Devaki Jain (born 1933) is an Indian economist and writer, who has worked mainly in the field of
feminist economics
Feminist economics is the critical study of economics and economies, with a focus on gender-aware and inclusive economic inquiry and policy analysis. Feminist economic researchers include academics, activists, policy theorists, and practition ...
. In 2006 she was awarded the
Padma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...
, the third-highest civilian award from Government of India, for her contribution to social justice and the empowerment of women.
Early life
Jain was born in
Mysore
Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...
, the daughter of
M. A. Sreenivasan
M. A. Sreenivasan (1897–1998) was a minister in the Princely State of Mysore and was also Dewan of Gwalior.
He was a Member of the Constituent Assembly representing the erstwhile Princely State of Gwalior during 1947–48. He had an illustrio ...
, a minister in the Princely State of Mysore and was also
Dewan of Gwalior.
Education
Jain studied at various convent schools in India. Having graduated from Mysore University in 1953 with three gold medals for the first rank
in Mathematics, English, and Overall Performance she later
[https://www.cepal.org/mujer/noticias/noticias/1/43711/JAIN_CV.pdf ] attended
St Anne's College, Oxford.
Having graduated from
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
with a degree in
Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, she then taught economics at
Delhi University
Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...
until 1969.
United Nations and international networking
![Debaki Jain in June 2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Debaki_Jain_in_June_2011.jpg)
Through working on her book, ''Women in India'', she involved herself in feminist issues. She took an active part in writing, lecturing, networking, building, leading, and supporting women.
Jain was founder of the
Institute of Social Studies Trust (ISST) in New Delhi and served as director until 1994. She has also worked in the field of women's employment and edited the book ''Indian Women'' for India's International Women's Year.
Gandhian philosophy has influenced Jain's work and life. In line with this philosophy, her academic research has focused on issues of equity, democratic decentralization, people-centered development, and women's rights. She has worked for local, national, and international women's movements. She currently lives in
Bangalore
Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...
, India.
Jain has traveled extensively as a participant in many networks and forums. As Chair of the Advisory Committee on Gender for the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
Centre in Asia-Pacific, she has visited numerous countries, including most Pacific and Caribbean Island. In Africa, she has visited Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Benin and Senegal, Liberia, Cote D’Ivoir, South Africa and Botswana. Along with
Julius Nyerere
Julius Kambarage Nyerere (; 13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian anti-colonial activist, politician, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika as prime minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as president from 1962 to 1964, af ...
, she had the privilege of meeting with and discussing the visions and concerns of African leaders. She is also a member of the erstwhile South Commission founded by Nyerere.
She was a member of the Advisory Panel set up by the
United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
(UNDP) to advise on the preparation of the 1997 Human Development Report on Poverty and for the 2002 Report on Governance. She was a member of the Eminent Persons Group of the
Graça Machel
Graça Machel (; née Simbine; , born 17 October 1945) is a Mozambican politician and humanitarian. She is the widow of former President of Mozambique Samora Machel (1975–1986) and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela (1998–20 ...
Study Group appointed by the UN to study the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children.
In ''Women, Development, and the UN—A Sixty-Year Quest for Equality and Justice'' she shows how women's contributions have changed and shaped developments and practices at the UN. She introduces the term "
feminization of poverty
Feminization of poverty refers to a trend of increasing inequality in living standards between men and women due to the widening gender gap in poverty. This phenomenon largely links to how women and children are disproportionately represented wit ...
" from the feminist economist point of view. "‘Feminization of poverty,’" Jain explains, "was used to describe three distinct elements: that women have a higher incidence of poverty than men, that women’s poverty is more severe than that of men, that a trend toward greater poverty among women is associated with rising rates of female-headed households."(Jain 2005) According to her, "feminization of work" connotes low-quality, lowly-paid work. Jain argues that "feminization" devalues the increased presence of women.
Academic life
Devaki Jain was awarded a fellowship to the Scandinavian Institute for Asian Studies Copenhagen, in the year 1983 to lecture in 9 Universities in the Region on Gender & Poverty.
She was awarded an
Honorary Doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
(1999) from the
University of Durban-Westville
The University of Durban-Westville (UDW) was a university situated in Westville, a town situated near Durban, South Africa, which opened in 1972. It is now one of the campuses of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It was initially established for ...
,
Republic of South Africa. She also received the Bradford Morse Memorial Award (1995) from the UNDP at the Beijing World Conference. She was a visiting Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies,
University of Sussex
, mottoeng = Be Still and Know
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £14.4 million (2020)
, budget = £319.6 million (2019–20)
, chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar
, vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil
, ...
(1993) and a Fulbright Senior Fellow affiliated both with
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
and
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
(1984). She was also a Fellow at the Government of
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
's State Planning Board, a member of the UGC's Standing Committee on Women's Studies, and a member of the
South Commission, when chaired by
Julius Nyerere
Julius Kambarage Nyerere (; 13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian anti-colonial activist, politician, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika as prime minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as president from 1962 to 1964, af ...
. In the academic year 2013–14, she was Plumer Visiting Fellow at her alma mater,
St Anne's College, Oxford.
Personal life
She was married to the
Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
an economist
Lakshmi Chand Jain
Lakshmi Chand Jain (1925–2010) was a political activist and writer. Later, he served at various times as a member of the Planning Commission, as Indian High commissioner to South Africa, as a member of the World Commission on Dams (WCD) an ...
from 1966 until his death in 2010. She has two children, including
Sreenivasan Jain, the current managing editor of
NDTV
New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching t ...
.
Selected bibliography
Books
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*Jain, Devaki (September 2018). Close Encounters of Another Kind . Women and Development Economics. SAGE Publisher India.
*Jain, Devaki (19 March 2018). The Journey of a Southern Feminist. SAGE Publisher India.
*Jain, Devaki (October 2020). The Brass Notebook: A Memoir. Speaking Tiger.
Book chapters
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Journal articles
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Papers
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Cited here: page 133, ref. 29.*
Link.*
Link.
Lectures
* ''Nuancing globalisation or Mainstreaming the downstream or Reforming Reform'' – Nita Barrow Memorial Lecture, University of West Indies, Barbados, November 1999
* ''Development as if Women Mattered - Can Women Build a new Paradigm?'' OECD, Paris, 1983
* ''Indian Women; Today and Tomorrow'', Padmaja Naidu Memorial Lecture, Published by
Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
The Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML) is a museum and library in New Delhi, India, which aims to preserve and reconstruct the history of the Indian independence movement. Housed within the Teen Murti House complex, it is an autonomous ins ...
, New Delhi, 1982
* ''Gender-apartheid as a hindrance to development: Women and the Global Economy,'' A public conference convened by Alliance Sud and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) 15 November 2005, Berne (Switzerland)
* ''Women’s Rights between the UN Human Rights Regime and Free Trade Agreements'', Globalising Women's Rights: Confronting unequal development between the, UN rights framework and WTO-trade agreements, Bonn, 19–22 May 2004
* ''Are We Knowledge Proof? Development as Waste'' speech delivered at Lovraj Kumar Memorial Lecture, 26 September, New Delhi (Reprinted in Wastelands News, Vol. 19(1), August–October 2003, "Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development", New Delhi, pp. 19–30
* ''Through the looking glass of poverty,'' Paper presented at New Hall Cambridge, United kingdom, 19 October 2001.
* ''Valuing Women- Signals From The Ground'' (Broad Theme: Cultural Diversity And Universal Norms) Opening Session: 1 June 2001, For The University Of Maryland, USA
* ''The Torture of Women: Some Dimensions'', paper presented at VII International Symposium on Torture, September 1999, New
Other
She contributed the piece "A condition across caste and class" to the 1984 anthology ''
Sisterhood Is Global: The International Women's Movement Anthology'', edited by
Robin Morgan
Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key radical feminist member of the American Women's Movement, and a leader in the ...
.
See also
*
Feminist economics
Feminist economics is the critical study of economics and economies, with a focus on gender-aware and inclusive economic inquiry and policy analysis. Feminist economic researchers include academics, activists, policy theorists, and practition ...
*
List of feminist economists
This is an incomplete alphabetical list by surname of notable feminist economists, experts in the social science of feminist economics, past and present. Only economists with biographical articles in Wikipedia are listed here.
Feminist econo ...
References
Further reading
*''The needs of the poor come first''.Interview with Devaki Jain by Monte Leach. In: Share International, Issue March 199
online
External links
The Devaki Jain Website (with a comprehensive bibliography)The Website of the ''Casablanca Dreamers'' Home page International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE)Home page''
Feminist Economics
Feminist economics is the critical study of economics and economies, with a focus on gender-aware and inclusive economic inquiry and policy analysis. Feminist economic researchers include academics, activists, policy theorists, and practition ...
'' journal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jain, Devaki
Indian women economists
Feminist economists
Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in social work
1933 births
Living people
20th-century Indian economists
Indian feminists
Scientists from Mysore
Boston University faculty
Harvard University staff
Businesswomen from Karnataka
Writers from Mysore
Businesspeople from Mysore
Social workers
Indian women political writers
Indian political writers
21st-century Indian women writers
20th-century Indian educators
20th-century Indian businesswomen
20th-century Indian women scientists
20th-century Indian women writers
21st-century Indian businesswomen
21st-century Indian women scientists
Women writers from Karnataka
Women scientists from Karnataka
20th-century Indian non-fiction writers
21st-century Indian non-fiction writers
21st-century Indian economists
Scholars from Mysore
Women educators from Karnataka
Educators from Karnataka
20th-century women educators