The Gendered Crisis: Livelihoods and Well-Being in India During COVID-19

Submitted by Ishita Datta on
EfD Authors:
Afridi, Farzana

This article studies the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the gendered dimensions of employment and mental health among urban informal-sector workers in Delhi, India. First, the study finds that men’s employment declined by 84 percentage points during the pandemic relative to pre-pandemic employment, while their monthly earnings fell by 89 percent relative to the baseline mean. In contrast, women did not experience any significant impact on employment during pandemic.

Peer Reviewed
Gender, Health

The gendered effects of climate change: Evidence from droughts in rural India

Submitted by Ishita Datta on
EfD Authors:
Afridi, Farzana
Mahajan , Kanika
Sangwan, Nikita

In contrast to previous research, which suggests that women's employment rises during negative household income shocks in low-income economies, the findings in this study, reveal that, despite an increased likelihood of seeking work due to aggregate income shocks, women's employment may not rise if their labor mobility is constrained. Moreover, the impact of climatic shocks may be enduring. The cross-sectional analysis indicates that gender disparities in non-farm employment and migration are more pronounced in villages exposed to higher risks from rainfall variability.

Peer Reviewed
Climate Change, Gender

Remittances and labour allocation decisions at communities of origin: the case of rural Mexico

Submitted by Mark Senanu Ku… on
EfD Authors:
Lopez Feldman, Alejandro

From a theoretical perspective, the effect that remittances have on the labour decisions of those that receive them is ambiguous; the empirical evidence reported in the literature is mixed and shows, unsurprisingly, that the net effect of remittances on labour supply is context-dependent. We contribute to this literature by using a detailed data set for rural Mexico that allows us to understand how remittances reshape rural livelihoods by modifying labour allocation decisions. Following previous evidence, we analyse female and male responses separately.

Peer Reviewed
Gender
Women workers in India
| Gender | India

Claudia Goldin’s Nobel Prize winning research

On Sunday, December 12, Claudia Goldin was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for her work on women’s progress in the workforce. In this piece, Farzana Afridi reflects on the significance of Goldin’s win and the contribution of her research to understanding the gender dynamics of labour markets. She also delves into the implications of this research for developing countries like India, where female labour force participation has remained low despite economic growth, and why this matters for economic growth.

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