Harshita Kumari, MA Gender & Development Class of 2023, shares her advice for those looking for a job in development and public policy, such as engaging with immersive fellowship programmes that give vital experience working on live policy projects. Harshita works at the Quantum Hub, a Delhi-based public policy firm, and her role focuses on social policy and renewable energy policy.
Before coming to IDS, I was working as a researcher at Sattva Knowledge Institute (SKI) in India, which supports the philanthropy ecosystem by guiding investment for social impact. Here I helped co-build the gender vertical of SKI’s Education Practice Area, by focussing on gender mainstreaming the school-to-work transition.
Alongside this, I wrote for Feminism In India, applying a gender lens to everyday events, and volunteered with Cancer Bhagao, a Delhi-based NGO that focused on breast cancer awareness. In many ways, I was doing a bit of everything — exploring different corners of the development sector and learning across its breadth.
Why IDS
I chose to study MA Gender & Development at IDS for a mixture of personal and professional reasons. Growing up between Delhi and my ancestral village, Dihtol in Bihar, I saw firsthand how deeply entrenched gender inequality was, but also how it cut across vastly different spaces. Whether in a metropolitan city or a small village, the ways in which women’s lives were shaped — by norms, by expectations, by the invisibilisation of their labour — felt strikingly similar. This realisation pushed me to seek out a space that would allow me to study these intersections in depth.
IDS felt like the obvious choice because it brought together scholars working on gender and development from different disciplines under one roof. More importantly, it offered both academic rigour and the flexibility to explore the development sector more broadly through a diverse set of electives.
The care economy: Care as a fundamental human right
My dissertation looked at how power structures shape the discourse on unpaid care and domestic work (UCDW), prioritising childcare and caregiving as mothering while rendering other forms of care — like cooking, cleaning, and water collection — largely invisible. My research underscored the need to broaden the conversation beyond childcare and rethink how we recognise and value care work in development policy.
I was supervised by Dr. Deepta Chopra — she was also one of the reasons I chose IDS in the first place, given my interest in gender and economic participation. During my first term, Deepta taught a module on the Care Economy, which was incredibly formative for me. She not only broke down how unpaid care work intersects with women’s economic empowerment but also framed care as a fundamental human right.
One of the most powerful ideas I took away from the degree was the need to challenge the economic model we operate in — one that prioritises profit over care — and to imagine an alternative shaped by principles of altruism and solidarity. That framing stayed with me and heavily influenced my dissertation which reflects my own feminism.
For me, feminism is both deeply personal and inherently political. It is the lens through which I understand the world — how power operates, how labour is valued (or dismissed), and how care, dignity, and justice are distributed unevenly across gender, class, and caste lines. It is not just a framework but a lived experience — one that I have grappled with in academic spaces that questioned its legitimacy, in digital spaces that weaponised misogyny, and in everyday conversations where it is too often dismissed as a niche concern.
My feminism is shaped by history and policy, by the tangible consequences of economic decisions on women’s unpaid care work, and by the insidious ways in which institutions meant to protect women can also be spaces of harm. It is in the stories of women who are expected to carry the burden of care, in the digital exclusion that deepens existing inequalities, and in the ways gender backlash manifests in both personal and professional spaces.
But my feminism is also about hope and solidarity. It is about the spaces where care work is finally seen, where women’s voices reshape policy, and where feminist resistance — whether in academia, activism, or everyday life — continues to challenge the status quo. It is about reimagining a world where labour, love, and leadership are not dictated by gendered expectations but by the simple recognition of shared humanity.
Feminism is not just something I study or write about — it is the foundation of how I move through the world.
Advice for those seeking a policy role within the international development sector
I now work at the Quantum Hub, a Delhi-based public policy firm. Our work focuses on offering evidence-based policy and advocacy solutions across tech policy, social policy, and urban affairs. My role sits at the intersection of these areas, with a focus on gender and clean energy.
The development and public policy space in India is at a really exciting juncture, and it’s drawing people from incredibly diverse academic and professional backgrounds. That said, early-career professionals often find themselves in a frustrating loop — needing experience to land a job but needing a job to gain experience. A good starting point is immersive fellowship programmes like the Global Governance Initiative’s (GGI) Impact Fellowship, the Policy in Action Programme by YLAC, and the LAMP Fellowship, all of which offer structured learning while allowing you to work on live policy projects. Pairing these with internships, volunteer engagements, and specialised courses is a great way to explore the sector and determine if it’s something you want to commit to long-term.
IDS and career development
My degree in MA Gender & Development continues to shape how I think about development issues. But beyond that, IDS gave me a practical foundation that has been incredibly valuable. The Mentorship Programme, where I was mentored by Supreet Khosla, gave me a sense of direction in navigating career choices. The hands-on assignments at IDS often mirrored real-world projects, preparing me for the kind of work I do now. And, of course, the network — having a supportive group of peers and alumni who are always open to answering questions, sharing opportunities, or just offering advice has been invaluable.