BIGD organised a roundtable on Gender Justice and the Wellbeing Economy, which opened with reflections from Emeritus Professor Naila Kabeer, who traced the shared roots of gender injustice, rising inequality, and the climate crisis to decades of deregulated, market-driven growth. She spoke about the need to reimagine our economic systems around a wellbeing economy—one that places care for people and the planet at its core. The discussion that followed was rich, timely, and deeply thought-provoking, with eminent social science researchers and practitioners in attendance.
At the roundtable, our BIGD colleagues shared insights from two ongoing research initiatives.
• One explores a just and viable model that integrates solar energy with agriculture, led by Dr Rohini Kamal (Head of the Environment and Climate Change Cluster).
• The other examines a scalable childcare model built by strengthening existing informal care arrangements for low-income working mothers, led by Prof Munshi Sulaiman (Research Director) and Dr Shaila Ahmed (Head of the Gender and Social Development Cluster).
Together, these studies offer promising alternatives to extractive, commodified systems and highlight the power of interdisciplinary, collaborative approaches.
