Kolkata, Jan 28 (.) Nobel laureate economist Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee has flagged a troubling paradox in India’s growth story, even as more women than ever are getting educated, fewer of them are working.
“There are more educated women now who are not working than there were 15 years ago,” Banerjee said, calling it one of the most worrying gaps in India’s development story.
Banerjee, speaking at the Exide Kolkata Literary Meet 2026, said the drop in women’s participation is closely tied to patriarchal thinking that seeks to regulate women’s movement and behaviour. He stressed that as families become richer, they often impose even more restrictions on women’s lives, rather than allowing them greater independence.
“In Bangladesh, many more women work in the window between the time they leave school and when they get married. We’re really one of the laggards in that. And it’s a laggard because there is a really, extremely powerful cultural obsession with protecting women or keeping them pure or whatever. As families get richer, they are even less willing to let their girls go out because they can afford it,” Banerjee pointed out.
He linked the issue to the lack of good jobs in the country, where intense competition leaves many young people stuck in years of exam preparation without secure employment. In this system, educated women are more likely to be pushed out of the workforce.
Banerjee stressed that meaningful change would require not just policy interventions but a fundamental shift in social attitudes towards women’s autonomy and work.
“Women should have the right to their own bodies, and they will act as they will, that’s how human beings have always survived. I think purity is a very perverse patriarchal obsession,” he added. . . .