Patna: Women must move beyond roles defined by gender norms, and the state must do more to match their aspirations with real opportunities, senior officials and researchers said at a panel discussion in Patna on Thursday. Speaking at an event organised by the Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI), Bandana Preyashi, managing director of the Women and Child Development Corporation, said women continue to be funnelled into “stereotyped” jobs such as beauty work and tailoring, even though they increasingly aspire to modern roles such as computer operators.
Preyashi said the government encourages women to dream bigger, but the state still struggles to equip them with the skills required to access dignified and better-paid work. “There is a big gap in providing skills, and that gap limits the jobs women can realistically pursue,” she said. “We haven’t been able to help women realise the very aspirations we ask them to seek.”
The discussion, titled Bridging Skill and Aspiration Gaps for the Marginalised: A Pathway to Growth, opened with the presentation of a joint research study by ADRI and the University of Reading. Dr Ashmita Gupta, ADRI’s member-secretary, said the study found that aspirations, gender and caste often determine the work people consider possible in Bihar, with wages playing a smaller role than commonly assumed. Many still aspire overwhelmingly to uniformed or government jobs, she noted.
Professor Kambhampati of the University of Reading said research shows that workers can aspire only to what they know and understand. “To aspire, you must first know what an ideal situation looks like and the pathway to get there,” she said, explaining how limited exposure restricts the ambitions of marginalised groups.
The panel also featured Prem Prakash, head of the NITI Aayog’s Bihar office, along with Dr Sunita Lall and Dr Ushasi Gupta. The session drew academics, young researchers, civil society members and policymakers, reflecting growing concern over how aspiration gaps contribute to Bihar’s labour market challenges.
