March 2026

From the Archives | International Women’s Day 2026

Posted on March 9, 2026March 9, 2026 by cprindia

International Women’s Day, celebrated annually on 8th March, has its origins in labour and resistance movements of the 20th century. Life in the 21st century continues to be riddled with structural violence and inequalities of income, entitlements, and care at homes and in workplaces. Urban economies are sustained by migrant workers residing in informal settlements without security of work, life, or shelter. Women migrants make up a large portion of domestic workers filtering in and out of urban households, underpaid and doubly marginalised for their gender identity.

This Women’s Day, we are revisiting some of the work by CPR faculty and researchers exploring women’s labour and lifeworlds.

Ecosystems of Engagement: Digital Platforms and Women’s Work in Sri Lanka and India

In a world where evolving technology is constantly improving the efficiency of communication and production, the platform economy is reinventing the world of work. Claims that platforms create more employment are often countered by workers who see platform work as a ‘trade-off’. Read here.

Where Do the Victims of Gender Based Violence Go: A Needs Analysis for Women’s Safety Schemes in India

Despite several efforts, a survey in 2018 ranked India as the most dangerous country for women. The Government of India’s Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has several schemes, policies, and legislations on women’s safety and empowerment. Read here.

Testing the Waters: Young Women’s Work and Mobile Aspirations in India’s Small Cities

This article finds that small cities act as regional action spaces for women from villages and small towns to capitalise on fleeting opportunities and push against patriarchal boundaries through mobilities. Read here.

What Matters for Urban Women’s Work: A Deep Dive Into Falling Female Labour Force Participation

India is one of the lowest globally in terms of female labour force participation (FLFP). This paper investigates the structural deficiencies behind this consistently low urban FLFP and finds that factors like the presence of female-friendly industries, provision of regular salaried jobs, and addressing patriarchal biases can make these measures truly transformative and not just palliative.
Read here.

Infrastructure, Gender and Violence: Women and Slum Sanitation Inequalities in Delhi

This project report examines the socioeconomic consequences of poor sanitation and how gender-based violence affects the everyday lives of women and girls using the notion of infrastructural violence in two long-established localities in Delhi: Mangolpuri and Kusumpur Pahari. Read here.

Gender and Urban Sanitation Inequalities in Everyday Lives

Despite the use of the concept of ‘gender mainstreaming’ in water and sanitation projects since the mid-1990s, gender inequalities continue to exist. Gender has become a term that is widely used in project documents and organisational policy documents, but remains little theorised and ill-defined. Read here.

‘Here, We Are Addicted To Loitering’: Exploring Narratives of Work and Mobility Among Migrant Women in Delhi

Drawing upon fieldwork among women workers living around two industrial estates in the city of Delhi, this chapter argues that the economic agency brought about by paid employment is situated within and shaped by the spatial mobility offered by the city, and the enabling nature of city spaces in relation to the rural. Read here .

Housing, Spatial-Mobility and Paid Domestic Work in Millennial Delhi: Narratives of Women Domestic Workers

This chapter constructs a gendered account of Delhi through an exploration of women domestic workers’ experience of spatial-mobility in relation to work and the inherent vulnerabilities of class and gender. Read here.

[PODCAST] The Gig Sisters Episode 1: In the Mood for Food

The stories of three women entrepreneurs in the food space and how they leveraged platforms to sustain themselves when everything else came to a standstill. Tune in.

[PODCAST] The Gig Sisters Episode 2: Pedicures and Penalties

CPR faculty speaks to three women beauty workers from India to understand how they coped with the effects of the pandemic. Tune in.

CPR Insights | Do Capital Intensive Industries have Less Women Workers?

Read here.

From the Archives | International Women’s Day 2026

Posted on March 9, 2026March 9, 2026 by cpradmin

This Women’s Day, we are revisiting some of the work by CPR faculty and researchers exploring women’s labour and lifeworlds.

Ecosystems of Engagement: Digital Platforms and Women’s Work in Sri Lanka and India
In a world where evolving technology is constantly improving the efficiency of communication and production, the platform economy is reinventing the world of work. Claims that platforms create more employment are often countered by workers who see platform work as a ‘trade-off’. Read here.

Where Do the Victims of Gender Based Violence Go: A Needs Analysis for Women’s Safety Schemes in India
Despite several efforts, a survey in 2018 ranked India as the most dangerous country for women. The Government of India’s Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has several schemes, policies, and legislations on women’s safety and empowerment. Read here.

Testing the Waters: Young Women’s Work and Mobile Aspirations in India’s Small Cities
This article finds that small cities act as regional action spaces for women from villages and small towns to capitalise on fleeting opportunities and push against patriarchal boundaries through mobilities. Read here.

What Matters for Urban Women’s Work: A Deep Dive Into Falling Female Labour Force Participation
India is one of the lowest globally in terms of female labour force participation (FLFP). This paper investigates the structural deficiencies behind this consistently low urban FLFP and finds that factors like the presence of female-friendly industries, provision of regular salaried jobs, and addressing patriarchal biases can make these measures truly transformative and not just palliative. Read here.

Infrastructure, Gender and Violence: Women and Slum Sanitation Inequalities in DelhiThis project report examines the socioeconomic consequences of poor sanitation and how gender-based violence affects the everyday lives of women and girls using the notion of infrastructural violence in two long-established localities in Delhi: Mangolpuri and Kusumpur Pahari. Read here.

Gender and Urban Sanitation Inequalities in Everyday Lives
Despite the use of the concept of ‘gender mainstreaming’ in water and sanitation projects since the mid-1990s, gender inequalities continue to exist. Gender has become a term that is widely used in project documents and organisational policy documents, but remains little theorised and ill-defined. Read here.

‘Here, We Are Addicted To Loitering’: Exploring Narratives of Work and Mobility Among Migrant Women in Delhi
Drawing upon fieldwork among women workers living around two industrial estates in the city of Delhi, this chapter argues that the economic agency brought about by paid employment is situated within and shaped by the spatial mobility offered by the city, and the enabling nature of city spaces in relation to the rural. Read here .

Housing, Spatial-Mobility and Paid Domestic Work in Millennial Delhi: Narratives of Women Domestic Workers
This chapter constructs a gendered account of Delhi through an exploration of women domestic workers’ experience of spatial-mobility in relation to work and the inherent vulnerabilities of class and gender. Read here.

[PODCAST] The Gig Sisters Episode 1: In the Mood for Food
The stories of three women entrepreneurs in the food space and how they leveraged platforms to sustain themselves when everything else came to a standstill. Tune in.

[PODCAST] The Gig Sisters Episode 2: Pedicures and Penalties
CPR faculty speaks to three women beauty workers from India to understand how they coped with the effects of the pandemic. Tune in.

CPR Insights | Do Capital Intensive Industries have Less Women Workers?
Read here.