Project Description
RESEARCH AREAS:
Gender and Development
Women and Work
Social, Political and Economic Inequality
CONTACT:
BIPASHA BARUAH
Professor; Canada Research Chair in Global Women’s Issues; Member, The College of the Royal Society of Canada (2015);
Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, Western University
Bipasha Baruah is the Canada Research Chair in Global Women’s Issues and Professor of Women’s Studies and Feminist Research at Western University. Dr. Baruah conducts innovative interdisciplinary research on gender, development and globalization; women and work; and social, political and economic inequality. Her research on women and property ownership and women’s employment in renewable energy and resource efficiency has influenced policy within governments, financial institutions and non-governmental organizations. In addition to her academic career, Dr. Baruah has over 10 years of professional international development experience with organizations such as the United Nations Development Program, Asian Development Bank, World Resources Institute, The Energy and Resources Institute, Self-Employed Women’s Association, the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, the International Development Research Centre of Canada and Global Affairs Canada. The Royal Society of Canada (RSC) named Dr. Baruah to the 2015 Cohort of The College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. “The College” is Canada’s only national system of multidisciplinary recognition for the emerging generation of Canadian intellectual leadership. Every year, it names individuals who have made exceptional professional contributions to Canada and the world within 15 years of completing their doctorates.
Bipasha Baruah conducts policy-focused qualitative and quantitative research in the following 6 areas:
- Women and Property Ownership
- Gender Justice in Low-Carbon/Green Development
- The Role of NGOs as Intermediaries in Global Development
- Women in the Global Informal Sector
- Women in Non-Traditional Occupations
- Female Farmers’ Ability to Access Agricultural Innovation in Desert Climates
Dr. Baruah’s research is funded by SSHRC, CFI, Mitacs, Indo-Canadian Shastri Institute and the UN Food and Agricultural Organization.
Books
Baruah, B. 2010. Women and Property in Urban India. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
Baruah, B. 2016. Renewable inequity? Women’s employment in clean energy in industrialized, emerging and developing economies. Natural Resources Forum DOI: 10.1111/1477-8947.12105
Baruah, B. 2015. NGOs as intermediaries in post-disaster rural reconstruction: findings from research in India. Development in Practice 25(7): 1–14.
Baruah, B. 2015. NGOs as Intermediaries for Pro-Poor Electrification in India: Urban Development in a Post-Neoliberal Era? Asian Journal of Social Science 43: 178-204.
Baruah, B. 2015. Creating Opportunities for Women in the Renewable Energy Sector: Findings from India. Feminist Economics 21(2): 53-76.
Baruah, B. 2013. Education in the Commonwealth Caribbean: findings from a national adult literacy program. Development in Practice 23(3):328–334.
Baruah, B. 2011. Monitoring gendered outcomes of environmental and development policies. Development in Practice 21(3): 410-415.
Baruah, B. 2010. Energy Services for the Urban Poor: NGO Participation in Slum Electrification in India. Environment and Planning C 28(6): 1011-1027.
Baruah, B. 2010. NGOs in Microfinance: Learning from the Past, Accepting Limitations, and Moving Forward. Geography Compass 2(6): 1-14.
Baruah, B. 2010. Women and Globalization: Challenges and Opportunities Facing Construction Workers in Contemporary India. Development in Practice 20(1): 31-44.
Baruah, B. 2010. Gender and Globalization: Opportunities and Constraints Faced by Women in the Construction Industry in India. Labor Studies Journal 35(2): 198-221.
Baruah, B. 2009. Monitoring Progress towards Gender-Equitable Poverty Alleviation: The Tools of the Trade. Progress in Development Studies 9(3): 171-186.
Baruah, B. 2007. Gendered Realities: Exploring Property Ownership and Tenancy Relationships in Urban India. World Development 35: 2096-2109.
Baruah, B. 2007. Assessment of Public-Private-NGO Partnerships: Water and Sanitation Services in Slums. Natural Resources Forum: A United Nations Journal 31: 226-237.
Baruah, B. 2005. Gender and Development in South Asia: Can Practice Keep Up with Theory? Canadian Journal of Development Studies 26: 677-688.
Baruah, B. 2004. Earning Their Keep and Keeping What They Earn: A Critique of Organizing Strategies of South Asian Women in the Informal Sector. Gender, Work and Organization 11: 605-626.
Wilkerson, O. and B. Baruah. 2001. Organized Complexity, Information, and State-of-Sustainability Reporting: A Case Study of the Tl’azt’en Nation. Western Geography 10: 64-88.
Baruah, B. 1999. The Narmada Valley Project: displacement of local populations and impact on women. Natural Resources Forum: A United Nations Journal 23: 81-84.
Book Chapters
Baruah, B. 2016. NGOs as Intermediaries for Slum Electrification in Urban India. In Hodson, M. & S. Marvin (eds.). Retrofitting Cities: priorities, governance and experimentations. New York: Routledge.
Baruah, B. 2016. Electrified Publics and Informal Settlements in Urban India. In McDonald, D.A. (ed.). Making Public in a Privatized World. New York and London: Zed Books.
Baruah, B. and M. Govindan. 2015. Engaging with Gender and Other Social Inequalities in Renewable Energy Projects. In Hostettler, S., Gadgil, A. and E. Hazboun (eds.). Sustainable Access to Energy in the Global South: Essential Technologies and Implementation Approaches. New York: Springer.
Baruah, B. 2012. Women in Urban Settings. In Beall, J., Guha-Khasnobis, B., and R. Kanbur (eds.). Urbanization and Development in Asia: Multidimensional Perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press.
Baruah, B. 2012. A Better Way to Grow? Town Planning Schemes as a Hybrid Land Readjustment Process in Ahmedabad, India. Value Capture and Land Policies, ed. Gregory K. Ingram and Yu-Hung Hong. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Baruah, B. 2003. Human Capabilities and Gender Justice: A South Asian Perspective. In Anghie, A., Chimni, B., Mickelson, K., and O. Okafor (eds.) The Third World and International Order: Law, Politics and Globalization. Leiden/ Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Other Peer-reviewed Publications
Baruah, B. 2012. Informal Economy. In Warf, B. (ed.) Oxford Bibliographies in Geography. New York: Oxford University Press.
Baruah, B. 2010. Informal Economy. In Warf, B. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Geography Volume 3. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 1590-1592.
Baruah, B. 2010. Women and Landed Property in Urban India: Negotiating Closed Doors and Windows of Opportunity. Working Paper No. 2010/56. Helsinki, Finland: United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER).
Baruah, B. 2007. Women and Multiple Vulnerabilities: Opportunities and Constraints in Landed Property Ownership for Informal Sector Workers in Urban India. Peer-reviewed paper prepared for the international conference Living on the Margins: Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy, Cape Town, South Africa, March 26-28.
Baruah, B. 2004. Challenges and Opportunities in Land Ownership for Women in the Informal Sector in Urban Contemporary India. Working Paper No. 3 in Bose, P. (ed.) Ethics of Development-Induced Displacement. York University: Centre for Refugee Studies.
Non-refereed Publications
Baruah, B. and C. Gaudet. 2016. Confronting the Gender Gap in Canada’s Green Transition. This Changes Everything: The Leap. August 19. (70% contribution) (original op-ed in The Hill Times)
Baruah, B. and Crystal Gaudet. 2016. Why should Canadians care about gender equity in clean energy employment? The Hill Times. August 15. (70% contribution).
Baruah, B. 2016. Development Unplugged (for the Canadian Council for International Co-operation): Reconciling Economic Security, Environmental Protection and Social Justice. Huffington Post. April 1.
Baruah, B. 2016. Development Unplugged (for the Canadian Council for International Co-operation): There’s a Gender Gap in The Global Renewable Energy Workforce. Huffington Post. March 8.
Baruah, B. 2015. Development Unplugged (for the Canadian Council for International Co-operation): We Need to Change How We Define Success in Development. Huffington Post. November 26.
Baruah, B. 2015. Opportunities and Constraints for Women in the Renewable Energy Sector in India. Women and Environments International 94/95: 7-10.
Baruah, B. 2014. Of Nobel Prizes and Pyrrhic Victories. Western News. Oct 16.
Baruah, B. 2011. Building Visibility: Challenges and Opportunities Facing Women Construction Workers in Contemporary India. Women and Environments International 86/87: 18-23.
Baruah, B. 2004. Under One Roof: Homes as Productive Assets. Women and Environments International 62/63: 5-7.
Baruah, B. 2002. Feminist Networking and Alliance Building: A Tool for Empowerment – Interview with Joanna Kerr, AWID. Women and Environments International 56/57: 34-36.
Baruah, B. 2002. Challenges for Microcredit in South Asia. Women and Environments International 54/55: 27-29.
Regular Article and Book Review Contributions to the AWID Friday File Internet Newsletter and AWID Quarterly Newsletter (please see website www.awid.org)