Social networks, mobility, and political participation: The potential for women’s self-help groups to improve access and use of public entitlement schemes in India
Women’s self-help groups (SHGs) have increasingly been used as a vehicle for social, political, and economic empowerment as well as a platform for service delivery. Although a growing body of literature shows evidence of positive impacts of SHGs on various measures of empowerment, our understanding...
| Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Elsevier
2019
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145760 |
| _version_ | 1855518574006763520 |
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| author | Kumar, Neha Raghunathan, Kalyani Arrieta, Alejandra Jilani, Amir Hamza Chakrabarti, Suman Menon, Purnima Quisumbing, Agnes R. |
| author_browse | Arrieta, Alejandra Chakrabarti, Suman Jilani, Amir Hamza Kumar, Neha Menon, Purnima Quisumbing, Agnes R. Raghunathan, Kalyani |
| author_facet | Kumar, Neha Raghunathan, Kalyani Arrieta, Alejandra Jilani, Amir Hamza Chakrabarti, Suman Menon, Purnima Quisumbing, Agnes R. |
| author_sort | Kumar, Neha |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Women’s self-help groups (SHGs) have increasingly been used as a vehicle for social, political, and economic empowerment as well as a platform for service delivery. Although a growing body of literature shows evidence of positive impacts of SHGs on various measures of empowerment, our understanding of ways in which SHGs improve awareness and use of public services is limited. To fill this knowledge gap, this paper first examines how SHG membership is associated with political participation, awareness, and use of government entitlement schemes. It further examines the effect of SHG membership on various measures of social networks and mobility. Using data collected in 2015 across five Indian states and matching methods to correct for endogeneity of SHG membership, we find that SHG members are more politically engaged. We also find that SHG members are not only more likely to know of certain public entitlements than non-members, they are significantly more likely to avail of a greater number of public entitlement schemes. Additionally, SHG members have wider social networks and greater mobility as compared to non-members. Our results suggest that SHGs have the potential to increase their members’ ability to hold public entities accountable and demand what is rightfully theirs. An important insight, however, is that the SHGs themselves cannot be expected to increase knowledge of public entitlement schemes in absence of a deliberate effort to do so by an external agency. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace145760 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publishDateRange | 2019 |
| publishDateSort | 2019 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| publisherStr | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1457602025-02-24T06:47:58Z Social networks, mobility, and political participation: The potential for women’s self-help groups to improve access and use of public entitlement schemes in India Kumar, Neha Raghunathan, Kalyani Arrieta, Alejandra Jilani, Amir Hamza Chakrabarti, Suman Menon, Purnima Quisumbing, Agnes R. social capital gender social networks empowerment self-help groups public services public participation women Women’s self-help groups (SHGs) have increasingly been used as a vehicle for social, political, and economic empowerment as well as a platform for service delivery. Although a growing body of literature shows evidence of positive impacts of SHGs on various measures of empowerment, our understanding of ways in which SHGs improve awareness and use of public services is limited. To fill this knowledge gap, this paper first examines how SHG membership is associated with political participation, awareness, and use of government entitlement schemes. It further examines the effect of SHG membership on various measures of social networks and mobility. Using data collected in 2015 across five Indian states and matching methods to correct for endogeneity of SHG membership, we find that SHG members are more politically engaged. We also find that SHG members are not only more likely to know of certain public entitlements than non-members, they are significantly more likely to avail of a greater number of public entitlement schemes. Additionally, SHG members have wider social networks and greater mobility as compared to non-members. Our results suggest that SHGs have the potential to increase their members’ ability to hold public entities accountable and demand what is rightfully theirs. An important insight, however, is that the SHGs themselves cannot be expected to increase knowledge of public entitlement schemes in absence of a deliberate effort to do so by an external agency. 2019-02-06 2024-06-21T09:05:00Z 2024-06-21T09:05:00Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145760 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145759 https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/world-development/special-issue/10HB9DTV77Q https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105579 Open Access Elsevier Kumar, Neha; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Arrieta, Alejandra; Jilani, Amir Hamza; Chakrabarti, Suman; Menon, Purnima; and Quisumbing, Agnes R. 2019. Social networks, mobility, and political participation: The potential for women’s self-help groups to improve access and use of public entitlement schemes in India. World Development 114(February 2019): 28-41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.09.023 |
| spellingShingle | social capital gender social networks empowerment self-help groups public services public participation women Kumar, Neha Raghunathan, Kalyani Arrieta, Alejandra Jilani, Amir Hamza Chakrabarti, Suman Menon, Purnima Quisumbing, Agnes R. Social networks, mobility, and political participation: The potential for women’s self-help groups to improve access and use of public entitlement schemes in India |
| title | Social networks, mobility, and political participation: The potential for women’s self-help groups to improve access and use of public entitlement schemes in India |
| title_full | Social networks, mobility, and political participation: The potential for women’s self-help groups to improve access and use of public entitlement schemes in India |
| title_fullStr | Social networks, mobility, and political participation: The potential for women’s self-help groups to improve access and use of public entitlement schemes in India |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social networks, mobility, and political participation: The potential for women’s self-help groups to improve access and use of public entitlement schemes in India |
| title_short | Social networks, mobility, and political participation: The potential for women’s self-help groups to improve access and use of public entitlement schemes in India |
| title_sort | social networks mobility and political participation the potential for women s self help groups to improve access and use of public entitlement schemes in india |
| topic | social capital gender social networks empowerment self-help groups public services public participation women |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145760 |
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