Bina Agarwal - prize-winning feminist economist

Bina Agarwal

Being educated at Cambridge for her masters and received her PhD from the University of Delhi in Economics, bina agarwal is now Director & Professor of Economics, in Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi.

She is noted for her writings about changing the framework of traditional economics to include women and implicit power relationships in decision making found in patriarchical societies. Her work has brought South Asia (especially India), South Asian women, and a more international perspective into the field of feminist economics.

Her research involves in areas of land, livelihoods, and property rights; environment and development; the political economy of gender; poverty, and inequality; and agriculture and technological change. In 29 years of teaching students as well as government officials, she has focused on the interconnectedness of gender, poverty, and development.

Her awards

1. Padma Shri by the President of India on January 26, 2008 for her contribution to the fields of Literature and Education.
2. First Ramesh Chandra Agrawal Award 2005 for Outstanding Contributions to Agricultural Economics.
3. Malcolm Adiseshiah Award 2002 for Distinguished Contributions to Development Studies. 
4. Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy Book Prize 1996, given by the Association for Asian Studies (USA), for the best English-language, non-fiction book on South Asia, published anywhere. (First South Asian to win the prize.)
5. Edgar Graham Book Prize 1996, given every two years by the Department of Development Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (Univ. of London) for works of original scholarship on agricultural and/or industrial development in Asia and/or Africa. (First Asian to win the prize.) 
6. The K. H. Batheja Award 1995-96 given every two years by the Batheja Trust (Bombay University) for the best works in Indian Economic Development.

In an interview with NEWSWEEK’s Katie Baker and Tania Barnes, Bina Agarwal answered on 'How can empowering local women help address environmental problems such as deforestation ?' as:

Rural women depend on forests and local commons for many items of daily use, such as firewood and fodder. About 65 percent of rural households in India and 90 percent in Nepal use firewood as the main cooking fuel, and most of it is gathered. Hence the costs of deforestation are borne especially by women. They thus have the most to gain from forest regeneration, but they also have to extract firewood, without which they cannot cook. This means that they face conflicting choices between immediate and future needs. Therein lies the complexity. Here women would feel empowered if they had access to alternative sources of clean cooking fuel as well as greater say in forest use.

momstimes wishes a great going for her courageous deeds as an economist and environmentalist and is honoured in writing about her. Thanks with regards.....