It’s funny that, as per her recent talk at a Bengaluru university, Nirmala Sitharaman thinks patriarchy is a Leftist concept because not that long ago the Left considered patriarchy a plot to undermine the class struggle.

But well, Nirmalaji is not the Minister of History, but of Finance. And she is right about one thing. Sonalde Desai wrote last week in the Indian Express, research has found that while women’s agency, education, age of marriage, capacity to negotiate within families, all have shown positive growth in the last decade, it is not so when it comes to jobs. Women interviewed during the India Human Development Survey by the National Council for Applied Research and the University of Maryland, said their families would not hold them back from working if jobs could be found. So given her job, I guess the honourable minister knew whereof she spoke. It’s not just patriarchy that’s holding women back. It’s, erm, the economy.