Prof. Aseem Prakash (along with 2012 Polisci Grad, Joshua Eastin) asks, Why is India ‘missing’ 63 million women — even though development is roaring?
Over the past two decades, India’s economy is developing rapidly to the third largest behind China and United States. We often associate economic growth with bringing gender equality, however, this has not occurred in India. In fact, the ratio between boys and girls had been declined for the past decade mainly because of a strong preference for a male child. The reason that gender inequality still occurred in this growing economy because India seems to be in the second stage of the “Gender Kuznets Curve”.
The first phase is that women get more rights such as bargaining power at home and in public life and evening entering into politics. This occurred because as the economy prospers, more women are entering the workforce and earning money for their family.
The second phase is when people respond to women entering the workforce by forcing their wives to stay home oftentimes when their family wealth is rising.
The final phrase is that the degree of gender equality increases when technological advancement enables more women going into the workforce and gain more education. This results in more job opportunities and increases in gender equality.
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