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Recasting culture to undo gender : a sociological analysis of Jeevika in rural Bihar, India

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  • Sanyal,Paromita
  • Rao,Vijayendra
  • Majumdar,Shruti

Abstract

This paper brings together sociological theories of culture and gender to answer the question ? how do large-scale development interventions induce cultural change? Through three years of ethnographic work in rural Bihar, the authors examine this question in the context of Jeevika, a World Bank-assisted poverty alleviation project targeted at women, and find support for an integrative view of culture. The paper argues that Jeevika created new ?cultural configurations? by giving economically and socially disadvantaged women access to a well-defined network of people and new systems of knowledge, which changed women?s habitus and broke down normative restrictions constitutive of the symbolic boundary of gender.

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  • Sanyal,Paromita & Rao,Vijayendra & Majumdar,Shruti, 2015. "Recasting culture to undo gender : a sociological analysis of Jeevika in rural Bihar, India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7411, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7411
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    1. Alberto Alesina & Paola Giuliano & Nathan Nunn, 2013. "On the Origins of Gender Roles: Women and the Plough," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(2), pages 469-530.
    2. Datta, Upamanyu, 2015. "Socio-Economic Impacts of JEEViKA: A Large-Scale Self-Help Group Project in Bihar, India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 1-18.
    3. Imbens,Guido W. & Rubin,Donald B., 2015. "Causal Inference for Statistics, Social, and Biomedical Sciences," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521885881, September.
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    1. Hoff, Karla & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 2016. "Striving for balance in economics: Towards a theory of the social determination of behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 126(PB), pages 25-57.
    2. Palaniswamy, Nethra & Parthasarathy, Ramya & Rao, Vijayendra, 2019. "Unheard voices: The challenge of inducing women’s civic speech," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 64-77.
    3. Zavaleta Cheek, Jennifer & Corbett, Priscilla E., 2024. "Public decision making by women’s self-help groups and its contributions to women’s empowerment: Evidence from West Bengal, India," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).
    4. Deshpande, Ashwini & Khanna, Shantanu, 2021. "Can weak ties create social capital? Evidence from Self-Help Groups in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    5. Hoffmann, Vivian & Rao, Vijayendra & Surendra, Vaishnavi & Datta, Upamanyu, 2021. "Relief from usury: Impact of a self-help group lending program in rural India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    6. Nadel, Sara & Pritchett, Lant, 2016. "Searching for the Devil in the Details: Learning about Development Program Design," Working Paper Series rwp16-041, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    7. N. Rajagopal, 2020. "Social Impact of Women SHGs: A Study of NHGs of ‘Kudumbashree’ in Kerala," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 45(3), pages 317-336, August.
    8. Kumar, Neha & Raghunathan, Kalyani & Arrieta, Alejandra & Jilani, Amir Hamza & Chakrabarti, Suman & Menon, Purnima & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 2018. "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," IFPRI discussion papers 1751, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. Raghunathan, Kalyani & Kumar, Neha & Gupta, Shivani & Chauhan, Tarana & Kathuria, Ashi Kohli & Menon, Purnima, 2023. "Learning together: Experimental evidence on the impact of group-based nutrition interventions in rural Bihar," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    10. Jean-Philippe Platteau & Guilia Camilotti & Emmanuelle Auriol, 2017. "Eradicating women-hurting customs: What role for social engineering?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-145, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Khanna, Madhulika & Majumdar, Shruti, 2020. "Caste-ing wider nets of credit: A mixed methods analysis of informal lending and caste relations in Bihar," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    12. Lata Gangadharan & Tarun Jain & Pushkar Maitra & Joseph Vecci, 2016. "The behavioural implications of women's empowerment programmes," WIDER Working Paper Series 064, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Camilotti, Giula & Platteau, Jean-Philippe, 2017. "Eradicating Women-Hurting Customs: What Role for Social Engineering?," CEPR Discussion Papers 12107, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Kumar, Neha & Raghunathan, Kalyani & Arrieta, Alejandra & Jilani, Amir & Chakrabarti, Suman & Menon, Purnima & 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, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 28-41.
    15. Cassan, Guilhem & Vandewalle, Lore, 2021. "Identities and public policies: Unexpected effects of political reservations for women in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    16. Lata Gangadharan & Tarun Jain & Pushkar Maitra & Joseph Vecci, 2016. "The behavioural implications of women's empowerment programmes," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-64, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Sara Nadel and Lant Pritchett, 2016. "Searching for the Devil in the Details: Learning about Development Program Design," Working Papers 434, Center for Global Development.

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    Keywords

    Gender and Law; Population Policies; Gender and Development; Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems; Anthropology;
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