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Sonalde Desai

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Sonalde Desai
Alma materUniversity of Bombay (BA)
Case Western Reserve University (MA)
Stanford University (PhD)
Scientific career
FieldsSociology and demography
InstitutionsUniversity of Maryland, College Park (1994-)

Sonalde Desai is a sociologist and demographer. She is a Distinguished University Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park[1] and a professor at the National Council of Applied Economic Research, where she serves as the first direction of the National Data Innovation Centre.[2] She is the principal investigator for the India Human Development Survey, a nationwide panel data survey or more than 40,000 households in more than 2,000 villages and urban neighborhoods.[3] In 2022, she served as president of the Population Association of America. In 2023 she was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[4]

Desai's research concerns social inequality in developing countries, especially with regard to gender and class. Her research on women's education and employment in India, and its implications for child health and development, has been especially influential.[5] Much of her research concerns gender and development in India.[6] She also writes frequently on topics related to population and inequality for publications such as The Indian Express[7] and The Hindu.[8]

Early life and education

Desai was born in India and grew up in Gujarat and Mumbai.[9] She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Mumbai.[10][9] She earned a master's degree in sociology from Case Western Reserve University, and a doctorate in sociology from Stanford.[11][12][13]

Career

Desai joined the University of Maryland College Park in 1994 as a senior assistant professor of sociology and a member of the Center on Population, Gender, and Inequality.[14]

In 2021, she became a distinguished professor in sociology at the University of Maryland,[15][16] and president of the Population Association of America in 2022.[9]

In 2022, the Indian Ministry of Rural Development appointed Desai to a committee for studying the performance of states in carrying out the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, a set of labor and social security programs and regulations for addressing poverty.[17][18]

Desai frequently contributes opinion articles for The Indian Express and The Hindu.[19][20]

Research

While at RAND in 1989, Desai and colleagues published a study on the impact of mothers’ employment on the cognitive abilities of their children at the age of four. The study found that there was a statistically significant adverse effect on male children from higher income families, and especially if mothers were employed during the sons’ infant years; the negative impact of maternal absence, however, was mitigated by mothers’ reduced fertility, and offset by the positive effects of increased income.[21][22]

In 1998, Desai published a cross-national study that reexamined the established observation that, on average, the more education mothers have, the healthier their children tend to be. The study found that the correlation between education level and health becomes weaker when taking into account local circumstances such as family’s access to running water, toilets, and vaccines.[23][24]

To assess the effectiveness of India’s program of affirmation action on reducing the caste system’s legacy of inequality, in 2008, Desai and a colleague compared education achievement across groups within India.[25] Using large-scale survey data spanning 20 years, they found that designated scheduled castes saw improved completion of primary school.[26][27] They also found that inequality in higher education attainment persisted,[26] and that Muslims (a group that did not receive affirmative action) remained worse off educationally than most other disadvantaged groups.[28][29]

In 2020, Desai and colleagues published a study examining education hypogamy (marrying a person with less education) among women in India. Using data from the India Human Development Survey, they showed that among women, education hypergamy was declining while educational hypogamy was rising. The reason hypogamy was rising was because educated women tended to marry men with lower education status but higher familial and economic status.[30][31]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Sonalde Desai profile page
  2. ^ NCAER Our History.
  3. ^ India Human Development Survey.
  4. ^ University of Maryland announcement.
  5. ^ Desai, Sonalde; Alva, Soumya (1998). "Maternal Education and Child Health: Is There A Strong Causal Relationship?". Demography. 35 (1): 71–81. doi:10.2307/3004028. JSTOR 3004028. PMID 9512911. S2CID 23737454.
  6. ^ Desai, Sonalde; Andrist, Lester (2010). "Gender Scripts and Age at Marriage in India". Demography. 47 (8): 667–687. doi:10.1353/dem.0.0118. JSTOR 40800836. PMC 3000052. PMID 20879683.
  7. ^ "Sonalde Desai : Read All The Stories Written by Sonalde Desai". March 8, 2021.
  8. ^ "Sonalde Desai-The Hindu". www.thehindu.com.
  9. ^ a b c "PAA Honored Members". Populationassociation.org. Population Association of American. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  10. ^ Ritzer, George (13 November 2003). Handbook of Social Problems : A Comparative International Perspective (1 ed.). London: SAGE Publications, Incorporated. p. 701. ISBN 9781452261553.
  11. ^ Mortland, Shannon (12 October 2009). "Two trustees named to Case Western Reserve University board". Crains Cleveland. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  12. ^ McKinsey and Company (Eds.) (19 November 2013). Reimagining India Unlocking the Potential of Asia's Next Superpower. Simon & Schuster. p. 432. ISBN 9781476735306. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  13. ^ "Sonalde Desai". ndic.ncaer.org. National Center of Applied Economic Research. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  14. ^ "In the news" (PDF). Footnotes: A magazine of the American Sociological Association. 22 (6): 18. 1994. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  15. ^ "The Year in Books: What newsmakers have been reading in 2022". Indian Express. 30 December 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  16. ^ "BSOS Faculty Named as Distinguished University Professors". College of Behavioral and Social Sciences Annual Update. 2021–2022. University of Maryland: 4. 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  17. ^ Sharma, Harikishan (27 November 2022). "MGNREGS: Centre forms panel to study performance of states, governance issues". Indian Express. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  18. ^ "Modi favours NREGS recast to help poorest". Hindustan Times. 3 December 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  19. ^ "Columnists: Sonalde Desai". indianexpress.com. Indian Express. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  20. ^ "Sonalde Desai". thehindu.com. The Hindu. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  21. ^ Bianchi, Suzanne M (2000). "Maternal employment and time with children: Dramatic change or surprising continuity?". Demography. 37 (4): 401–414. doi:10.1353/dem.2000.0001.
  22. ^ Desai, S; Chase-Lansdale, PL; Michael, RT (1989). "Mother or market? effects of maternal employment on the intellectual ability of 4-year-old children". Demography. 26 (4): 545–561. doi:10.2307/2061257.
  23. ^ Currie, J (2009). "Healthy, wealthy, and wise: Socioeconomic status, poor health in childhood, and human capital development". Journal of Economic Literature. 47 (1): 87–122. doi:10.1257/jel.47.1.87.
  24. ^ Desai, S; Alva, S (1998). "Maternal education and child health: Is there a strong causal relationship?". Demography. 35 (1): 71–81. doi:10.2307/3178543. hdl:2027/spo.0499697.0026.214.
  25. ^ Cassan, Guilhem (2019). "Affirmative action, education and gender: Evidence from India". Journal of Development Economics. 136 (January): 51–70. doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.10.001.
  26. ^ a b Pradhan, KC; Mukherjee, S (2018). "The income transition in rural india: Evidence from aris/reds surveys". Journal of Economic Development. 43 (2): 45–64. doi:10.35866/caujed.2018.43.2.003.
  27. ^ Desai, S; Kulkarni, V (2008). "Changing educational inequalities in India in the context of affirmative action". Demography. 45 (2): 245–270. doi:10.1353/dem.0.0001. PMC 2474466.
  28. ^ Rajam, V; Reddy, AB; Banerjee, S (2021). "Explaining caste-based digital divide in india". Telematics and Informatics. 65. arXiv:2106.15917. doi:10.1016/j.tele.2021.101719.
  29. ^ Guha, Ramachandra (10 April 2018). "Burdens of the past" (PDF). Indian Express. Archived from the original on 10 April 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  30. ^ Han, SW (2022). "Is it only a numbers game? A macro-level study of educational hypogamy". Demography. 59 (4): 1571–1593. doi:10.1215/00703370-10126742.
  31. ^ Lin, Z; Chen, F (2020). "The emergence of educational hypogamy in india". Demography. 57 (4): 1215–1240. doi:10.1007/s13524-020-00888-2. PMC 7441083.
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