Gender analysis of land and livelihoods; women's organisation and empowerment; literacy and education; gender and public policy; indigenous peoples and social movements, identities and well-being; sociology and anthropology; methodologies of monitoring and evaluation of development initiatives, India; South Asia.

Research Groups: Educational Diversity, Literacy and Development; Gender and Development; HIV and Development Group; 
Literacy & Development Group


Research Activities

ESRC-DFID research grant for cross-country study of intra-household allocations 

One of a team of four faculty members from the School of International Development (DEV) (Cecile Jackson, Bereket Kebede and Arjan Verschoor) with Alastair Munro (principal investigator) from the Royal Holloway, University of London, and a former member of the School, Vegard Iversen, currently at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), who won a research grant worth around £440,000 from ESRC-DFID. This three-year project will focus on intra-household allocations in developing countries using innovative methodologies from experimental economics, anthropology, sociology and household surveys.

Economic models of intra-household decisions attempt to understand patterns of resource allocation among household members. There are a large number of such models, but paucity of data that can discriminate between these models is a major empirical challenge. Yet, for policy design, differences between the models matter enormously. For development policy, an important empirical challenge to researchers is thus a rigorous testing of the competing household models that differ in their predictions of the effects of a given policy. This research project proposes to use experiments combined with household surveys and ethnographic research to do precisely that. The empirical data will be collected from four developing countries: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, India and Nigeria. 

DFID-funded Gender Caste and Growth Assessment – India

Leading a team of researchers that includes Ashwini Deshpande of the Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics, New Delhi; Amaresh Dubey of the National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi; and Arjan Verschoor (DEV) for the GCGA-India. India presents a remarkable story of rapid economic growth in the last decade, yet inequalities of different kinds have been rising. In this study we are concerned with the impact of caste and gender inequality in the distribution of assets, ownership of factors of production, and access to physical and social infrastructure on the prospects for shared growth. This study will show how women and men and members of different caste groups interact with the economy; the ways that they benefit from growth or are excluded and how the impact changes when gender and caste intersect. The research will ask: What are the barriers to shared economic growth? To what extent and in which direction do the policies and practice of different institutions influence growth? What changes to informal and formal institutions are required in order to improve both economic efficiency and increase the well-being of people in all social groupings? Following a review of the existing literature and statistical analysis, field work would be conducted in the states of Haryana and Madhya Pradesh to gain a deeper insight into the interactions between formal and informal institutions on the ground. Initiated in February 2007, the study would be completed by September 2007. 

DFID Funded Gender and Growth Assessment – Nigeria

Leading a team of researchers along with Richard Palmer-Jones of DEV and colleagues at the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research, the GGA-Nigeria seeks to analyse the gendered impacts of growth in Nigeria over the last decade. The assessment would involve statistical analysis, a review of the grey literature on the impacts of growth processes in different regions of the country on men and women, and two sub-national case studies in Lagos and Kano. The study was initiated in April 2008 and completed by September 2008. Click to download the final report for the Gender and Growth Assessment - Nigeria, the macroeconomic and microeconomic study reports and the state reports (Bauchi, Cross River, Kano and Lagos) 

Migration, Education and Social Protection, research project funded by the Development Research Centre on Globalisation. Migration and Poverty at the University of Sussex.

This project builds on earlier research in Bangladesh and India by Janet Seeley and Nitya Rao and seeks to develop a deeper understanding of two key issues: a) the differences between India and bangladesh in terms of household level decision-making, in particular, of gendered educational choices, and their linkage to subsequent migration patterns; and b) why state social security provision might lower the probability of migration. The methodology to be used is largely qualitative.

Other Projects 

I am currently engaged in a research project entitled 'Gender Differences In Migration Opportunities: Implications For Educational Choices And Outcomes'. This project is funded by a research grant from the Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation and Development located at the University of Sussex. I have completed the first phase of data collection during the period July-November 2006. The findings of the preliminary work will be presented at a research workshop on December 8^th, 2006 at UEA. The workshop program can be downloaded from here.  

I was also awarded a small research grant by the British Academy for research on ‘Development and Gendered Wellbeing: Shifting Meanings and Changing Struggles across Generations’, in April 2005. I used the grant to conduct new field research in India during my study leave period in spring 2006. The project is scheduled for completion in December 2006.  

From April-June 2005, I was commissioned by ActionAid Bangladesh to conduct a research study on 'People’s Organisations in Bangladesh – Insights from the Reflect Experience'. This has been published as a monograph by Actionaid.  

Unifem commissioned me to write a review paper on ‘Women’s rights to land, assets, and other productive resources: its impact on gender relations and increased productivity’ for the Regional Conference on Development Effectiveness through Gender Mainstreaming, 10-12 May 2005, New Delhi. This paper has thereafter been published as a Working Paper (no. 4) by Unifem.  

I was commissioned by UNRISD, jointly with Cecile Jackson, to write a paper on Gender and Agrarian Change in India in a context of liberalization as an input into the Report Gender Equality. I presented the paper at the European launch of the Report at SIDA, Stockholm on October 14^th, 2005. A shortened version has now been submitted to UNRISD to form a chapter in an edited book based on a collection of background papers.  

Apart from the above, I was awarded a four week residency by the Rockefeller Foundation at their Bellagio Study and Conference Center during the period February 17-March 16 2004.  

I have been involved in supervising the research of 8 PhD students and have also facilitated and secured award of the Commonwealth Split-Site Scholarship for three Indian students between 2003 and 2005.

Publications

2011

Rao, N., (2011) Gender, Caste and Growth in India.  DEV Research Briefing 3 (September), University of East Anglia, Norwich

2010

Rao, N., 2010, Aspiring for distinction: Gendered educational choices in an Indian village, Compare - Special issue on Migration, Education and Social Mobility, 40:2 (forthcoming)
Link to journal
 

2009

Rao, N., 2009 Conflicts and contradictions: land laws in the Santhal Parganas, in Sundar, N (ed.) Legal Grounds: natural resources, identity, and the law in Jharkhand, Oxford University Press, New Delhi: 56-81
 

2008

Rao, N., 2008, "Good women do not inherit Land": Politics of Land and Gender in India. Social Science Press, New Delhi.
  Mitra, Amit and Nitya Rao, 2008 “Displacing Gender from Displacement: A View from the Santal Parganas, Jharkhand”, In Mehta, Lyla (ed.) ‘Displaced by Development: Confronting Marginalisation and Gender Injustice’ Sage, New Delhi: 34:58.
Link to document          Link to book
 

2007

Rao, N., Custom And The Courts: Ensuring Women’s Rights To Land, Jharkhand, India. Development and Change. Vol 38(2): 299-319.
Link to Journal Article 
 

2006

Rao, N., Land rights, gender equality and household food security: exploring the conceptual links in the case of India, Food Policy. 31:180-93.
Link to Journal Article Rao, N., Adult education and indigenous people: Addressing gender in policy and practice, jointly with A. Robinson-Pant, International Journal of Educational Development. 26: 209-23.

Link to Journal Article Rao, N., Power, culture and resources in gendered seasonal migration from Santal Parganas, chapter in Arya, S and A. Roy (eds.) Gender, Poverty and Migration. Sage. New Delhi. Rao, N., Women’s rights to land and other productive assets: its impact on gender relations and increased productivity. Working Paper 4, IFAD-UNIFEM Gender Mainstreaming Programme in Asia, UNIFEM.
Link to document

2005

Rao, N., Kinship Matters: Women’s land claims in the Santal Parganas, Jharkhand, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 11(4): 725-45.
Link to Journal Article

 Rao, N., Questioning Women’s Solidarity: The Case of Land Rights, Santal Parganas, Jharkhand, India, Journal of Development Studies, 41(3): 353-75.
Link to Journal Article

Rao, N., Social Justice and Empowerment of the Weaker Sections and Gender Rights, in Adeney, K and L.Saez (eds.) Coalition Politics and Hindu Nationalism. Routledge, London. Rao, N., "Introduction" in Rao, N. & I. Smyth (eds.), Partnerships For Girls' Education, Oxford: Oxfam. Rao, N., Women’s rights to land and assets: experience of mainstreaming gender in development projects. Economic and Political Weekly.  40 (44 and 45): 4701-8, Oct 29-Nov. 4.
Link to Journal Article

Rao, N., Displacement from land: case of Santhal Parganas. Economic and Political Weekly. 40(41): 4439-42, October 8-14.
Link to Journal Article
 
Rao, N., Gender equality, land rights and household food security. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 40:25, June 18, 2513-21.
Link to Journal Article

Rao, N., Agricultural Research and Extension in India: Changing Ideologies and Practice. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 40:13, March 26, 1371-75.
Link to Journal Article
 

2004

Rao, N., Evaluating Literacy Campaigns: Issues and Prospects, Nitya Rao and R. Govinda in Karlekar, M (ed.), Paradigms of Learning: The Total Literacy Campaign in India, Sage, New Delhi. Rao, N., Women’s livelihoods in a forest economy, in Krishna, S (ed.), Livelihoods and Gender, Sage, New Delhi.

2003

Rao, N., Life and livelihood in the Santal Parganas – Does the right to a livelihood really exist? Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 38:39, September 27, 4081-84.
Link to Journal Article
 
Rao, N., Vision 2010: Chasing Mirages, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 38:18, May 3, pp 1755-8.
Link to Journal Article

2002

Rao, N., Cycling into the future: The Pudukkottai Experience (151-68) and A forest economy and women’s transportation (186-205) in Fernando, P and G. Porter (eds.) Balancing the Load, 2002, Zed Books, London.

Jackson, C. and Rao, N., “Gender Inequality and Agrarian Change in Liberalizing India”, In Razavi, Shahra (ed.) ‘The Gendered Impacts of Liberalization’, Routledge, London.

Mitra, A. and Rao, N, “Displacing Gender from Displacement: A View from the Santal Parganas, Jharkhand”, In Mehta, Lyla (ed.) ‘Displaced by Development: Confronting Marginalisation and Gender Injustice’ Sage, New Delhi

I jointly direct the MA in Gender and Development with Professor Cecile Jackson. I teach the core gender units in the autumn semester, including Gender Concepts in Development (GCD) and Gender and Rural Livelihoods (GRL). While GCD seeks to provide students with a thorough understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of gender and development, it also establishes the linkages between gender and key debates within development studies such as poverty, violence, religion and the role of men in development. 

GRL aims to provide an overview of rural livelihoods and approaches to their analysis, the implications of a gendered understanding for livelihood analysis and the interconnections with wider structures of the state and society. 

In the current year, I have been teaching Introduction to Education and Development (IED) that seeks to highlight key themes within education policy and practice at global and local levels. 

I have been involved with the teaching of Gender, Difference and Social Policy in the spring semester which enables explicit connections to be made between theory and praxis. All these units have consistently been highly rated by students as they seek to facilitate the understanding of key concepts and their application to practical contexts through the use of a range of teaching methods including lectures, seminars, workshops, practical exercises and simulation games. 

I have also supervised close to 35 Masters Dissertations over the last four years and taught Research Skills for Social Analysis (RSSA). 

At the undergraduate level, I have been involved in teaching of an optional unit on Gender in Development. 


Research Supervision

I am currently supervising the following research students:

• Maria Farah Quijano; ‘Rural Livelihoods and Gender’
• Gandhi Gonzalez-Guerrero; ‘Community Organisation for Tourism: A Mexican Case’
• Frances Hay 'Occupational Stratification and Mobility: An Empirical Investigation into Intergenerational Occupational Change in Relation to Class and Status in India'
• Paramita Muljono; ‘Gender Dynamics in Indonesian Bureaucracy’
• Minh Nguyen; 'Servants of the Socialist Economy'
• Emmanuel Nyamkeye; 'Gender and water vending in Northern Ghana'
• Patrik Oskarsson; ‘Rights and Resources - Extractive Industries and Indigenous Peoples' Rights in the case of the Samatha Judgement in Tribal Eastern India’
• Monika Nielsen; ‘Exploring gender violence in schools in Mozambique’
• Oley Dibba-Wadda; ‘Mentoring as an approach to gender equality’

 Completed PhD:

• Joe Hill; ‘Water Rights and Water Governance in Chotanagpur, Jharkhand’
• Dolf te Lintelo; ‘Food Safety Policy in India’
• Vusilizwe Thebe; ‘The Re-peasantisation of Rural Livelihoods: An Assessment of the Impact of Zimbabwe's Models of Resettlement on Rural Livelihoods, Rural Development and Economic Development’
• Marwan Mubarak; ‘Forced Migration, Poverty and the Informal Economy in Sudan’
• Anja Kovacs; ‘A Saffron Sisterhood? Agency, Activism and Empowerment of Women in the Hindu Nationalist Movement’