This report was commissioned by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). Its aim is to provide a contemporary overview of gender and development concerns in India and to identify areas of focus for a more detailed study in the future.
The report situates the gender question firmly in contemporary India by first detailing the historical and contemporary gender paradigms in Indian society as it changes under the rule of the Hindu-right Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and recovers from the initial shocks of the New Economic Policy (NEP) of 1991. The effects of the NEP – from the new policies to the changing role of the government – are a major focus of this report, given that they shape much of the reality of modern India.
The implications of gender and that of the NEP on gender issues are then analysed in various sectors: gender and the economy (with a focus on the effects of the Structural Adjustment Policies and changing trends in employment, growth and wages), gender and health (with an analysis of trends in women’s health), gender and nutrition (examining intra-and inter-household nutritional biases), gender and reproduction (examining family planning policies), HIV/AIDS, and gender and education (examining trends in literacy and school enrolment). In each section, trends in the major indicators are addressed to raise the issues and recent academic scholarship is cited to present varied interpretations of trends in those indicators.
The conclusion summarises each section, draws policy implications, and suggests areas of focus for the longer report.
