1. 1 Ritu Dewan Department of Economics University of Mumbai dewan.ritu@gmail.com

2.  State, Globalisation, Privatisation.  Revenue & Fiscal deficits: conditionalities, direct taxes, subsidies, budgeting, SEZs, PPP, etc.  Inclusive Growth v/s Inclusive Development & Justice.  Structural contradictions: excess capacity in industry; ‘starved’ agriculture; distorted services.  Goods & Services for high income. 2

3.  Patriarchy is a Macroeconomic Construct  Inequalities at micro & meso levels have macro implications  That no structure or policy is gender neutral  Trade, Foreign Investment, Fiscal, Monetary, & Infrastructure systems 3

4. 1. Formalisation of rules & mechanisms 2. Deregulation of foreign investment 3. Doha, etc: claims & reality. Egs Loss of special preferences; Banana exports to EU; impact on small farmers; Cotton. 4. WTO & GATS: 12 areas; 161 sub-sectors: (banking, insurance, health, transport, education, energy, telecommunications, tourism) 5. 2,500 bilateral & regional trade & investment agreements 4

5. Women as producers are restricted at production level in terms of technology used & scale of production due to lack of access to various forms of capital. Resource allocation within economies & households directly impacts women’s productive capacities & also the rank at which they can participate in labour force. Low labour productivity adversely impacts their skill- sets & loss of competitive edge as economic agents. Basic is access to ownership, distribution, & control of productive resources of all forms 5

6. Subsidies & dumping Diluting import restrictions Free entry of seed & pesticide MNCs Unregulated input & output markets Falling production, productivity, food availability Food ‘security’: USA: 2012: $100 bln for 67 mln popn India: $20 bln for 850 mln persons 6

7. India… 12% of GDP; 47% of working men; 73% of women Assetlessness & Feminisation Hence, even if trade liberalisation does unlock export opportunities, women farmers do not have the capacity & ability to take advantage of such opportunities. Post-WTO, many farms have moved to export- oriented commercial cultivation, leading to consolidation of land holdings. As big farms are generally capital-intensive, consolidation of land reduces employment, displacing women first. 7

8. 1. Monopoly & Cartelisation 2. Displacement of micro domestic retailers 3. Increasing economic vulnerability of smaller producers 4. Rise in unemployment (producers; supply chain intermediaries; small retailers (kiranas & hawkers); organised retail workers). 8

9. India… Highest retail density in world Second largest employer after agriculture Heavily unorganised at 97 percent (USA=20 pc; Thailand=60 pc; China=80 pc) Dominance of food processing (99 pc of all food & grocery sales): front & back-end jobs ‘SECTOR OF FIRST & LAST RESORT’ 9

10. Motive force for production: profit v/s subsistence Traditional supplementary activity Low capital – Low skill Work & labour patterns: earning, augmenting, saving Feminisation of retail sector? (Female business ownership rates in unorganised sector) 10

11. Closures, retrenchments, reduced earnings Open AND disguised unemployment Micro-accumulators to micro-subsistence seekers Migration & retail: Rural, Peri-urban, Urban Paradox of increased participation & de- visibilisation in ‘productive’ activity Reinforcement of ‘secondary status’; of patriarchy- production interdependency. 11

12. 1. Financial v/s Physical Targets The introduction of an equilibrium between the two is especially important in the context of the fact that women generally take small loans; thus, while physical targets may be filled, the financial disbursements constitute an insignificant amount. 12

13. 2. Policies on Medical Insurance Insurance is not regulated by a uniform policy, different companies & even different branches imposing their own rules such as not permitting single women & men to include parents in family schemes; the fact that single households pay the same rates as those applicable to entire families; etc. 13

14. 3. Pensions & Post-retirement Benefits Policies relating to pensions are severely biased against single-headed households, whether male or female. These benefits cannot be willed or transferred upon death to a non-spouse, not even to dependent parents. 14

15.  Joint v/s Individual Income Tax  Gift Tax: “….Gifts received on certain occasions such as marriage will continue to be totally exempt”.  Property Tax: Gender Differentiated  Increase in PIT for FHHHs, & those with dependents other than children  Tax exemptions for SHGs, Women’s Cooperatives, Producer groups  Taxes on wealth, capital gains & financial transactions 15

16. Indirect Taxation: VAT  Success where Tax:GDP ratio is high, & dependence on international trade is low  Inflationary  Anti Labour-intensive industries, as ratio of selling price is higher compared to capital- intensive; surplus labour economies  Impact on informal economy 16

17.  Commodity taxes alter the relative prices of taxed & untaxed goods, & hence transform individual & household decisions about consumption, as well as production and investment decisions.  VAT in particular has a greater anti-women and anti-poor impact, given the fact that these sections typically spend a larger proportion of their income on basic consumption goods than richer households do; low earners therefore pay a higher average tax rate. 17

18. Gender biases in all consumption taxes manifest in 1. choice of commodities & services covered 2. consumption & maintenance patterns of men & women. Egs: a. VAT on processed wheat directly impacts women, the bias thus not being ‘implicit’. Women, as ‘carers’, now buy grains, and increase time spent on ‘unproductive’ activity. b. Reduced subsidies on cooking gas & kerosene directly affects health & time use patterns; women pay ‘hidden’ tax as a direct result of changes in macroeconomic policies. 18

19.  Infrastructure ‘fetishism’: Commodity-specific or people-centric  ‘Closing the infrastructure gap’: to accelerate growth; to reduce poverty; to reduce inequalities  Physical & hence societal mobility  differential infrastructure constraints exist on men‘s productive roles, and women's economic, domestic & community management roles; also, time poverty. 19

20. Gender Differences: 1. Intensity of transport usage 2. Trip purpose 3. Trip / travel patterns 4. Distance of travel 5. Frequency of travel 6. Mode of transport 7. Mobility constraints. 20

21. Women-Specific: 1. Head-load 2. Local markets 3. Inter- & intra-village roads/paths 4. NMT 5. Walking 6. Security. 21

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23. …….Thank you…… 23