Pursuing original research in Punjab, India

With the money I received from the International Studies Travel Award, I was able to fund travel to Punjab, India in order to conduct research in support of my master’s thesis. My original research study planned to explore how and why educated and employed young Jat men are socialized into using opiates, in the city of Jalandhar, in Punjab, India. However, due to time and ethical constraints, my revised study focuses on how prolonged absences of main male wage earners in Punjabi households influence the autonomy of wives.

I examine how a different gendered division of labour within the household could affect women’s autonomy. More specifically, I focus on Punjabi truck-driver families in which the male wage earner is often away for a prolonged period, and the wife must perform traditionally “male” tasks in his absence. Additionally, my study also examines how the effects of a different household division of labour on women’s autonomy may be manifested differently under different social contexts. To do so, I will compare the experience of Punjabi truck-driver families in Punjab and in BC and address how the prolonged absences of male wage earners in Punjabi households influence the autonomy of wives.

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