BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:talks.ox.ac.uk BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:A Reconsideration of Care: Pursing Gender-Equal Care for Health an d Well-Being in India - Various Speakers DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260213T090000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260213T170000Z UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/c3436581-31ca-4121-ac2e-e803d00882c3/ DESCRIPTION:2:30 pm IST = 9 am London \nWelcome \n2:40 pm IST= 9:10 am Lon don \nIntroduction to the project\, to OSGA\, Gender Care Hub \n2:50 pm IS T=9:20 am London \nKishalay Bhattacharjee introduces keynote speaker\, Ja yati Ghosh \n3:00 pm IST = 9:30 am London \nKeynote address by Jayati Ghos h \n3:45 pm IST = 10:15 am London \nQ and A \n4:30 pm IST = 11:00 am Londo n \nYoung Scholars Panel \nWho Cares for the Care Workers? Reflecting on A SHAs through a Feminist Economics Lens\, \nAsmita Basak\, South Asian Univ ersity\, New Delhi \nPandemic\, Precarity\, and Care Work: Gendered Health Experiences of Indian Migrant Nurses in the Gulf during COVID-19\, \nAnag ha E\, School of Global Affairs\, Ambedkar University\, Delhi \nCare and T ime Poverty in Rural Rajasthan\,\nLabhisha Meena\, PhD candidate\, Malaviy a National Institute of Technology\, Jaipur \n5:30 pm IST = 12:00 noon Lon don \nThank you’s \n \nAbstracts\n\nWho Cares for the Care Workers? Ref lecting on ASHAs through a Feminist Economics Lens\nAsmita Basak (South As ian University\, New Delhi)\n\n“Aurat kaam se laut kar bhi kaam par hi l aut-tee hai”\n(Women return home to work from work)\nThe discontinuation of the male-dominated village health guide (VHG) scheme in 2002 could hav e enabled a shift in India’s rural health services\, with the introducti on of female Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in 2005. This paper examines ASHAs as a case of feminised care work\, using a feminist economic lens to unpack the stru ctural and ideological framings that continue to inform India’s healthca re system. Methodologically\, studying the ASHAs presented the challenge o f tracing invisibilised\, gendered labour within a policy framework that d eliberately designates them as “volunteers\,”paid only through perform ance-based honorariums. This framing draws on an economic lineage that cod es care work as moral and selfless (seva) rather than as productive or wag ed labour. Ethnographic and document-based inquiry into ASHAs’ everyday practices and mobilisation strategies revealed how such categories obscure the material realities of their labour while structurally limiting their bargaining power.\nWhile the central focus of ASHAs remains maternal and w omen’s health\, the female healthcare force\, now consisting of well ove r a million members\, has expanded to immunisations\, providing contracept ives and family planning advice\, preventing infections\, and caring for i nfants and young children. Nevertheless\, the state’s refusal to recogni se the ASHAs as workers excludes their much important care services from t he formal definitions of work. Care work by ASHAs allows for rethinking ge ndered labour and welfare delivery\, offering insights into recognition\, organisation\, and systemic invisibility of care.\nThe COVID-19 pandemic b ecame a moment of rupture: as “frontline warriors\,” ASHAs not only ex posed the systemic precarity of their roles but collectively protested for recognition and rights. This moment influenced my research focus by redef ining care not as peripheral or additional work\, but as politically signi ficant and centrally important to knowledge. It necessitated a reassessmen t of what defines “work\,” and how knowledge practices must address ge ndered exclusions rooted in both policy and economic logic.\n\nPandemic\, Precarity\, and Care Work: Gendered Health Experiences of Indian Migrant N urses in the Gulf during COVID-19\nAnagha E (Teaching Faculty\, School of Global Affairs\, Ambedkar University)\n\nAbstract\nThe COVID-19 pandemic h as laid bare the structural inequities embedded within global migrant labo ur regimes\, particularly in feminised care occupations such as nursing. T his paper critically examines the gendered health experiences of Indian mi grant nurses engaged in transnational care work in Gulf Cooperation Counci l countries during the pandemic. It analyses emigration trends of nurses f rom India to the GCC in the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods\, while exam ining overseas recruitment policies with particular attention to the role of state and sectoral interest groups. It further interrogates the social construction of nursing as a gendered profession and form of care labour\, and analyses how this construction shapes and sustains gendered inequalit ies within transnational labour markets\, while engaging with debates on m igrant labour health by foregrounding the work- and health-related experie nces of Indian nurses in the Gulf during the pandemic.\nThe research adopt s a qualitative design framed by narrative inquiry into identity and lived experience within transnational care settings. Primary data is collected through life story interviews and close observation. The findings highligh t that the pandemic created heightened employment precarity for migrant nu rses in the Gulf. Deteriorating labour conditions\, increased workloads\, extended working hours\, psychological stress\, discrimination\, stigma\, and exposure to health risks significantly affected their health and livel ihoods. Gendered constructions and persistent stereotyping of nursing as w omen’s care work further reinforced these vulnerabilities\, exacerbating inequalities both at destination workplaces and within broader migration regimes.\n\nCare and Time Poverty in Rural Rajasthan\nLabhisha Meena\, (Ph D candidate\, Malaviya National Institute of Technology\, Jaipur)\nTime po verty has been defined and redefined based on contextual realities time an d again. Women’s experience of time poverty\, especially of women from r ural contexts in India\, have reflected that the issues of work-life confl ict and burden of unpaid work persist\, as elucidated by various scholars based on recent time use data. Parallelly\, various international organiza tions have recommended public policy provisions such as improved access to water\, fuel\, social protection and care services\, as they are found to alleviate women’s domestic and time burdens. However\, there remains a dearth of studies in rural Indian context\, which captures the extent to w hich these policies transform women’s lives. \nThis study engages with t he concept of time poverty using the 3Rs framework\, i.e. Recognition\, Re duction\, and Redistribution Framework by Diane Elson\, and aims to captur e how certain public policy provisions affect women's time poverty. The st udy is contextualised in rural Rajasthan\, and aims to present primary res earch on how lives have been influenced by Ujjwala Yojana and Jal Jivan Mi ssion implementation in rural Rajasthan\, with respect to 3R Framework. Th e study delves deeper into various methodological challenges as time pover ty line is not universally defined and can be evaluated in absolute or rel ative terms\, thus making the claims of “reduction” different to evalu ate. \n\nSpeakers:\n Various Speakers LOCATION:Online - Teams TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/c3436581-31ca-4121-ac2e-e803d00882c3/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:A Reconsideration of Care: Pursing Gender-Equal Care for Health and Well-Being in India - Various Speakers TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR