Esther Duflo And Abhijit Banerjee Receive Their Nobel Prize In A Saree And Dhuti-Panjabi Respectively. We Love It
It is exceedingly heartening to see a diverse representation of culture, thoughts, attire, and gender in most industries on a global stage. While we still have a long way to go in terms of equal opportunity for minorities and women in highly regarded fields, but hey, every day is bringing a new victory in big ways or small.
For today, we are celebrating brand new Nobel laureates, and married couple, French-American Esther Duflo And Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee. The duo was awarded the 2019 Prize in Economic Sciences for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty, in a ceremony last night. They chose ensembles which as an ode to their desi roots, Banerjee in a traditional Bengali Dhuti-Panjabi and Duflo in a green ombré saree, her way of acknowledging her companionship with her husband.
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Watch Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer receive their medals and diplomas at the #NobelPrize award ceremony today. Congratulations!
They were awarded the 2019 Prize in Economic Sciences “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.” pic.twitter.com/c3ltP7EXcF
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) December 10, 2019
With just over a dozen Indian and India-based personalities winning this prestigious prize, the instances of traditional attires at the ceremonies have been next to none. While Peace prize recipients like Kailash Stayrathi (2014) and Bangladesh based Muhammad Yunus (2006), donned kurta pajamas at their acceptance speeches, none have done so with such flair and flamboyance. Banerjee’s white and gold dhoti paired with a Punjabi bandhgala jacket is the customary attire for Bengali grooms, finding it’s origin in the pre-British era India where men treated it as an ensemble for special occasions.
The sentiment of paying homage to one’s cultural background was shared by Duflo as well, who chose a saree over the usually demure gowns worn by winners in the field of academics. She paired her drape with minimal accessories and a simple bindi. we have spoken about spouses winning the Nobel together being absolute #CoupleGoals, but Esther’s pick of the traditional 5-yards of Indian culture goes beyond just love…it’s respect.
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The ceremony was also heartwarming to watch when Banerjee was introduced as the “husband-of” Esther. This topic of debate sparked when a few media outlets and politicians in India refereed to Duflo as just Banerjee’s wife, and not the brilliant economist that she is.
ALSO READ: Esther Duflo Is Not Just Abhijit Banerjee’s “Foreigner Wife”. She Is An Equally Deserving Winner Of The Nobel Prize In Economics.
Talking about the award-winning team, which also consists of their fellow US-based colleague Michael Kremer the Nobel committee said, “The research conducted by this year’s Laureates has considerably improved our ability to fight global poverty. In just two decades, their new, experiment-based approach has transformed development economics, which is now a flourishing field of research”. In an interview about what inspires Duflo to work in the field of poverty, she said, “What drives me remain simple questions: what makes poor people tick, what keeps them stuck, and how economic policy can help them. This is what helps me get out of bed, even when I am jetlagged and feeling quite sorry for myself”.
At 46, Duflo became the youngest ever recipient and only the second woman to be awarded the Nobel for Economics since it began in 1969. And with his win Banerjee becomes second Indian, after Amartya Sen (1998), to receive Nobel Prize in Economics.
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