Gender and premarket discrimination in rural punjab a district level study

Abstract

This doctoral thesis investigates gender-based and dual premarket discrimination in rural Punjab, with a particular focus on access to education and healthcare. Using unit-level data from the NSSO s 75th Round on Social Consumption (2017 18), it employs both univariate and multivariate analyses to examine disparities across gender and caste groups. The study utilizes Gender Parity Indices (GPI), Gender Gap (GG) analysis, and binary logistic regression models to explore discrimination in access to general and technical education, as well as to formal healthcare services. The findings reveal substantial gender disparities in enrolment, educational expenditure, and skilling opportunities, alongside inequities in healthcare access and treatment. Scheduled Caste (SC) females emerge as the most disadvantaged, facing dual marginalization due to both caste and gender. Intra-gender differences are also evident, with SC women significantly lagging behind non-SC women across most indicators of educational and health access. newline