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Recently, large parts of India and the global South have experienced a rapid transformation from mud to cement houses, which has been promoted by governments and cement companies for its positive impacts on household socioeconomic status and gender inequalities. But we know little else about how different communities are participating in house transformation. In this paper, I study the embodied and affective dimensions of house transformation in Himachal Pradesh, India. I argue that house transformation is also the transformation of traditional gender and caste identities into new middle‐class identities which benefits some social groups, like upper‐caste women and Dalit men, but not others like Dalit women along intersectional lines. My work extends literature in infrastructure studies and urban political ecology by highlighting how the materiality of infrastructures interacts with everyday dimensions of difference to reproduce the marginalisation of historically oppressed groups along intersectional lines of class, caste, and gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the post-Green Revolution era, numerous improved wheat varieties were released and disseminated to enhance tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses and increase productivity. Still, in the wheat-based farming systems of the Global South, gender-based and other social inequalities continue to undermine equitable access to improved varieties, especially for women, poor, and marginalized farmers. Here, we present a case for gender-sensitive technology development, dissemination, and evaluation as part of wheat varietal improvement programs. We take stock of the various challenges that persist in the uptake of modern wheat varieties by male and female smallholders. We focus on Ethiopia and India, two geographies with substantive wheat economies, widespread poverty, and gender inequalities. The socio-economic literature on wheat is relatively thin with limited and dated gender-sensitive evaluation studies on varietal technologies in these countries. Varietal technology evaluations could ideally cover gender differences in relation to wheat varietal trait preferences, technology adoption, and associated decision-making and labor-use changes related to new varieties and complementary technologies, as well as nutritional and economic benefits. The paper calls for a need to change the institutional arrangements in wheat research-and-development (R&D) programs to understand and pursue better paths for wheat improvement to proactively contribute toward gender equity and inclusivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Education has contradictory implications for young women in north India. • The nature of these contradictions has changed as new forms of patriarchy emerge. • Marriage constrains women's capacity to navigate education. • Long-term research reveals contradictions at a cohort and a household scale. • The Indian Government should invest in improving tertiary education for women. Scholars are increasingly emphasizing the contradictory nature of schooling's social effects, often blending Sen's (2000) insights on education's empowering role with critical sociological work on schooling and inequality (e.g. Majumdar and Mooij, 2011; Morarji, 2014). This paper advances this literature through examining shifts in girls' education in Bemni, Uttarakhand, India. The paper draws on two periods of ethnographic research – in 2003–2004 and between 2012 and 2017 – as a means of tracking long-term changes in the nature of the contradictions that young women experience. In the 1990s and early 2000s there was a marked increase in girls' primary schooling in this village and Uttarakhand more broadly. But girls were largely excluded from secondary school, and patriarchal assumptions regarding women's work remained largely unchallenged. By 2012, however, young women were participating in secondary education, seeking paid employment, and felt empowered by their schooling. Nevertheless, key challenges remained. Educated women experienced underemployment, relegation into less favoured university courses, and difficulties navigating marriage markets. In making these points, the paper underlines the value of holding the theoretical ideas of Sen (2000) alongside critical approaches to education, but it goes beyond existing work on the contradictions of education in two key ways. First, it highlights the experiences and voices of young women in the rural Global South, about whom there is currently a dearth of substantive material. I show that the contradictions associated with education among young women are sometimes different to those experienced by men in similar settings (e.g. Jeffrey et al., 2008; Mains, 2012). Second, I argue that the contradictions associated with education can change over time within a single location – an observation that emerges from longitudinal ethnographic research of the type showcased here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to answer two research questions: first, to study the factors that directly and indirectly influence the intentions of job-seekers and second, to examine the moderating role of gender differences in e-recruitment adoption through the application of technology acceptance model (TAM) in India. Design/methodology/approach: A convenience sampling technique was used to collect online data via GoogleDocs through various online channels such as social media, LinkedIn and email. The final data was collected from 364 final-year graduates and postgraduate students to confirm the impact of female and male differences, measurement invariance in composite models (MICOM) and multi-group analysis (MGA). Findings: The results indicated that perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) have a direct impact on attitude (AT), whereas PU influenced behavioral intentions (BI) of job-seekers, but PEOU did not. AT directly leads to the BI. The outcomes of mediation analysis show that AT partially mediates the relationships between PU to BI and PEOU to BI. Further, the findings of MICOM and MGA showed that gender significantly moderates all the relationships between the constructs except for the influence of AT on BI. Research limitations/implications: This study contributes to the current literature, revealing that the original TAM model is still pertinent and effective in prevailing periods in emerging markets. The significance of PEOU and PU on AT and BI implies that job-seekers will strongly adopt e-recruitment when it is user-friendly and assist them to accomplish their tasks easily and efficiently. Moreover, gender has a vital moderating influence in e-recruitment adoption. In the case of females, the effect of PEOU is stronger, and for males, PU has a substantial impact on adoption. Practical implications: Developers and recruiters should provide significant information related to salary, location and job profile on e-recruitment to enhance the adoption rate of online recruitment. Further, the usefulness of e-recruitment systems was more significant for males compared to females, whereas female job-seekers prefer the e-recruitment system, which is easy to use and operate. Originality/value: This research fills a gap in the literature by examining the essential factors affecting the BI of job-seekers as well as empirically testing the impact of gender differences to adopt TAM for e-recruitment – an under-explored subject in developing countries like India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The primary objective of this paper is to identify and analyze factors that influence choice and quality of healthcare of the elderly population in two northern and two southern states in India. The purpose of this paper is to look beyond the obvious factors that influence choice and therefore the quality of healthcare and seek to find whether there are some additional indirect factors that also influence choice and quality of healthcare.Design/methodology/approach This paper utilizes data from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India pilot project, which was a cross-sectional survey of men and women aged 45 and over focusing on two northern states (Punjab and Rajasthan) and two southern states (Kerala and Karnataka). In this paper the authors carry out a Probit analysis to estimate the factors that influence the elderly’s choice of healthcare.Findings The authors find that social activity via different types of social interactions outside the home and access to a phone (which is one of the cheapest and most commonly used methods of communication used by people in India) are statistically significant in influencing better quality of healthcare for the elderly. Moreover, gender-segregated results suggest that social activity is particularly important for elderly females. Relative price of healthcare is also an important determinant of the quality of healthcare sought. The authors also find some consistent regional influences on healthcare choices by the elderly.Research limitations/implications The main limitation is the data itself which is cross-sectional in nature. However, as further rounds of survey are conducted the authors hope to be able to build on the results of this paper using a longitudinal approach. A second limitation is the lack of variables available for carrying out an instrumental variables analysis. The results imply that elderly males and females are influenced by different things when it comes to healthcare choices. Thus for policy to be effective, the government needs to pursue avenues that would be most likely to succeed.Practical implications One of the most important practical implications of this research is the understanding that informal channels of knowledge transmission are important especially for the elderly in India. Traditional methods of knowledge transmission such as education, media, and income are less likely to be effective in a country where majority of the people are illiterate and poor. Social interactions appear to be most effective in influencing healthcare choices of elderly females.Social implications The most obvious social implications of this paper are the importance of social interactions via social activities outside the home and ability for social communication via access to a phone for the elderly population in India to make better healthcare choices and therefore receive better healthcare.Originality/value The literature on elderly healthcare is limited when it comes to developing countries. What makes matters worse for India is that up until recently there have been no comprehensive efforts to collect reliable data on the elderly population in India. As a result there is extremely limited availability of policy-relevant research dedicated to issues relating to the older population. Most of the existing literature looks at self-reported health and healthcare status or utilization. This paper would be among the first to address factors influencing quality of healthcare received by the elderly population in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Since liberalization in the 1990s, India has witnessed a growth in the number of educated middle-class women in professions. However, there are few women in leadership positions and decision-making bodies. While the earlier notion of the ideal woman as homemaker has been replaced by one which idealizes women of substance, a woman’s role in the family continues to be pivotal and is even viewed as central in defining Indian culture. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how and to what extent gender inequalities are reproduced in the organizations employing educated professionals.Design/methodology/approach Based on the perspective that gender is socially constructed, this paper analyzes gender inequality in Indian organizations through semi-structured interviews of men and women scientists in two private pharmaceutical laboratories.Findings The findings show reproduction of a gendered normative order through two types of norms and practices: one, norms and practices that favor men and second, socio-cultural norms that devalue women in public spaces which help to maintain masculinity in the workplace. Although these practices might be found elsewhere in the world, the manner in which they are enacted reflects national cultural norms.Originality/value The paper highlights how various norms and practices enacted in the specific Indian socio-cultural context construct and maintain masculinity at workplace depriving opportunities to professional women which affect their rise to leadership positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of the 70 million persons with epilepsy (PWE) worldwide, nearly 12 million PWE are expected to reside in India; which contributes to nearly one-sixth of the global burden. This paper (first of the two part series) provides an in-depth understanding of the epidemiological aspects of epilepsy in India for developing effective public health prevention and control programs. The overall prevalence (3.0-11.9 per 1,000 population) and incidence (0.2-0.6 per 1,000 population per year) data from recent studies in India on general population are comparable to the rates of high-income countries (HICs) despite marked variations in population characteristics and study methodologies. There is a differential distribution of epilepsy among various sociodemographic and economic groups with higher rates reported for the male gender, rural population, and low socioeconomic status. A changing pattern in the age-specific occurrence of epilepsy with preponderance towards the older age group is noticed due to sociodemographic and epidemiological transition. Neuroinfections, neurocysticercosis (NCC), and neurotrauma along with birth injuries have emerged as major risk factors for secondary epilepsy. Despite its varied etiology (unknown and known), majority of the epilepsy are manageable in nature. This paper emphasizes the need for focused and targeted programs based on a life-course perspective and calls for a stronger public health approach based on equity for prevention, control, and management of epilepsy in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Since the first case of AIDS was reported in 1986, several HIV/AIDS intervention program operates at the national and regional level in India, to control the spread of this epidemic. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate one intervention program in a major city of India – Kolkata that targets specifically the commercial sex-workers challenged with socio-economic-health disparities. This intervention program called the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) is located in the Sonagachi area and nicknamed as the “Sonagachi Project.” Design/methodology/approach – The behavioral change of about 500 sex-workers participating in the survey was studied in 2005. The data were collected from the focus groups of the sex-workers; official records and DMSC officials were also interviewed to collect data. The “short-term” outcome and the “long-term” impact of the program were compared with a baseline survey conducted in 1992 by another study. Findings – Participants experienced increased awareness of the disease, increased literacy rate and increased social and economical empowerment. The incidence of HIV/AIDS has gone down significantly among this high-risk group due to safe-sex practice. Social implications – This community-based organization adopts a unique method of engaging the sex-workers as peer educators to train other sex-workers about safe-sex practices and has become the role model for sex-workers in other parts of the world to fight socio-economic-health disparities. Originality/value – This research was conducted by directly contacting the program directors and members of the Sonagachi project and in that sense is first hand information. It gives valuable insights into the struggles these sex-workers had to go through to gain social and economic empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Gujarat Solar Park is an archetype of India's sustainable energy transition. • The solar park is mandated to facilitate 'gender positive' outcomes and boasts female empowerment. • Configurations of labor under the political economy of solar have excluded women from employment opportunities. • Corporate social responsibility schemes designed to empower women reproduced caste and class-based social power asymmetries. • Solar park development in India represents an antinomy of a nature-society relation. India is undergoing a rapid transition to renewable energy; the Gujarat Solar Park typifies this transition. In addition to mitigating climate change, the Gujarat Solar Park boasts female empowerment through social development schemes. This manuscript is inspired by the following research question: To what extent are 'gender positive' processes and projects associated with solar development in India realized on the ground? Utilizing mixed methods fieldwork and drawing on literature from feminist political ecology, this paper demonstrates how the modalities of solar park development represent an antinomy of a nature-society relation. New configurations of labor under the political economy of solar have produced a gendered surplus population of landless peasants who are not absorbed into wage-labor employment in the solar park. Further, associated social development schemes actually disempower women, despite mandates of 'gender positive' outcomes by UN-based climate treaties to which this project is beholden. The opportunity to participate in one such scheme for female empowerment was reserved for only women of middle-to-high class status and those of dominant castes, thereby reproducing class and caste-based social power asymmetries. Female (dis)empowerment eclipses 'gender positive' guarantees of the solar park. This study highlights some unintended consequences of sustainable energy transitions in the Global South at the local scale. Designing development interventions related to climate change mitigation that boast 'gender positive' outcomes must be careful not to exacerbate gender disparities and economic exclusion in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Commercial surrogacy is a highly controversial issue that leads to heated debates in the feminist literature, especially when surrogacy takes place in developing countries and when it is performed by local women for wealthy international individuals. The objective of this article is to confront common assumptions with the narratives and experiences described by Indian surrogates themselves.Methods: This qualitative study included 33 surrogates interviewed in India (Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi) who were at different stages of the surrogacy process. They were recruited through five clinics and agencies. This 2-year field study was conducted before the 2018 surrogacy law.Results: Surrogates met the criteria fixed by the national guidelines in terms of age and marital and family situation. The commitment to surrogacy had generally been decided with the husband. Its aim was above all to improve the socioeconomic condition of the family. Women described surrogacy as offering better conditions than their previous paid activity. They had clear views on the child and their work. However, they declared that they faced difficulties and social condemnation as surrogacy is associated with extra-marital relationships. They also described a medical process in which they had no autonomy although they did not express complaints. Overall, surrogates did not portray themselves as vulnerable women and victims, but rather as mothers and spouses taking control of their destiny.Conclusions: The reality of surrogacy in India embraces antagonistic features that we analyze in this paper as "paradoxes". First, while women have become surrogates in response to gender constraints as mothers and wives, yet in so doing they have gone against gender norms. Secondly, while surrogacy was socially perceived as dirty work undertaken in order to survive, surrogates used surrogacy as a means to upward mobility for themselves and their children. Finally, while surrogacy was organized to counteract accusations of exploitation, surrogates were under constant domination by the medical system and had no decision-making power in the surrogacy process. This echoes their daily life as women. Although the Indian legal framework has changed, surrogacy still challenges gender norms, particularly in other developing countries where the practice is emerging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]