Nilanjana Sengupta

Areas of Interest & Expertise

  • Gender and Development
  • Gender and Governance
  • Gender, Labour and Livelihoods
  • Financial Inclusion
  • Women’s Community Institutions
  • Feminist Movements
  • Queer Politics

Biography

Nilanjana Sengupta has worked as an academic and practitioner in the space of Gender and Development for nearly two decades. Her work is interdisciplinary and located at the interface of gender studies and development studies. 

She has taught at various universities including Jadavpur University, Kolkata and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Tuljapur and Mumbai, while simultaneously engaging with grassroots training and action research. In 2015, she moved full time into the development sector and worked with local NGOs, international research agencies as well as UN Women. 

Nilanjana received her Doctoral Degree in Economics and Regional Development from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. 

Nilanjana’s research and practice span various domains. She spent almost a decade working with paid domestic workers in Kolkata, understanding strategies of survival, aspirations, and methods of organising. 

Her work has been published in various journals. Her book titled Domestic Days: Women, Work and Politics in Contemporary Kolkata, was published by Oxford University Press.

Another major area of her work has been with women’s self-help groups (SHGs), where she focused on institution-building and capacity-building processes related to women’s empowerment. 

She has worked with community organisations as well as Government bodies, including the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) and the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) on issues of gender mainstreaming in local governance systems and microfinance programmes. 

Publications

Book

Journal Articles

Chapters in Edited Books

Reports

  • Madhuri, N.V., & Sengupta, N. (2018). Gender mainstreaming in rural governance. National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj & UN Women.
  • Madhuri, N.V., & Sengupta, N. (2018). Gender friendly Panchayats: Best practices. National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj & UN Women.
  • Andharia, J., Madhuri, N.V., & Sengupta, N. (2018). Indicators of gender responsive governance. National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj & UN Women.
  • Sengupta, N., Uppal, R., Laha, S., & Banerjee, S. (forthcoming). Gendering MPSRLM institutions: The case of gender justice program in Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh – Proof of Concept. International Center for Research on Women.
  • Sengupta, N., Uppal, R., Laha, S., & Banerjee, S. (forthcoming). Stories of Change: Samta Sakhis of Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh – Case Studies Report. International Center for Research on Women. 
  • Uppal, R., Sengupta, N., Laha, S., & Banerjee, S. (forthcoming). Exploring strategies and outcomes of the gender justice program in Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh – Process Documentation Report. International Center for Research on Women.