PhD Thesis - An examination of the impact of microcredit programs at the intersections of gender and caste in North India
For my doctoral research project, I examined the impact of microcredit programs on the status of women, particularly women belonging to socially disadvantaged groups, in rural Rajasthan, India. Through microcredit programs, small loans are given to impoverished borrowers, who lack collateral and steady income. Over the last two decades, microcredit has come to be viewed as an effective tool for poverty reduction, as well as women’s empowerment. The findings of this research, however, show that participation in a microcredit program does not reduce poverty, although it can help the families of members to meet daily expenses. Loans procured through microcredit programs can also help the households of long-term members to deal with larger expenses, such as weddings and health problems. My research also shows that significant improvements in the status of women cannot be brought about by microcredit without a focus on education, wage employment, and social awareness programs.
Paper published by World Development Perspectives [available upon request] - Patterns of loan use for women's self-help groups in rural Rajasthan (With Miriam Grant)
We contribute to the substantial literature on the impact of microcredit by presenting a granular analysis of loan use by differentiating between three kinds of consumption uses. We also discuss obstacles and enabling factors for productive loan use at the household and individual level, and problematize the application of the binary yardstick of consumption and production to assess the use of microcredit loans by the rural poor in the developing world.
Working Paper - My husband is God: How empowered are women self-help group members in rural Rajasthan? (With Miriam Grant)
In spite of numerous studies, there is no consensus regarding the impact of microcredit programs on women’s lives within and beyond the household. We address these debates through a qualitative study of women self-help group members, and their husbands, in rural Rajasthan (North India).
Blog Post - Field Research Methods Lab, The London School of Economics and Political Science - Field realities in the global South: Encounters with poverty and caste
In this blog post, I discuss the significance of reflexivity and positionality while undertaking research with marginalized populations in the global South. I also critique the applicability of human research ethics training in the Western academy to research in the global South.
Book Chapter under review - Weighing women’s empowerment against patriarchal masculinity in rural India (With Navjotpal Kaur)
We engage the frameworks of women's empowerment and hegemonic masculinity to unpack the ways in which women's increased mobility and access into traditionally masculine spaces is perceived as a threat to the prevailing patriarchal order and masculinities.