Increasing women’s employment has been a popular objective of the development process. However, after being exposed to the human development perspective that situates well-being at the heart of development, I wondered whether simply increasing women’s employment is enough to secure their economic empowerment. Treating job satisfaction as an important parameter of well-being and economic empowerment I was prompted to ask how job satisfaction varies across job types in Nepal. Answering this question was the goal of my ARIA project which can then help identify jobs that should be made more accessible for women in “developing” countries to truly promote women’s economic empowerment.
The project began with a trip to Chitwan, Nepal, to take interviews for background contextual research. Thereafter, I explored the Chitwan Valley Family Study database online to identify an analysis sample, select variables, and, after many drafts, my research question crystallized. I spent several weeks curating my dataset on STATA - recoding and generating variables - for descriptive analysis and, finally, running a logistic regression. Alongside, I created a bibliography for literature review. My supervising professor, Professor Brauner-Otto, and I are now planning on publishing my findings in a paper!
My interest in pursuing an ARIA project stemmed from a desire to build a solid foundation in research skills. Moreover, this was a fantastic opportunity for me to work closely with a professor whose academic interests aligned with mine. At a subconscious, and later conscious, level I wanted to seize this chance to investigate a topic that would in some capacity contribute to development discourse in a South Asian context and help close the knowledge gap – if even by a fractional percentage – about the global south.
My overarching objective was to learn as much about the various aspects of research. I wanted to understand what goes into crafting the papers that we study in classes and think critically about the research process: its nuances and shortcomings. I had no prior knowledge about quantitative analysis and never worked with statistical software, so learning STATA was a key learning goal (STATAlist forum became a close friend!). Likewise, I had never participated in fieldwork for qualitative research, thus, traveling to Nepal, learning institutional protocol, and taking interviews was another “lifelong” objective I was able to check off my list.
It’s tough to identify a few highlights when this entire experience was one. Exploring a topic of my choosing while “learning on the job” had me elated throughout. Going to Nepal was definitely a highlight – I was able to learn more about the social context I was studying. Another highlight was the confidence I built while working with data on a new software without any background in statistics. Nothing topped the satisfaction I felt after writing a successful code, or after preparing the final data set. ARIA would not have been half as enriching (or fun) without my weekly meetings with Professor Brauner-Otto from whom I gained invaluable insights discussing everything from development, population, environment, to UberEATS workers.
Conducting interviews with language barriers was my first challenge as I didn’t speak Nepali and had to have my conversations mediated by translators. I learnt that research requires a lot of patience. I faced technical issues and was unable to access my files for a week. There were times when I seemed to make little progress, spending hours wracking my brain to figure out STATA code. I would remind myself that working with data is a logical and creative process, and results don’t fall into your lap easily. Professor Brauner-Otto’s constant encouragement and taking breaks (after which the solution seemed so obvious) helped me overcome these challenges.
The ARIA experience has strengthened my interest in studying social dynamics and development. I have been able to form opinions on what development should stand for and learnt how complicated humans can be giving contradicting responses during interviews. These insights are going to be carried forward with me, guiding my future endeavours. This project has made me consider a career in policy-design and research after realizing how crucial good research is and how it can have important consequences.
Lastly, I want to extend my sincerest gratitude to Dr. Eakin and Mr. Hoffmann for your immense generosity without which I wouldn't have been able to undertake this project. This experience has moulded me into a critical thinker and shaped my aspirations of shedding light on people’s lived realities and directing development interventions in the right direction in South Asia. I owe it greatly to you.
