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Social Norms and the Impact of Self-Help Groups

Social Norms and the Impact of Self-Help Groups. Women’s Autonomy and Subjective Well-Being in Orissa. Thomas de Hoop  Luuk van Kempen  Rik Linssen  Anouka van Eerdewijk August, 12, 2013. What is this Presentation also About?. How to make women happy. Two Research Questions.

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Social Norms and the Impact of Self-Help Groups

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  1. Social Norms and the Impact of Self-Help Groups Women’s Autonomy and Subjective Well-Being in Orissa • Thomas de Hoop  Luuk van Kempen •  Rik Linssen  Anouka van Eerdewijk • August, 12, 2013

  2. What is this Presentation also About? How to make women happy

  3. Two Research Questions • What is the impact of SHG membership on women’s autonomy? • What is the impact of SHG membership on subjective well-being or happiness? Main hypothesis: The impact of SHG membership on subjective well-being is more positive in villages with relatively liberal gender norms than in villages with relatively conservative gender norms.

  4. Rigourous and Mixed Methods • Formative Research • Theory of Change - Resolving the Attribution Problem

  5. Autonomy: Qualitative Evidence In-Depth Interviews: “The bird escaped from the cage and moved from one tree to another. With the group we have come to see new things and have seen new places and we have been lucky to see a police station, banks, courts, offices etc.”

  6. Context: Social Norms In-Depth Interviews: Non-SHG Member “Husbands are equal to God. So they should be in control. It is a Hindu tradition. Now people think that women should also be equal to God. If it was up to me I would keep the traditions.” SHG Member: “They yell at me and say: ‘why are you going outside the house? Why are you going to meetings? You should stay in.”

  7. The Attribution ProblemFactual and Counterfactual Impact varies over time Impact varies over time

  8. Propensity Score Matching g Propensity Score Matching: Compare individuals (or households) that would have a similar chance of participation given their observable characteristics.        Beneficiaries   0 1 Comparison Group           0 1 Probability of participation in project/programme

  9. Heterogeneous Effects on Happiness Two sub-samples • Fewer than 35% of non-SHG members is allowed to go to the market or doctor without the permission of their husband • More than 35% of non-SHG members is allowed to go to the market or doctor without the permission of their husband In conservative villages enhanced autonomy breaks the traditional gender norm

  10. Does More Autonomy Make Women Happy

  11. Autonomous but Unhappy Women?

  12. Policy Recommendations General: 1. Make Context Explicit Specific: • Prepare SHG Members for Internal and External Social Sanctions • Including non-SHG members • Targeting more liberal communities?

  13. How Rigorous Was This? • Self-Selection into Programme • No baseline survey • Spillovers • Survey was not informed by findings from qualitative research Policy Recommendations: Helpful but doubts remain

  14. Questions? thoop@3ieimpact.org

  15. Self-help groups and women’s autonomy “SHGs are groups of 10 to 20 women initiated by a development agency, which are usually involved in savings and credit programs and/or advancing group members’ claims or rights” (Thorp et al., 2005, WD). • Empowerment of women in India • Indirect through income generation • Direct through awareness trainings and collective action

  16. Descriptive Statistics

  17. Self-selection into SHGs Solution: Instrumental Variable: Theory: Self-Help Group Participation Increases when Transaction Costs Decrease The percentage of the household heads in the village that is of the same caste as the female respondent.

  18. Impact on Autonomy

  19. First Stage Regression

  20. Definition conservative (liberal) village? Conservative Fewer than 35% of the non-SHG members is allowed to go to the market or the doctor without their husbands’ permission Liberal More than 35% of the non-SHG members is allowed to go to the market or the doctor without their husbands’ permission

  21. Balance before and after Matching

  22. Why no Instrumental Variable? • Local Average Treatment Effect: Identifies the impact for those who are induced by the lower transaction costs to participate in the self-help group program (liberal villages) • Percentage of women of the same caste could be directly related to happiness through the number of friends

  23. Propensity Score Matching • Caste • Education • Basic household characteristics • Region • Trust • Land ownership • Housing characteristics • Age • Religion • Basic characteristics of the husband • Attitudes of the husband • Health

  24. Propensity Score Matching for Autonomy

  25. IV Regression for Happiness

  26. Two Instrumental Variables

  27. Does more autonomy make women happy?

  28. Male Gender Norms and Happiness

  29. Trust in Women and Happiness

  30. IV Impact on Domestic Violence

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