Event Title:
Gender Inequity and Economic Impact: Demographic Change in India and the Cost of Widowhood
Description:
K S James, Senior Visiting Scholar, Newcomb Institute, Tulane University
India is experiencing profound demographic changes and consequent shifts in the population age structure. Unlike the experience of many other countries, India’s demographic change is unique, unconventional and has its specificities. While the positive impact of fertility changes on women’s empowerment is widely recognized, there have been serious concerns about the implications of fertility change in enhancing women’s position in India (e.g., worsening sex ratio along with fertility change). With the demographic change, a rapid increase has been observed in the older population in recent years, particularly in the proportion of widows. The vulnerability faced by widows got wide attention, but the reasons for it were rooted in the cultural milieu existing in the country. This talk will cover two important dimensions of fertility change and gender equity in India. First, it examines the extent to which fertility change led to gender equity in India. Second, by taking a specific example of widows and estimating their economic value, the paper argues the importance of going beyond the cultural explanation to understand widow vulnerability in India.
K S James possesses extensive research and teaching experience in the field of
Demography. He was formerly the Director and Senior Professor of the
International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, India. His work
examines the interaction of socio-economic and policy forces on demographic
factors, including fertility, marriage, gender and ageing in India. He
has several books and articles in his credit including papers in Science,
Lancet Global Health, BMC Public Health, Social Science and
Medicine, JAMA Network Open, Population Studies and Journal
of Demographic Economics. He holds a postdoctoral training from Harvard
Centre for Population and Development, Harvard University, USA and Ph.D from
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has been a visiting fellow in
many prestigious institutes and universities including Harvard University, USA;
London School of Economics, UK; International Institute for Applied System
Analysis (IIASA), Austria; University of Southampton, UK and University of
Groningen, The Netherlands.
Lunch will be served.
Time and Location:
October 3rd, 2024, 12:00-1:20pm, the Philippines Conference Room, Encina Hall, 3rd Floor Central.
