Hemlata Manglani is an economist leading a research team at Central University of Rajasthan, to study the economic, political and social standing of women in rural India. She started out by doing a Ph.D in economics on the export-based economy of Rajasthan. “Artisans making blocks and printed fabric in these areas (Sanganer and Bagru regions) are an important part of this export-based economy. I wanted to explore the socio-economic conditions of these people who heavily contribute to this economy,” she says. She found that despite efforts by policymakers, the socio-economics of artisan communities was not improving. In fact, the declining economic standards in these communities threatens the disappearance of some art forms in these regions.
Area of research
Policies focused on empowering women in rural India also do not seem to be showing resounding results in some states. Hemlata is interested in the success of or the lack thereof, in particular, woman empowering policies that are part of India’s micro-finance structures called “self help groups”. These groups enable women in rural India to self-organise a small business.
The first-hand experience of one of Hemlata’s students who hails from Haryana, directed the next steps of her research. “The condition of women in her state is bad. There is a high number of sexual harassment cases, and the decision-making power of women’s groups is almost non-existing. She herself has struggled to get here and pursue her Ph.D., and hence, she wanted to work on women’s empowerment. “That inspired me to go in that direction too. After doing some case studies, we were convinced about doing a detailed study in Haryana. That is when we sent a project proposal to the National Council of Women.” The project was accepted; Hemlata and her research team have been busy with field studies in all five zones of Haryana.
How to do economics research
For her study in Haryana, Hemlata first prepared a preliminary survey that helped frame the questionnaire for the longer data collection procedure that followed. She elaborates, “This is an exercise in collecting data for all parameters — social, economic and political. All three parameters are simultaneously important to indicate how much empowerment rural women can gain from these self-help groups. For the social parameter, interviews grasp the level of decision-making power that the women are getting from these self-help groups. To quantify political power, the study will find out if women are capable of getting into elections. How involved are they in local politics? Are they voting?”
For the economic parameters, the group will study their savings, the number of accounts women have opened for themselves, the deposits in these accounts — these will indicate how much they are earning from self-help groups.
Inspiration
Her mother, who Hemlata says she owes all her achievements to, supported her when no one else did. “From the first standard to the fifth, my mother taught us. She herself had studied only till third standard but she was keen for us to go on. Because of her support, I am the most educated in our community. No one has gone this far, neither girl nor boy,” she says happily.
The author is a science writer and co-founder of the Life of Science project. To know more about women scientists of India and their research, visit www.thelifeofscience.com
