Abstract
The survival of the original reports of officials engaged in the Dufferin Inquiry (1887–88) from what is now Uttar Pradesh, enables us to have detailed descriptions of the extent of poverty in India’s countryside at that time. The details cover conditions of women, including their share in both domestic and field labour. One can infer the state of gender relations from these descriptions, with bride-price rather than dowry as the prominent institution. We are also able to see how caste customs also shaped women’s access to the labour market outside the home.
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