Humanities - Kendade 203
Impact of Compulsory Primary Education on Female Labor Force Participation
Student Name: Deepika Baskar Prabhakar
Project Advisor: Ted Gilliland
India has one of the world's lowest female labor force participation rates in the world with just 29.2% of women employed or actively looking for work (Verick 2014). Low female labor force participation is often associated with a reduction in GDP per capita and economic growth (Agénor and Canuto 2015). Thus, it is imperative to examine factors that could potentially increase female labor force participation. One of the aspects that could increase labor force participation is childcare (Connelly 1992). However, in low-income countries like India, childcare is often expensive and inaccessible. In my thesis, I examine if relaxing this constraint by providing free and compulsory education to children as substitute childcare will encourage higher female labor force participation. I use tools from classic economic theory to illustrate how compulsory primary education will affect labor market decisions. I then use data and explore three different empirical strategies to test these predictions. I find that the outcome of women’s decision to enter the labor market is dependent on how the households’ budget and time constraints are affected in response to the children now going to school. My research informs policy-makers that solely relaxing the childcare constraint may not result in higher labor force participation, other factors such as gender norms, safety for women in the workplace, and wage disparity should be explored.
References:
Agénor, Pierre-Richard, and Otaviano Canuto. 2015. “Gender Equality and Economic Growth in Brazil: A Long-Run Analysis.” Journal of Macroeconomics 43 (March): 155–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmacro.2014.10.004.
Connelly, Rachel. 1992. “The Effect of Child Care Costs on Married Women’s Labor Force Participation.” The Review of Economics and Statistics 74 (1): 83. https://doi.org/10.2307/2109545.
Verick, Ruchika Chaudhary, and Sher. 2014. “Female Labour Force Participation in India and Beyond.” Working paper. http://www.ilo.org/newdelhi/whatwedo/publications/WCMS_324621/lang--en/index.htm.
The Gap Between Access and Efficient Use: Technology and Media Literacy in Less Developed Rural Communities
Student name: Dnyaneshwari Haware
Project advisor: Prof. Satyananda Gabriel
Abstract: This research aims to investigate the gap between access and efficient use of communication technology in less developed rural communities, with a particular focus on rural Indian communities. Economic, infrastructure, behavioral and social factors influencing efficient technology adoption in low-income and low-resource communities are explored, with strategies suggested to overcome these barriers. The potential of technology in uplifting rural communities is analyzed, including the emergence of mobile phones as a primary form of telecommunication infrastructure. The research compares digitization plans and initiatives by developing country governments to reveal limited focus on enhancing media literacy within rural communities. Common factors that affect the efficient use of technology, including lack of investment in infrastructure, literacy rates, social norms, and willingness to learn are also identified. Through qualitative data collected from a survey of residents in the Amravati district of Maharashtra, India, and case studies from other developing nations, this research shows the significant impact technology can have on rural communities' standard of living, poverty alleviation, reduced unemployment, and development of other sectors with critical media literacy. The study emphasizes the need for media literacy to protect rural communities from the adverse impact of increased technological access like misinformation and increased awareness of and participation in telecommunications and media-related policy-making processes.
Keywords: technology, media literacy, rural communities, developing nations, infrastructure, digitization, critical media literacy.
Addressing the Legal Protections Gap: Climate migration and international refugee law
Student name: Megan Horner
Project advisor: Adam Hilton
This paper asks if international refugee law is the best tool to address the climate migration legal protections gap. Using an analytical framework that evaluated solutions on the basis of justice, practicality, and efficacy, I determined that international refugee law fell short on all three counts. Consequently, this paper analyzes other possible solutions that might be better able to address climate migration. Using the same analytical framework, I determined that an interdisciplinary approach would best be able to address the legal protections gap in a just, effective, and practical manner.
Cultural Capital and Major Selection for Chinese International Students
Student name: Wanqi (Angie) Zhu
Project advisor: Benjamin Gebre-Medhin
This thesis explores the relationship between cultural capital and major selection for Chinese international students. Previous research has focused on the effect of cultural capital, especially on academic attainment, while only a few discuss its influence on college major selection. Those that do have found evidence that students’ college majors are correlated with their cultural capital. However, the process and the choices of majors for international students are still insufficiently explored. By using both qualitative and quantitative analysis, this thesis will interpret how major selection for Chinese international students is influenced by their cultural capital through different mechanisms. This study finds mediation effects of career aspirations between choosing a STEM major and intergenerational cultural communications. The college major selection process of Chinese students is also subject to indirect and covert parental involvement, which encompasses the formulation of plans and the implementation of supportive strategies. Choosing non-STEM majors is significantly linked to a higher level of embodied cultural capital based on the analysis from a series of logistic regression models.