An opportunity for change? Gender analysis of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) guarantees 100 days minimum wage employment to rural households in India. Enacted in 2005, MGNREGA is a flagship programme now reaching over 50 million households across the country. It aims to promote improvements in grassroots democracy and facilitate transparency through community accountability mechanisms, e.g. the social audit forum where villages participate in the assessment of programme implementation. MGNREGA is part of the Government of India’s broader commitment to inclusive growth, which aims to address both the economic and social underpinnings of poverty. As the Planning Commission states: ‘A major weakness in the economy is that the growth is not perceived as being sufficiently inclusive for many groups, especially Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and minorities. Gender inequality also remains a pervasive problem and some of the structural changes taking place have an adverse effect on women ... For the first time in the history of Indian planning there is an attempt to move beyond empowerment and recognise women as agents of sustained socio-economic growth and change’ (Planning Commission of India, 2008: 1, 4). This Project Briefing presents evidence from qualitative and quantitative research carried out by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies (IIDS) in the state of Madhya Pradesh. It assesses the extent to which MGNREGA integrates a gender-sensitive approach to public works programmes to support the inclusion of women – especially from marginalised communities – in India’s poverty reduction and growth processes. Poverty and vulnerability through a gender lens