The Effects of Economic Development, Time, Urbanization, Women's Rights Programs, Women's Microcredit Programs, and Women's Market-Oriented Programs on Gender Inequality in India

摘要

Since India's independence in 1947, economists, scholars, and practitioners coming from various development paradigms have implemented numerous programs to mitigate female poverty and gender inequality in India. However, gender disparities in education, health care, and the overall female/male sex ratio persist. Whether these development programs designed for women truly promote large-scale gender equality is still open to debate. In my research, I use longitudinal quantitative methods to analyze district-level data from six Indian states for the period 1961-2001 that I have gathered from various sources, such as the Census of India, directories of women's organizations and NGOs, and women's development web sites. I examine whether economic growth and urbanization (associated with modernization theory), women's rights programs, women's market-based programs, and women's microfinance programs lead to increases in female/male literacy ratios and female/male child sex ratios. I also analyze how region and various women's programs interact to affect gender equality over time. I find that economic growth is associated with a decrease in female/male child sex ratios and female/male literacy ratios. Urbanization leads to a small increase in female/male literacy ratios, but has no impact on female/male child sex ratios. I also find that there is no relationship between the presence of women's rights programs, market programs, or microfinance programs with variation in either female/male child sex ratios or female/male literacy ratios over time. The passage of time accounts for most of the variation in both female/male child sex ratios and female/male literacy ratios. This suggests that there are other factors that lead to changes in female/male child sex ratios and female/male literacy ratios that I do not account for in this study.