Search

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]

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]

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]

• 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]