Centre for Development Economics
Department of Economics
Delhi School of Economics
ANNOUNCE A SEMINAR
by
Punarjit Roychowdhury
(Shiv Nadar University)
(Thursday, February 20, 2025, at 2:15 PM IST )
Venue: Amex Room
Abstract:-
This paper investigates the long-term impact of British colonialism on women’s empowerment in India. By exploiting variation in the degree of colonial rule across different Indian districts and using a specific feature of the annexation policy as an instrument for selective annexation, we find that women in districts under direct British rule fare better in several dimensions of empowerment, including employment, mobility, intra-household agency, financial autonomy, economic awareness, and exposure to intimate partner violence, compared to women in other regions. These results are robust to various checks. We also present suggestive evidence that legal reforms brought in by the British in favor of women, along with the influence of West-inspired social reformation movements, may explain the observed relationship between British colonialism and contemporary women’s outcomes. Our findings emphasize the importance of considering historical and social contexts when designing policies to address gender inequality.