Das, Maitreyi Bordia

Person:
Das, Maitreyi Bordia

Trust Funds and Partner Relations, Development Finance (DFi)

Fields of Specialization

Demography, Social Protection, Social Development, Human Development, Social Inclusion, Safety Nets, Equity, Labor Markets, Urban Development

Departments

Trust Funds and Partner Relations, Development Finance (DFi)

Last updated: April 3, 2023

Biography

Maitreyi Bordia Das is the Director for Trust Funds and Partner Relations in the Development Finance Vice Presidency of the World Bank. Based in Washington DC, she leads the furtherance of the World Bank’s trust fund reform, implementation of the Bank’s policy framework for financial intermediary funds (FIFs) and supports the ongoing World Bank Group Evolution process. Maitreyi is a leading voice to sustainable development, equity and inclusion, with a career that spans government, academia, the UN system and the World Bank. At the Bank, Maitreyi has held several advisory and managerial positions and led numerous research, policy and programmatic initiatives across urban development, resilience, water security, health, social protection and social development. She was the World Bank’s first Global Lead for Social Inclusion, is a speaker at various public forums and has an extensive publications record. In her last position as Manager in the Global Practice on Urban, Resilience and Land, she oversaw and expanded a wide range of trust funded global programs and partnerships. Having started her career as a lecturer in St Stephen's College, University of Delhi, Maitreyi has also been a MacArthur Fellow at the Harvard Center of Population and Development Studies and an advisor to the United Nations Development Program in Guyana. She has a PhD in Sociology (Demography) from the University of Maryland. Before joining the World Bank, Maitreyi was in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

Full item page

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 11

The Motherhood Penalty and Female Employment in Urban India
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-03) Zumbyte, Ieva; Das, Maitreyi Bordia
Since the 1990s, India has seen robust economic growth, rising wages, steady fertility decline, increased urbanization, and expanded educational attainment for males and females. But unlike other countries that have undergone similar transitions, urban women's employment has refused to budge, never crossing the 25 percent mark. This paper fills a critical gap in policy research on women's employment in India. The discussion is situated in the normative construction of motherhood and the gendered nature of caregiving in India. The analysis uses pooled data from six rounds of the National Sample Surveys to examine the effects of having a young child on mothers' employment in urban India over 1983-2011. The analysis also looks at household structure, and analyzes the effects of other household members on women's labor supply. The results show that although the onus of childbearing may have reduced, that of caregiving has increased. Having a young child in the home depresses mothers' employment, an inverse relationship that has intensified over time. Further, living in a household with older children and women over the age of 50 is positively associated with women's employment. These results show that the care of young children is an increasingly important issue in women's employment decisions, in a context where formal childcare is practically nonexistent. These results have significant implications for policy to raise women’s labor force participation in India.
Poverty and Social Exclusion in India: Adivasis
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012) Kapoor Mehta, Soumya; Das, Maitreyi Bordia
This brief describes the poverty and social exclusion of the tribal groups in India. Tribal groups or Adivasis are considered to be the earliest inhabitants of India. While India is widely considered a success story in terms of growth and poverty reduction, Adivasis in 2004–2005 were twenty years behind the average. Scheduled Tribes are often conflated with Scheduled Castes in the development literature, although they are completely different social categories. Physical remoteness and smaller numbers have gone together with political isolation and low voice in decision making for the Scheduled Tribes. There have been measures to assure defacto autonomy and self-rule to Adivasis, but implementation has been patchy. More discussion of tribal aspirations and problems from their point of view is needed, rather than an examination of such issues through the lens of policy makers, the bureaucracy, or the civil society.
Scaling the Heights : Social Inclusion and Sustainable Development in Himachal Pradesh
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-01) Das, Maitreyi Bordia; Tas, Emcet Oktay; Zumbyte, Ieva
Himachal Pradesh has the reputation of being stable, inclusive, cohesive and well-governed and it stands apart in many respects from its neighbors in northern India. It has additionally, achieved remarkable growth, especially in the last two decades, which has been accompanied by very good human development outcomes. Despite being a predominantly rural society, educational attainment in Himachal Pradesh for instance, is among the best in the country; poverty headcount is nearly one-third of the national average; life expectancy is 3.4 years longer than the number of years an average Indian expects to live; and, per capita income is the second highest among "special category" states in India. Underlying its strong economic and social development outcomes is Himachal Pradesh's commitment to expand access to public services to the remotest areas, across tough, hilly terrain and its strong institutional foundations. Inter-group disparities are low in a state where traditionally disadvantaged groups such as the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) make up a solid 30 percent of the population.
Poverty and Social Exclusion in India: Dalits
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012) Mehta, Soumya Kapoor; Das, Maitreyi Bordia
This brief is based on a Poverty and Social Exclusion in India.Caste is perhaps the oldest form of social stratificationin India.After independence, the Indian Constitution abolisheduntouchability and the erstwhile untouchablescame to be known as the Scheduled Castes(SCs).The situation of Dalits has undergone dramatic transformation over time.While caste has had significant implications for poverty and other welfare outcomes, this note focuseson two arenas—education and the labor market.Our analysis based on the National Sample Survey(NSS) data suggests that there has been expansion in education among Dalits, but not at the samepace as among the upper castes.Micro studies continue to document discrimination against SC students. In the labor market, Dalits remain largely in casuallabor. Education is considered a panacea to poor labor market outcomes and overall it has positive effects for all men.It would nevertheless be naïve to dismiss the changes in caste dynamics, more so over the past two decades. Attendant to the economic changes, social movements asserting the power of Dalits have swept some states and have given Dalits a sense of political voice and agency. In sum, we find that despite localized changes,there have been modest changes for Dalits in the aggregate.
Poverty and Social Exclusion in India: Overview
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012) Mehta, Soumya Kapoor; Das, Maitreyi Bordia
The report’s main objective is to track development outcomes for three select groups - scheduled tribes (STs), scheduled castes (SCs), and women - that have traditionally faced exclusion in India. It asks the question: how did these groups fare over a period of rapid growth in India, primarily in the nineties; and were they able to break through the historically grounded inequalities that have kept entire generations among them trapped or did traps trump opportunities? It focuses on exclusion along three spheres - services, markets, and voice and agency. Within these too, the attempt is to highlight a few select issues that offer new insights. The report draws both on national data (national sample surveys (NSS) and national family health surveys (NFHS)) as well as qualitative work for its evidence, relying more on the latter to probe heterogeneity within states and groups and incipient processes that result in exclusion.
Does Culture Matter or Firm? Demand for Female Labor in Three Indian Cities
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-02) Mehta, Soumya Kapoor; Das, Maitreyi Bordia; Zumbyte, Ieva; Sasmal, Sanjeev; Goyal, Sangeeta
In discussing the inordinately low employment of Indian women in urban areas, several studies have argued that culture and attitudes have created a labor market that is inherently discriminatory. The unsaid corollary is that culture is slow and hard to change and so, women will stay out of the labor market until social change occurs. The empirical evidence on the role of culture is slim at best. This paper fills the void in the policy literature, as it assesses the relative role of culture, as signified by attitudes of employers, and firm characteristics in hiring women. The paper is based on a unique survey of 618 firms in three of the largest cities in the state of Madhya Pradesh (India)—Bhopal, Indore, and Gwalior. Using detailed descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analysis at the firm level, the hiring process, and attitudes toward male and female workers, the paper addresses the issue of culture and firm characteristics, while noting that the two are not necessarily in binary opposition. The results reinforce the conventional wisdom in some ways and are surprising in others. The most salient result is that employer attitudes matter much less for the chance that women will be hired, than do firm and location characteristics. This has significant policy implications, the most important of which is that female employment in urban India is amenable to policy intervention, and that it is not necessary to wait for culture to change.
Poverty and Social Exclusion in India: Women
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012) Mehta, Soumya Kapoor; Das, Maitreyi Bordia
This brief describes the poverty and social exclusion of Women in India. The last few decades have seen remarkable progress in the status of women and girls, yet the cultural roots of gender inequality are still strong and affect a range of outcomes. The high salaries and independent lifestyles of women in urban India have captured public imagination. Yet progress has been very uneven and slower than would have been expected based on India’s levels of per capita income. Females still have an overall survival deficit in childhood and during their reproductive years and are severely disadvantaged in the labor market. Inequalities in wages are a disincentive for women to work, but they clearly want work!. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is an example of a program that explicitly seeks to provide paid work to poor women. The scheme mandates that at least one-third of workers should be women and makes several provisions to enhance the participation of women. Threats to women’s security also influence the ability of women to access markets and services and claim spaces for themselves. This is an area in which policy can have a huge effect. Making public spaces safe for women is a major step forward in enhancing women’s access to these spaces.
Framing Local Conflict and Justice in Bangladesh
(2011-08-01) Maru, Vivek; Das, Maitreyi Bordia
The institutional landscape of local dispute resolution in Bangladesh is rich: it includes the traditional process of shalish, longstanding and impressive civil society efforts to improve on shalish, and a somewhat less-explored provision for gram adalat or village courts. Based on a nationally representative survey, qualitative evidence from focus groups, and a telephone survey of 40 Union Parishad chairpersons (a little less than 1 percent of the total Union Parishads), it provides both an empirical mapping of local conflict and justice and pointers to possible policy reforms. It suggests a number of opportunities for strengthening local justice and argues that the village courts may pose a useful bridge between Bangladesh's informal and formal justice institutions.
A Closer Look at Child Mortality among Adivasis in India
(2010-03-01) Kapoor, Soumya; Das, Maitreyi Bordia; Nikitin, Denis
The authors use data from the National Family Health Survey 2005 to present age-specific patterns of child mortality among India's tribal (Adivasi) population. The analysis shows three clear findings. First, a disproportionately high number of child deaths are concentrated among Adivasis, especially in the 1-5 age group and in those states and districts where there is a high concentration of Adivasis. Any effort to reduce child morality in the aggregate will have to focus more squarely on lowering mortality among the Adivasis. Second, the gap in mortality between Adivasi children and the rest really appears after the age of one. In fact, before the age of one, tribal children face more or less similar odds of dying as other children. However, these odds significantly reverse later. This calls for a shift in attention from infant mortality or in general under-five mortality to factors that cause a wedge between tribal children and the rest between the ages of one and five. Third, the analysis goes contrary to the conventional narrative of poverty being the primary factor driving differences between mortality outcomes. Instead, the authors find that breaking down child mortality by age leads to a much more refined picture. Tribal status is significant even after controlling for wealth.
Changing Norms about Gender Inequality in Education : Evidence from Bangladesh
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-11) Blunch, Niels-Hugo; Das, Maitreyi Bordia
Using a recent household survey for two cohorts of married women, this paper examines norms about gender equality in education for children and adults. Among the main findings are that gender education gap norms have changed: younger generations of women are more positive about female vs. male education, both as pertaining to child and adult education outcomes. Perhaps the strongest result is that Bangladeshi women are more likely to espouse attitudes of gender equality in education for their children and less so about gender equality among spouses. It is also easier to explain norms regarding children's education and more difficult to explain norms about equality in marriages. The authors believe that question on relative education of boys and girls captures the value of education per se, while the question on educational equality in marriage captures the norms regarding marriage and the relative worth of husbands and wives. The effect of education in determining norms is significant though complex, and spans own and spousal education, as well as that of older females in the household. This indicates sharing of education norms effects or externalities arising from spousal education in the production of gender education gap norms within marriage as well as arising from the presence of older educated females in the household. Lastly, the authors also find associations between gender education gap norms and household poverty, information processing and religion, though the evidence here is more mixed.