International Institute for Population Sciences
Deemed to be University (An Autonomous Organization of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India)

THE GENDER PROJECT

The GENDER (Gender Equity and Demography Research) Project is a collaborative research and training initiative between the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) in Mumbai and the Center on Gender Equity and Health (GEH) at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). The aim of the project is to enhance gender equity in India and accelerate the country's progress towards achieving targets of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on gender by applying innovative analytical methods to examine gender issues, generate evidence, and informing potential solutions to address those issues.
The project began in 2017 and is currently in its second phase. The first phase of the project focused on applying novel analytic methods in examining gender issues. It involved capturing prevalence and analyzing intersecting vulnerabilities, building models to understand pathways to greater equality, and analyzing the role of health services in reaching India’s health and gender goals.
The second phase, which started in 2022, will see a deepened research and policy focus on women’s agency and social norms to understand and accelerate India’s path to reaching SDG targets on gender. The second phase of the project will also focus on building in-country capacity for advanced gender data analytics. The GENDER project mainly uses data from the National Family Health Surveys, besides other nationally and sub-nationally representative data in India to understand the gender equity issues in India. Findings from the research studies are disseminated in high impact publications as well as research briefs and infographics for use by government, policy makers and other experts.
The GENDER project at IIPS is led by Dr. Abhishek Singh and Dr. Kaushalendra Kumar and supported by an experienced team of research scientists. The project is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.