Self Help Groups and empowerment of women: Self-selection or actual benefits?

Husain, Zakir and Mukherjee, Diganta and Dutta, Mousumi (2010): Self Help Groups and empowerment of women: Self-selection or actual benefits?

Abstract

Evidence on success of SHGs in empowering females is mixed. In particular, researchers argue that such schemes often attract women who are already active in the public domain (referred to as ‘self-selection’), so that those who are most in need of assistance remain excluded. Simultaneously, the fact that a majority of the SHG members are already empowered leads to exaggerated estimates of the effects of the program (called ‘program effects’). This paper attempts to test the significance of the program effect of SHGs by comparing empowerment levels of newly inducted and older members of SHGs. The paper is based on a survey conducted in six municipalities in West Bengal, India.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Empowerment; Self Help Groups; Non-parametric tests; Self-selection effect; India; Asia
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O15 - Human Resources ; Human Development ; Income Distribution ; Migration; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C2 - Single Equation Models ; Single Variables > C25 - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models ; Discrete Regressors ; Proportions ; Probabilities

References

Ackerly, B. A., “Testing the tools of development: credit programs, loan involvement and women's empowerment,” IDS Bulletin, Vol. 26, No.3 (1995), pp.56-68.

Arn, A.L. and Lily, FB., Evaluation Report of Saptagram Nari Swanirvar Parishad (Oxford: Oxfam, 1992).

Ebdon, R., “NGO Expansion and the Fight to Research the Poor: Gender implications of NGO Scaling-Up in Bangladesh,” IDS Bulletin, Vol. 26, No. 3 (1995), pp.49-56.

Fernandez Aloysius P., The MYRADA Experience - People's Institutions for sustained and equitable management of micro-watersheds, 2/e (Bangalore: MYRADA, 1994).

Food and Agricultural Organization, Gender responsive technology for poverty alleviation (New York: FAO, 2002).

Gibbons, David S., International Replication of Grameen Banking: What Can the Poultry Network Learn from It? Proceedings of a Workshop - Poultry as a Tool in Poverty Eradication and Promotion of Gender Equality, 1999. http://www.husdyr.kvl.dk/htm/php/tune99/6-Gibbons.htm (Accessed on 15 January, 2010)

Goetz, A.M. and R. Sengupta, "Who takes the credit? Gender, power and control over loan use in rural credit programs in Bangladesh," World Development, Vol. 24, No. 1 (1996): pp. 45-63.

Hashemi, S.M., S.R. Schuler, and Ann P. Riley, "Rural Credit Programs and Women's Empowerment in Bangladesh," World Development, Vol. 2, No. 4 (1996): pp. 635-653.

Hulme, D., & Mosley, P., Finance against poverty. Vols. 1 and 2 (London: Routledge, 1996).

Hulme, David, Impact Assessment Methodologies for Microfinance: Theory, Experience and Better Practice (Manchester: University of Manchester, 2000).

Hunt, J. and N. Kasynathan, "Reflections on microfinance and women's empowerment," Development Bulletin, Vol. 57 (2002): pp. 71-75.

International Labour Organization. Women in the informal sector and their access to microfinance. (Geneva: ILO, 1998) http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/ent/papers/women.htm accessed on 17 January 2010.

Kabeer, N., Can't buy me love? Re-evaluating gender, credit and empowerment in rural Bangladesh, IDS Discussion Paper No. 363 (Sussex: Institute of Development Studies, 1998).

Kabeer, N., "Conflicts over credit: re-evaluating the empowerment potential of loans to women in rural Bangladesh," World Development, Vol. 29, No. 1 (2001): pp. 63-84.

Krishnaraj, M. and Kay, T., Report of review of IFAD gender mainstreaming projects in Asia. (Rome: IFAD, 2002).

Kumar, A., “Self-Help Groups, Women's Health and Empowerment: Global Thinking and Contextual Issues,” Jharkhand Journal of Development and Management Studies, Vol. 4, No. 3 (2009): pp. 2061-2079.

Larence, L.Y., "Fostering social capital through NGO design: Grameen bank membership in Bangladesh", International Social Work, Vol. 44, No. 1 (2001): pp. 7-18.

Matin, R. and H. Rab, “An investigation into sources of weekly instalment payments in RDP,” in Halder, S.R. and A.M.M. Husain (Eds.), Identification of the poorest and the impact of credit on them: The case of BRAC, (Dhaka: Research and Evaluation Division, BRAC, 1997).

Mayoux L., 1997: The Magic Ingredient? Microfinance and Women’s Empowerment, Briefing Paper prepared for the Micro Credit Summit, Washington.

Mayoux, L., “Questioning virtuous spirals: Microfinance and women’s empowerment in Africa,” Journal of International Development, 11 (1999): pp. 957–84.

Mayoux, L., Microfinance and the empowerment of women: A review of the key issues. Social Finance Unit Working Paper, 23 (Geneva: ILO, 2000).

Montgomery, R., “Disciplining or Protecting the Poor? Avoiding the Social Costs of Peer Pressure in Micro-Credit Schemes,” Journal of International Development, Vol. 8, No. 2 (1996): pp. 289-305.

Morduch, J., Does microfinance really help the poor: New evidence for flagship programs in Bangladesh, (Washington DC World Bank, 1998). http://www.worldbank.org/wbp/ impact/practice/annex1_2.pdf, accessed on 5 May, 2005.

Moyle, T., M. Dollard, and S.N. Biswas, S.N. “Personal and Economic Empowerment in Rural India,” International Journal of Rural Management, Vol. 2, No. 2 (2006) pp. 245-266.

Noponen, H., Loans to the Working Poor: A Longitudinal Study of Credit, Gender and the Household Economy, PRIE Working Paper No. 6 (New Brunswick: Rutgers University, 1990).

Parvin, G.A., S.M. Reazaul Ahsan, and M. Rahman Chowdhury, "Women Empowerment Performance of Income Generating Activities Supported by Rural Women Employment Creation Project (RWECP): A Case Study in Dumuria Thana, Bangladesh," The Journal of Geo-Environment, Vol. 4 (2004): pp. 47-62.

Pitt, Mark M. and S.R. Khandker, Household and Intrahousehold Impact of the Grameen Bank and Similar Targeted credit Programs in Bangladesh, World Bank Discussion Paper No. 320, (Washington D.C.: World Bank, 1996).

Putnam, R., Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002). Rahman, A., "Micro-credit Initiative for Equitable and Sustainable Development: Who pays?," World Development, Vol. 26, No. 1 (1998): pp. 67-82.

Rahman, A., Women and Micro-Credit in Rural Bangladesh: An Anthropological Study of Grameen Bank Lending (Boulder: West View Press, 1999).

Rahman, Mizanur and Julie DaVanzo, Influence of the Grameen Bank on contraceptive use in Bangladesh, Paper presented at a Population Council workshop on Measuring the Impact of Micro-credit Programs on Fertility, New York, 1997.

Schuler, Sidney Ruth and Syed M. Hashemi, “Credit programs, women’s empowerment, and contraceptive use in rural Bangladesh,” Studies in Family Planning, Vol. 25, No. 2 (1994): 65–76.

Schuler, S. R., S. M.Hashemi, A. P. Riley, & A. Akhter, “Credit programs, patriarchy and men's violence against women in rural Bangladesh,” Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 43, No. 12 (1996): pp. 635-653.

Shylendra, H. S., "Institutional Reforms and Wages Rural Poor: A Study on the Distributional Performance of a Rural Bank," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 51, No. 3 (1998): pp. 301-314.

Steele, F., S. Amin, and T. Naved Ruchira, The Impact of an Integrated Microcredit Program on Women's Empowerment and Fertility Behavior in Rural Bangladesh, Working Paper No. 115, (Washington: Population Council, Policy Research Division, 1998).

Stiglitz, J., "Peer Monitoring and Credit Markets," World Bank Economic Review, Vol. 4, No. 3 (1993): pp. 351-366.

Zaman, H., Assessing the poverty and vulnerability impact of micro-credit in Bangladesh: a case study of BRAC, Background Paper to World Development Report 2000/2001 (Washington: World Bank, 2001).