of women public health workers. Second, that of unpaid care work and significant augmentations in home-based health care of family members as well as education support. And third, increases in consumer debt incurred by women through extractive short-term lenders. To illustrate the lived experiences of women, interviews were conducted with a leader of a nurses' union in the capital city of Quito and results collected from external published focus group surveys with women engaged in unpaid and paid care work as well as in community savings organizations. Two key theoretical frameworks are employed within feminist political economy. First, the social provisioning approach, where economic activity encompasses unpaid and paid work, human well-being is the yardstick of economic success, and power inequities, agency and economic outcomes are shaped by gender. Second, the literature on gender, care work and macroeconomics which articulates a reorientation of fiscal policy from expenditure control to investment in publicly funded social services in order to achieve gender equality, protect women's human rights as well as create fiscal space.
{"title":"Gendered austerity and embodied debt in Ecuador: channels through which women absorb and resist the shocks of public budget cuts","authors":"Bhumika Muchhala, Andrea Guillem","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2022.2071996","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2022.2071996","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper examines the dynamics and implications of gendered austerity in Ecuador in the context of the fiscal consolidation framework recommended in the country's International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme, through three channels. First, that of the public health sector and the experiences of women public health workers. Second, that of unpaid care work and significant augmentations in home-based health care of family members as well as education support. And third, increases in consumer debt incurred by women through extractive short-term lenders. To illustrate the lived experiences of women, interviews were conducted with a leader of a nurses' union in the capital city of Quito and results collected from external published focus group surveys with women engaged in unpaid and paid care work as well as in community savings organizations. Two key theoretical frameworks are employed within feminist political economy. First, the social provisioning approach, where economic activity encompasses unpaid and paid work, human well-being is the yardstick of economic success, and power inequities, agency and economic outcomes are shaped by gender. Second, the literature on gender, care work and macroeconomics which articulates a reorientation of fiscal policy from expenditure control to investment in publicly funded social services in order to achieve gender equality, protect women's human rights as well as create fiscal space.","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":"30 1","pages":"283 - 309"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41372429","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2022.2063617
D. Eade
{"title":"Making Women Pay: Microfinance in Urban India","authors":"D. Eade","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2022.2063617","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2022.2063617","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":"30 1","pages":"411 - 412"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47974148","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2022.2066279
S. Nanda, R. Oloo, Amber Parkes, A. Butt
ABSTRACT COVID-19 has highlighted the centrality of care and women’s labour (paid and unpaid). While there is a growing body of literature on specific policy measures to address care work in different contexts, there is no global practical tool to track progress against key policy areas. This article introduces the Care Policy Scorecard, an evidence-based policy tool developed through extensive collaboration between several institutions, care policy advocates, policymakers, and researchers in the global South and North. The Scorecard helps care advocates to assess how care-related policies are adopted, budgeted for, and implemented by governments, and to what extent they can transform the social organisation of care. The paper also includes preliminary results from the application of this tool in Kenya, and shares learnings from the use of the findings for national-level care policy advocacy.
{"title":"The Care Policy Scorecard: a new tool to shift progress towards a caring economy","authors":"S. Nanda, R. Oloo, Amber Parkes, A. Butt","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2022.2066279","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2022.2066279","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT COVID-19 has highlighted the centrality of care and women’s labour (paid and unpaid). While there is a growing body of literature on specific policy measures to address care work in different contexts, there is no global practical tool to track progress against key policy areas. This article introduces the Care Policy Scorecard, an evidence-based policy tool developed through extensive collaboration between several institutions, care policy advocates, policymakers, and researchers in the global South and North. The Scorecard helps care advocates to assess how care-related policies are adopted, budgeted for, and implemented by governments, and to what extent they can transform the social organisation of care. The paper also includes preliminary results from the application of this tool in Kenya, and shares learnings from the use of the findings for national-level care policy advocacy.","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":"30 1","pages":"77 - 95"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43414349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2022.2071978
S. Narayan
ABSTRACT India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), in the last 15 years, has evolved as the world’s largest employer of the last resort. This social protection, specifically designed as a demand-driven automatic employment stabiliser to enable households to cope with livelihood shocks, offers 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to all rural households. The budget for this unique legislative entitlement in a developing country was nearly doubled from US$8 billion in 2019–20 to $15 billion in 2020–21 to partially offset the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. After the first pandemic wave, NREGA provided employment to 76 million households – more than a third of all rural Indian families. Even though women have consistently worked more than half the NREGA person-days annually, in the midst of the pandemic women’s share of employment declined by 2 per cent in 2020–21. However, this may have been a temporary decrease due to the unprecedented mass reverse exodus of urban migrants to their rural villages. Still, state-level analysis in this research highlights the persistent under-utilisation of NREGA by women in the poorer states of the Indo-Gangetic plain. On the other hand, the southern states have higher participation of women due to a combination of factors including better human development outcomes, higher wages, and sometimes better child-care facilities at worksites, which are necessary nationwide remedies. In particular, in the state of Kerala the novel integration of the government-initiated Kudumbashree community self-help women’s groups with NREGA has led to the feminisation of the programme. This convergence provides important insights on the significance of women’s participation in the decentralised management of NREGA to dilute both gender-intensive and gender-exclusive barriers, which could be fruitfully replicated nationwide.
{"title":"Breaking new ground: women’s employment in India’s NREGA, the pandemic lifeline","authors":"S. Narayan","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2022.2071978","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2022.2071978","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), in the last 15 years, has evolved as the world’s largest employer of the last resort. This social protection, specifically designed as a demand-driven automatic employment stabiliser to enable households to cope with livelihood shocks, offers 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to all rural households. The budget for this unique legislative entitlement in a developing country was nearly doubled from US$8 billion in 2019–20 to $15 billion in 2020–21 to partially offset the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. After the first pandemic wave, NREGA provided employment to 76 million households – more than a third of all rural Indian families. Even though women have consistently worked more than half the NREGA person-days annually, in the midst of the pandemic women’s share of employment declined by 2 per cent in 2020–21. However, this may have been a temporary decrease due to the unprecedented mass reverse exodus of urban migrants to their rural villages. Still, state-level analysis in this research highlights the persistent under-utilisation of NREGA by women in the poorer states of the Indo-Gangetic plain. On the other hand, the southern states have higher participation of women due to a combination of factors including better human development outcomes, higher wages, and sometimes better child-care facilities at worksites, which are necessary nationwide remedies. In particular, in the state of Kerala the novel integration of the government-initiated Kudumbashree community self-help women’s groups with NREGA has led to the feminisation of the programme. This convergence provides important insights on the significance of women’s participation in the decentralised management of NREGA to dilute both gender-intensive and gender-exclusive barriers, which could be fruitfully replicated nationwide.","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":"30 1","pages":"217 - 246"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45966153","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}