Pratiche politiche neoliberiste e diseguaglianze di genere in India

The article focuses on the living conditions of labouring-class women in neoliberal India, with attention to different dimensions of deprivation. In so doing, the paper initially accounts for the most salient features of the transition to neoliberalism in India, as well as for the increased pressure on women’s double burden of paid and unpaid work associated with neoliberal policies. Specific attention will be paid, on the one hand, to the unfolding of renewed processes of marginalization of female labour and, on the other hand, to the increase in women’s unpaid workload caused by cuts in public expenditures and privatization policies. The implications of these processes in terms of socio-economic distress, as well as ‘time poverty’, will be illustrated though a field-based analysis of the daily living conditions of fisherwomen in Chilika Lake, situated on the coast of the Indian state of Odisha.