Suhani Jalota

Graduate Student Research Funding | 2019 - 2020 Academic Year

Raising the Bar: Increasing Women's Own Aspirations and Men's Expectations of Them

Women’s low labor force participation in India even before marriage is puzzling. Are women choosing not to engage in employment in anticipation of marriage? Does marriage imply lower standards for women in terms of their employment or educational outcomes? Using an incentivized audit experiment with men and their families where they will be asked to choose between women's profiles altering only their employment status, income earned, and desire to be employed after marriage, the study would show whether early-life employment decisions have later life marriage market implications. Further, through a field experiment, the study can illustrate how women’s valuations can be increased while targeting the populations that seem to be most biased towards women staying out of the labor force.

Suhani Jalota, School of Medicine

Suhani Jalota is the founder and CEO of Myna Mahila Foundation, a women’s health organization in India. She is currently a Knight Hennessy Scholar pursuing her MBA and PhD in health policy and economics at Stanford University. For the last eight years, she has been working in urban slum areas and rural communities in the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and India. Jalota holds a BS in economics and global health from Duke University. She is a Forbes Asia 30 under 30 recipient 2018, Young Achievers Mother Teresa Memorial Awardee 2018, and Queen’s Young Leader 2017.

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