My research interests centre on issues of youth, gender, and work in the Global South. I am especially interested in interdisciplinary approaches, and the intersections between research, policy, and international development practice.
I am currently working with Prof. Bhaskar Vira, Dame Barbara Stocking and Prof Pauline Rose to build a Commission on youth and work in the Global South. The Commission aims to bring together key political, business and civil society leaders, practitioners, and researchers to produce a comprehensive set of recommendations to tackle the pressing issues around youth and work in developing countries. The Commission will especially focus on the regions of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
My doctoral work focussed on young women's entry into non-traditionally female jobs in India. Motivated by the low and declining female labour force participation in India and recognising occupational gender segregation as a key reason for it, my PhD study asked: what are the factors that structure entry into non-traditional job training for young women? Informed by 76 semi-structured interviews primarily with young women in non-traditional training programs (driving, and electrician and electronic mechanics), and a traditional training course (beauty parlour), the study examined the lived experiences of young women in slums in Delhi and drew out implications for policy.
Previous to the PhD at Cambridge, I worked for three years at the World Bank, as an Economist and as a Labour and Gender Specialist.
