Supriya Garikipati

The Impact of Lending to Women on Household Vulnerability and Women's Empowerment: Evidence from India

Summary Impact evaluation studies routinely find that lending to women benefits their households. However, a number of them also find that this may not empower the women concerned. This seemingly paradoxical conclusion is confirmed by our study with respect to a lending program in rural India. We investigate this result by examining a combination of loan-use data and borrower-testimonies. We find that loans procured by women are often diverted into enhancing households assets and incomes. This combined with womans lack of co-ownership of familys productive assets, we conclude, results in her disempowerment. If empowering women is a crucial objective, then the patriarchal hold on productive assets must be challenged.

Landless but not assetless: female agricultural labour on the road to better status, evidence from India

Womens share of agricultural wage employment is rising across the Indian sub-continent. Studies examining this process of feminisation tend to be divided along the lines of an ideological debate following either the ‘poverty-push’ or the ‘demand-pull’ argument. This debate, however, has largely ignored the institution of patriarchy. In this study we revisit the debate with a focus on gender relations. The study is based on data collected from 291 households in the state of Andhra Pradesh. We find that, despite increased labour market participation, womens household status, her wages and working conditions remain acutely depressed. Women labourers with access to productive assets, however, are effectively expanding their agency within both the household and the labour market. Their experiences, we argue, have implications for transformative policies.

Microcredit and Women's Empowerment: Have We Been Looking at the Wrong Indicators?

The impact that microcredit has on womens empowerment has been much debated in the literature. Some studies find negative effects; some find positive effects and others no effect. A reconciliation of these discrepancies has been attempted by attributing them to the usage of different measures of empowerment. In particular, it has been argued that those studies that view empowerment as outcomes for women associated with their access to loans, find positive effects, and those studies that focus on processes of loan use find negative effects. These different ways of measuring empowerment are the focus of this study. Using data collected from 397 women participants in a microcredit programme in rural India, it is evident that measuring empowerment in terms of outcomes alone—as most impact assessments do—is not only insufficient but can actually be misleading as well. The findings of this study suggest that a more robust understanding of the linkages between lending to women and their empowerment can be achieved by focusing on the processes surrounding loan use and repayment. The findings of this study also caution against the excessive focus on outcomes as a measure of womens empowerment.

Trade Liberalisation, Economic Development and Poverty Alleviation

In a distinguished career spanning more than four decades, Jagdish Bhagwati has made numerous contributions to both trade theory and trade policy analysis. The current paper focuses on Bhagwatis major contribution to the ongoing debate surrounding the influence of trade liberalisation upon economic development and its potential to alleviate poverty in the worlds poorest economies. In order to highlight Bhagwatis contributions in these fields we focus on the arguments developed in two of his numerous landmark publications; first his seminal 1964 paper on the Pure Theory of International Trade and, second, his 2004 book entitled In Defense of Globalization. Although separated in time by some four decades we argue that these two publications, despite their very different characters, each demonstrate beyond doubt the significance of Bhagwatis work in improving our understanding of the true nature of international trade and its potential to address questions of global poverty.

Microfinance and gender: issues, challenges and the road ahead

Abstract This special collection examines the claim that microfinance promotes gender equality. The focus is on three areas of the debate: first, the question of how successful microfinance has been in empowering women; second, whether and how negative gender discrimination operates within the sector; third, how power relations within and beyond the household shape the context and outcomes of microfinance initiatives. The papers in this collection demonstrate the divergence of circumstances and emphasise the need to go beyond the past searches for a simple narrative regarding the impact of microfinance. Rather, as the sector evolves and is incorporated into the mainstream financial system, the challenge ahead for researchers is to marshal the evidence on gendered dynamics to ensure that the gains made are built on through deeper understanding of why impact outcomes and processes differ and use this to inform new initiatives to further gender equality.

The Cost of Empowerment: Multiple Sources of Women’s Debt in Rural India

Abstract Poor women borrow from multiple sources. This study examines whether the source of debt matters for women’s role in household financial decisions. Drawing on a household survey from rural Tamil Nadu, we categorise women’s loans along the lines of accessibility and formality into ‘planned loans’ and ‘instant loans’. We find that ‘instant loans’ support women’s bargaining power in various types of household financial decisions, whereas ‘planned loans’ have no impact. This surprising result is better understood when the nature of ‘instant loans’ is examined – these are frequently usurious, involve coercive enforcement methods and are considered socially debasing. Hence women who use them perform a convenient role for their households and in return gain some negotiating power.

Farmers’ willingness to pay for a village poultry vaccine service in Ethiopia: prospect for enhancing rural livelihoods

This research examines farmers’ willingness to pay for village poultry vaccine programmes using data from 400 household heads from two districts in Ethiopia, Horro and Jarso. The study applied a contingent valuation method to elicit farmers’ willingness to pay for village poultry vaccine services. Two hypothetical vaccine programmes were designed for Newcastle disease and Gumboro disease. Both parametric and non-parametric approaches were employed in data analysis. The results show that farmers recognise the benefits of the vaccine programme and that many would be willing to pay for it. Results from non-parametric estimates produced households’ mean willingness to pay Ethiopian Birr (ETB) 80 up to ETB 87 per year based on vaccine programme type. This demonstrates the potential and prospect of reducing the impact of infectious poultry diseases and enhancing rural livelihoods through village poultry. Exponential probit analysis revealed that farmers’ willingness to pay for village poultry vaccine service is influenced by age, education level, and region of respondents. Younger and more-educated farmers were more likely to pay for village poultry vaccine services and farmers from Horro, a relatively food secure and educated area, were more likely to pay than those from the less food secure Jarso district.

Eliciting preferences for attributes of Newcastle disease vaccination programmes for village poultry in Ethiopia

Newcastle disease (NCD) is an important disease of poultry, directly affecting the livelihoods of poor farmers across developing countries. Research has identified promising innovations in NCD vaccine development and field trials among village poultry have been promising. However, NCD vaccination is not currently part of village poultry extension programmes in many developing countries. Understanding the preferences for, and relative importance of, different attributes of potential vaccination programmes to prevent NCD will be crucial in designing acceptable and sustainable prevention programmes. This research employed the discrete choice experiment approach to elicit farmers’ preference for attributes of NCD vaccination programmes for village poultry in rural Ethiopia. The choice experiment survey was conducted on 450 smallholder farmers. The relative importance of attributes of NCD vaccines to farmers was estimated using a random parameter logit regression model. The preferred NCD vaccine programme had greater bird-level protection (i.e. greater capacity to reduce mortality should NCD occur in a flock), was delivered by animal health development agents, and could be administered via drinking water. Results from simulations on changes in attribute levels revealed that bird-level protection capacity and delivery of vaccine by animal heath extension affect farmers’ preferences more than other attributes. These findings suggest that it is important to ensure NCD vaccine programmes offer reasonable capacity to protect against mortality. It also suggests the need to understand farmers’ preferred vaccine delivery mechanisms and route of vaccine administration for a wider acceptance of vaccine.

The Impact of Microfinance on Poverty Alleviation: Making Sense of the Evidence

This chapter sets out to examine the available evidence on the impact of microfinance on poverty alleviation across the developing world. The focus is on microcredit – the most prominent element of microfinance schemes where small amount of money is lent at the market rate mainly to neighbourhood groups of poor women. As the dependence on subsidies continue, so does the debate on how effective is it to lend small amounts of money in terms of pulling people out of poverty by improving business profits, incomes and ultimately help them build physical assets. The chapter draws on the existing literature to synthesise the available evidence in a way that allows crystallisation of some basic empirical facts in an overcrowded space. Overall our results suggest that the economic impact of lending to the poor are at best modest and cannot in any way be taken for granted. Against the backdrop of this accumulated knowledge, using credit alone as a development intervention is neither justified nor helpful.

Feminization of Agricultural Labor and Women's Domestic Status: Evidence from Labor Households in India

Women’s share of agricultural wage employment is rising across the Indian sub-continent. Studies examining this process of feminization tend to be divided along lines of an ideological debate following either the ‘poverty-push’ or the ‘demand-pull’ argument. This debate however has largely ignored the institution of patriarchy. This study revisits the debate with a focus on domestic gender relations. We find that, despite increased labor market participation, women’s household status remains acutely depressed. Women laborers, with access to productive assets, however, are effectively reworking gender relations within and outside the household. Their experiences, we argue, have implications for transformative policies.