Devaki Jain is one of India’s best known feminist economists, with a long career working closely with institutions to first recognise and then mainstream women’s issues.

Born in 1933 in the erstwhile princely state of Mysore where her father was a minister, Devaki has degrees from the University of Mysore and the University of Oxford and taught economics at Delhi University.

In this episode of Grassroots Nation, Devaki speaks of how walking with Vinoba Bhave influenced her early work, her lifelong friendships with Gloria Steinehm and Iris Murdoch and her marriage of over forty years to the Gandhian economist Lakshmi Chand Jain, a relationship she greatly credits her long life and career to.

Across her career Devaki has held a range of positions in the United Nations. She founded the Institute of Social Studies Trust in Delhi, was associated with the Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS), DAWN, or the Development Alternatives for Women for a New era and the Central Social Welfare Board, or CSWB to name a few.

One of Devaki’s early realizations was the importance of systematically counting the contributions of women because their work was seldom recognised. Throughout her career as a feminist economist, Devaki has consistently tried to influence and talk about the circumstances of Southern women and women in developing country contexts to raise their status and to value their economic contributions. Her work has inspired generations of women’s rights academics, workers and activists.

Devaki has authored a number of books including a perceptive and comprehensive book on Indian women for the first UN conference on women in 1975, The Journey of a Southern Feminist, and her memoir, The Brass Notebook. At 90, she plans to write the definitive book on feminism.

The Padma Bhushan awardee is in conversation with Navsharan Singh, a friend and Delhi-based researcher and human rights activist. This conversation was recorded at Devaki Jain’s office in New Delhi.

For more information, go to www.rohininilekaniphilanthropies.org

Audio Used:
Women in (Recognized) Work | Feminist Economics Part 2 by New Economic Thinking CC BY 3.0

Inspirational and Omnipotent Leader of Bhoodan Movement- Acharya Vinoba Bhabe by Argus News CC BY 3.0