Sticky Hierarchies: How Caste Norms Bound Gender Progress in India

The broad brush explanation for all gender gaps is "patriarchal social norms", but when multiple social hierarchies coexist, is it possible that patriarchy is being defined by another hierarchy, which constrains women's outcomes? We study this question in the context of India and show that gender norms improved substantially over two decades (1998-2021), but unevenly across regions and caste groups. We proxy caste norms with Hindu dietary practices and instrument contemporary diet with the 1931 Brahman and Jain population shares in an overidentified LIML specification. Within the caste-purity belt of northern, western, central, and southern India, an interquartile weakening of caste dietary orthodoxy narrows the spousal education gap by about 1.9 years, raises female education by about 1.6 years, and reduces son preference. The effect on female labour force participation is statistically indistinguishable from zero, consistent with demand-side explanations for its decline. Our results suggest that gender equality and the dismantling of caste hierarchy are complements, not separable agendas.

Speaker

Professor Ashwini Deshpande

Ashwini Deshpande is Professor of Economics at Ashoka University and Founding Director of the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis. Her research focuses on the economics of discrimination and affirmative action, particularly caste and gender in India, and on the relationship between social identity and economic outcomes.

Chair

Dr Sunil Mitra Kumar

Sunil Mitra Kumar is Director of the King’s India Institute and Reader in Economics at King’s College London. His research focuses on inequality and discrimination in development, including caste inequalities, access to credit, and economic development in India.