Bina Agarwal

She had a significant impact on governments, NGOs and international agencies' practices through her critically acclaimed book A Field of One's Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia. Agarwal argues that the most significant factor determining women's economic situation in South Asia is the gender gap in agricultural land ownership and control.

Drawing on interdisciplinary sources and field research, the author offers a comparative analysis of five countries exploring the complex obstacles to women's land tenure (Agarwal, 1995). The book provides original contributions to theory and policy regarding “land reforms, 'bargaining' and gender relations, women's status, and the nature of resistance” (ibid.). Agarwal's work and her involvement in a national campaign, in partnership with grassroots groups and NGOs, led to the Hindu Succession Act in 2005. This legislation was aimed at eliminating gender inequalities in land inheritance and legally equalling Hindu women’s land rights to men’s across states (Women Didn’t Receive Rights without Struggle, 2005). In this regard, echoing Amartya Sen's definition of freedom, the economist published the article Towards Freedom from Domestic Violence, which empirically demonstrates that house or land ownership significantly reduces a woman's risk of marital violence. Her economic and physical security, as well as her self-esteem, improve. Additionally, the property can offer a tangible escape option in the event of violence (Agarwal & Panda, 2007).

One of the most read and cited articles in the journal Feminist Economics is her article "Bargaining" and Gender Relations: Within and Beyond the Family, through which Agarwal challenges conventional economic theory and assumptions regarding the conceptualization of the household. As the author explains, unitary household models that include the bargaining approach provide a useful framework to examine gender asymmetries, although they disregard gender relations outside the family and the connections between extra-household and intra-household bargaining power (Agarwal, 1997a). Therefore, Agarwal extends the models in question by including social norms, social perceptions and property ownership as relevant factors in the bargaining process. In doing so, she highlights the interconnections between the spheres of the family, community and market in shaping women’s bargaining power. Another work that offers critical insights on conventional economic theoretical analysis is the book Psychology, Rationality and Economic Behavior, which challenges standard utility theory, and the related concepts of rationality and self-interest maximization, as a basis for explaining economic behaviour (Agarwal & Vercelli, 2005). The authors provide complex and novel models that are based on alternative understandings of human motivations and decision-making, contributing significantly to the field of behavioural and experimental economics (ibid.).

A significant portion of Agarwal’s research is focused on environmental collective action and women’s participation in public institutions. With her book Gender and Green Governance and numerous academic articles (see list below), Agarwal explores how and why women’s greater inclusion in environmental governance would be effective and beneficial (Agarwal, 2010). Women are indeed affected by environmental degradation in gender-specific ways - especially those living in poor and rural contexts in India (Agarwal, 1992). Moreover, forests and village commons are essential resources for women in poor households, in particular those who own little private agricultural land (Agarwal, 1997b). The shifts in property rights that occurred in the last few decades, from community control and management to that of the State and the individual, have undermined women’s access to these critical resources. Notably, Agarwal highlights how the recent re-establishment of community management of forests and commons is based on membership rather than citizenship, and as such poses important questions about participation and gender equity (ibid.). In this sense, Agarwal has been advocating for greater women’s involvement in formal environmental management institutions, as they have historically been active agents in collective sustainable environmental action, they significantly rely upon commons, and they are sharply affected by environmental degradation (Agarwal, 2000, 2010). Thereby, they could offer a gender-specific perspective to environmental protection towards more equitable access to commons.

References and Additional Readings

Agarwal, B. (1992). The gender and environment debate: Lessons from India. Feminist studies, 18(1), 119-158.

Agarwal, B. (1995). A field of one's own. Cambridge Books.

Agarwal, B. (1997a). ''Bargaining''and gender relations: Within and beyond the household. Feminist economics, 3(1), 1-51.

Agarwal, B. (1997b). Environmental action, gender equity and women's participation. Development and change, 28(1), 1-44.

Agarwal, B. (2000). Conceptualising environmental collective action: why gender matters. Cambridge journal of economics, 24(3), 283-310.

Agarwal, B., & Vercelli, A. (Eds.). (2005). Psychology, rationality and economic behaviour: challenging standard assumptions. Springer.

Women Didn’t Receive Rights without Struggle. (2005). The Indian Express

Agarwal, B., & Panda, P. (2007). Toward freedom from domestic violence: The neglected obvious. Journal of human development, 8(3), 359-388.

Agarwal, B. (2010). Gender and green governance: the political economy of women's presence within and beyond community forestry. Oxford University Press.