Talk:Sonalde Desai

Proposed updates to this article
Hi, I’m a personal friend of Sonalde Desai, the subject of this article, and I’d like to offer some ideas for improving it. In addition to providing new content, I also have ideas about restructuring this article so that it follows the precedent of other similar articles, which I understand is the typical standard for article structures. I have based my suggestions for structural changes on other articles about demographers and sociologists, such as those about Eric Kaufmann, Maria Simon (sociologist), Sophie Body-Gendrot, or Pim Fortuyn. Thanks for your time and I hope that these suggestions are helpful.

A.

What I’d like to change: Please add a new Early life and Education section to this article after the second paragraph of the article.

Here’s my suggestion for that new section:

Early life and education

Desai was born in India and grew up in Gujarat and Mumbai. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Mumbai. She earned a master's degree in sociology from Case Western Reserve University, and a doctorate in sociology from Stanford.

Reason for the change: An “Early life and education” section is typical of biographical articles and will significantly improve the organization of this one. Where possible I have also added new secondary sources here in order to address the warning flag about an excessive reliance on WP:PRIMARY.

B.

What I’d like to change: Please remove the current third and final paragraph in this article.

Here’s the paragraph to remove:

Desai was raised in Gujarat and Mumbai by parents involved in the Indian independence movement. She attended the University of Mumbai (then Bombay) before seeking graduate education at Case Western Reserve University and Stanford University.

Reason for the change: This paragraph is a more poorly sourced version of the same information proposed above, and includes extraneous information not relevant to the subject (e.g., her parents’ connections with the Indian independence movement, which have no clear relevance to this article about her).

C.

What I’d like to change: Please add a new Career section to the article directly below the new “Early life and education” section proposed above.

Here’s my suggestion for that new section:

Career

Desai joined the University of Maryland College Park in 1994 as a senior assistant professor of sociology and a member of the Center on Population, Gender, and Inequality.

In 2021, she became a distinguished professor in sociology at the University of Maryland, and president of the Population Association of America in 2022.

In 2022, the Indian Ministry of Rural Development appointed Desai to a committee for studying the performance of states in carrying out the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, a set of labor and social security programs and regulations for addressing poverty.

Desai frequently contributes opinion articles for The Indian Express and The Hindu.

Reason for the change: Wikipedia’s rules require that all information in the lead of an article be based on information in the article body. At present the article has no body, so I’m providing a new body section here that confirms the content currently in the lead and adds additional information that is based on reliable sources.

D.

What I’d like to change: Please add a new Research section directly below the new Career section proposed above.

Here’s my suggested version of this section:

Research

While at RAND in 1989, Desai and colleagues published a study on the impact of mothers’ employment on the cognitive abilities of their children at the age of four. The study found that there was a statistically significant adverse effect on male children from higher income families, and especially if mothers were employed during the sons’ infant years; the negative impact of maternal absence, however, was mitigated by mothers’ reduced fertility, and offset by the positive effects of increased income.

In 1998, Desai published a cross-national study that reexamined the established observation that, on average, the more education mothers have, the healthier their children tend to be. The study found that the correlation between education level and health becomes weaker when taking into account local circumstances such as family’s access to running water, toilets, and vaccines.

To assess the effectiveness of India’s program of affirmation action on reducing the caste system’s legacy of inequality, in 2008, Desai and a colleague compared education achievement across groups within India. Using large-scale survey data spanning 20 years, they found that designated scheduled castes saw improved completion of primary school. They also found that inequality in higher education attainment persisted, and that Muslims (a group that did not receive affirmative action) remained worse off educationally than most other disadvantaged groups.

In 2020, Desai and colleagues published a study examining education hypogamy (marrying a person with less education) among women in India. Using data from the India Human Development Survey, they showed that among women, education hypergamy was declining while educational hypogamy was rising. The reason hypogamy was rising was because educated women tended to marry men with lower education status but higher familial and economic status.

Reason for the change: The addition of a new Research section follows similar sections in other biographical articles about academics, and provides needed context for the very brief summary of her research currently in the lead.

E.

What I’d like to change: Please remove the box at the top of this article which says that it relies excessively on references to primary sources.

Reason for the change: The other requested changes here provide numerous secondary sources to support the updated/expanded information in the article. After these changes are implemented the reason for the box no longer applies, so it should also be removed.

Naomikan (talk) 17:18, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

Reply 1-NOV-2023
Regards, Spintendo  02:45, 2 November 2023 (UTC)
 * The proposed additions contain several instances where multiple references are placed at the end of passages of text, as bundled citations (e.g., [1][4][5], etc.) Traditionally, this indicates that all three references verify the preceding sentence or sentences. In cases such as those, the COI editor is kindly asked to consolidate these references to only a single source. If the circumstances are that the multiple references are necessary because they each, on their own, verify a different fragment of information afforded in the preceding sentence or sentences, then the guidelines at WP:INTEGRITY need to be followed.
 * In any event, the COI editor is asked to clarify these questions by rewriting their edit request so that it includes the appropriate number of references as well as ensuring that the guidelines at WP:INTEGRITY are followed.
 * When ready to proceed with the requested information, kindly change the template's answer parameter to read from y to n. Please note that prior text entered in the Edit request proposal should not be retro-actively altered. Instead, a new reply post supplying the needed information should be posted below this review. The original  template may then be altered.