Paper short abstract:

The key findings of the study suggest that women lack awareness of child spacing capabilities (57%) and the unmet need for family planning is comparatively higher. More than half of the women face domestic violence that curtails their capabilities to avail reproductive healthcare services. It also reduces the immediate wellbeing of their children.

Paper long abstract:

Scheduled Tribes (STs) of India are characterized by distinct cultures and a close relationship with the land they inhabit.

Tribal people make up to 5% of the world’s population but 15% of such people are living in poverty. They face deprivations caused by social, economic, and political exclusion. In India displacement due to development projects is pushing

the tribals out of their habitat dispossessing them of their traditional forest resources. Women and children in displacement suffer more than the male counterpart especially in the process of moving to a new setup. The objective of this paper to study the reproductive healthcare capabilities of displaced tribal women in India. In this paper, the author underlines the capabilities of tribal women in post displacement settings. The study was conducted in three wildlife sanctuaries in the Indian States of Odisha and Chhattisgarh namely Simlipal, Chandaka Dampara, and Achankamar. Sequential explanatory study design was employed for collecting the data. A total of 194 displaced tribal women within the reproductive age group of 15–49 years were surveyed, and Focus Group Discussion was conducted among the displaced women. Women who had given birth in the last five years were selected using a purposive sampling method.

Key findings of the study suggest that women lack awareness of child spacing capabilities (57%) and the unmet need for family planning is comparatively higher. More than half of the women face domestic violence that curtails their capabilities to avail reproductive healthcare services. It also reduces the immediate wellbeing of their children. Women in this study lack control over the decision on reproductive healthcare. Due to this, women lack social and political freedom. The Government of India has taken fewer initiatives to promote effective reproductive healthcare services. Also, there is limited awareness in the rehabilitation colonies on protection from domestic violence.

The displaced women in this study can evaluate their current lifestyle and can suggest alternatives to improve the quality of their lives. Displaced women lack control over decisions on reproductive healthcare especially for choosing the place for delivery which affects their capability. The decision on Antenatal care and Postnatal care by mothers-in-law and traditional birth attendant restrict many women in making their own choices for reproductive health. Women facing domestic violence not only reduce their capabilities but also affect the children’s immediate wellbeing. It also limits women’s social and political freedom. The comparison of national data, NFHS 4 of the STs key health indicators with the health indicators of displaced tribals also shows lower reproductive health status. The Government of India has taken fewer initiatives to promote effective reproductive healthcare services.

Key words- Tribal, reproductive health, capabilities, Nussbaum, Odisha, Chhattisgarh

Paper short abstract:

The paper delves into the issue focusing on the implied homophobia and micro-aggression extended to the LGBT community in India especially by the youth. It attempts to highlight the repugnance that people feel for the LGBTQ community. The paper uses qualitative analysis of empirical data. A total of 550 responses have been collected, assessed and discussed with age-groups ranging from 18 to 40

Paper long abstract:

Research Context: Out of 195 countries in the world, 133 have decriminalized homosexuality, but only 32 of them legally recognise same-sex marriages. India is one of the recent countries where homosexuality has been decriminalized. This too after a long, tedious legal struggle. Yet, same-sex marriages are still illegal, promulgating the social acceptance of the LGBTQIAA+ community while refraining from complete acceptance. India was the first colony where the British outlawed same-sex relations, the impact of which is still conspicuous. Interpreting homosexuality under the purview of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (1860) instilled in Indian minds that homosexuality is a sin, taboo and something demonic despite the rich history of cultural and social acknowledgement of sexual diversity.

There has been a long and messy history of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice that the LGBTQIAA+ community has been subjected to. The microaggression and implicit prejudice that members of the queer community face from day to day is unsavory and stark. It was in 1969 that the Stonewall Riot had a domino effect that has brought about the current legal stature to gay rights. Yet the public is far from accepting and displaying equality to the third gender or a different sexual identity. Despite legal enactments finding their places in the statutory history of the nation, the social inclusivity of people identifying themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, gender fluid, non-binary and many such non-limiting terminologies is still minimal.

Methodology: The current study was conducted through an online survey method, using Google Forms. The target population was the youth of India comprising college-going, aware, active and vocal people. The respondents were also contacted for a telephonic interview for followup questions to gather more insight and clarification into their attitudes around queerness. The hypothesis the authors were working on was that people belonging to Gen Z would be less susceptible to the age-old implicit prejudice that has been projected towards the queer community.

A total of 550 responses were recorded, The majority of respondents belong to the Gen-z population, but there is prominent feedback from below 18 and above 25-year-old respondents as well. The Google Form was circulated primarily among undergraduate and postgraduate students ranging between the age of 18 to 24 years. 8.2% of the respondents also belonged to the age group above 25 while 6.9% of respondents were below the age of 18 years. Data collection was done through snowball and convenience sampling methods. The questionnaire contained 30 questions, comprising multiple-choice answers.

Analysis & Discussion: The paper has used qualitative analysis to highlight how the members of the community are being accepted by the general public, as long as they are at an arms’ distance and behind closed doors. The research posed questions regarding awareness of the LGBTQIA+ community, openness to accept the diversity that the community brings with it and using tradition as a shield to negate the sheer existence of people identifying and supporting the community. One of the prudent questions this research raised was the awareness of the participants surrounding the choice of sexuality. The result does not only show that the young adults are primarily unaware that sexuality is not a mere dichotomy between natural and unnatural but also highlights that as long as the term ‘choice’ appears in a statement, the young masses would assume it to be an independent one rather than a forced one in their oblivious ignorance. Graphs and tables showing the ratio of awareness around the terms and tags circling the queer community, acceptance, openness, traditional values and their role in accepting queerness, and disparity of attitude to behavior are used to indicate the results. This research hopes to pave the path of larger ventures into the feigned support and prejudicial overcompensation that the queer community faces on a day-to-day basis.

Keywords: Queer community, LGBT, homophobia, microaggression, feigned support.

Paper short abstract:

Indian women’s marginalisation in natural disaster management is discussed. An autoethnographic method is adopted to narrate women’s experiences illuminating systemic and structural barriers for their agency. Applying human capabilities framework, they discuss intersecting issues of caste, income, education, age, health, etc. They suggest ways forward for women’s inclusion and participation.

Paper long abstract:

The impact of natural disasters is disruptive to normal life functionings which often results in disproportionate vulnerabilities among humans. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) (n.d.) highlights that the multi-layered effects of natural disasters include “human, material, economic and environmental losses and impacts” (UNDRR, n.d.). In this paper, we discuss Indian women’s experience of natural disaster management, marginalisation, and capabilities.

Although many natural disasters such as earthquakes, drought, cyclones, and floods occur in India, the flood-related death rate in India is the highest in Asia (Mohantya et al., 2020). Flooding has resulted in an economic damage of $11.5 billion in 2020 (Chowdhury & Goel, 2023). It takes significant amount of time and resources to address the flood-related damage and impact on environment and lives. Factors such as social stratification, political disagreements, and gendered approach to disaster management slow down the distribution of relief measures besides further work on risk management (Tamuly & Mukhopadhyay, 2022). Indian women, compared to men, tend to experience more hardships from flooding.

Researching the effects of drought, Algur et al. (2021) pointed out that the compounded effects on the health and livelihoods of Indian women and children from marginalised communities increased their vulnerability. As stakeholders in key livelihood areas such as agriculture and fisheries, Indian women’s active participation is paramount to the well-being of their families and the economy. Still, their participation may not imply the expression of human capabilities and individual flourishing. The human capabilities approach assesses the quality of life considering the person’s ability to do and to be living a life that they have reason to value – that is freedom to be and to do (Sen, 1999). In relation to Indian women, the central premise of the capability approach is asking “What is she actually be able to do and to be” (Nussbaum, 1999, p. 233). This question explores what her opportunities and options are to do and to be as a capable human being in an environment that enables her to be a fully functional human being. Expressing capabilities requires structural and systemic support (Nussbaum, 2007), with acute sense of human rights (Sen, 2005), and commitment to gender equality (Chowdhury et al., 2021). The challenge for the expression of one’s capabilities is systemic exclusion, discrimination and injustices. These barriers can play an impactful role on women’s capabilities and agency.

The patriarchal power relations could constrain women’s agency and construct them as vulnerable during disaster management. Their vulnerable position relates to several key indicators of quality of life such as economic empowerment, health, and social justice (Nussbaum & Sen, 1993; Bhadra, 2017). For example, Indian women earning a low income, without formal education, and without rights to immovable assets are more likely to experience discrimination and exclusion during natural disasters. This position could also threaten their human freedoms of economic empowerment, health status and seeking justice against domestic violence (Sen, 2006). These human development indicators are strongly associated with capabilities approach that Sen (1999, 2006) promoted further leading to the central human capabilities that Nussbaum (2000) proposed. They emphasise women’s ability and freedom in having a clear choice in determining the quality of their life. The human capabilities embedded in women’s choices entail dignity, emotions, practical reason, affiliation, and importantly, control over their environment (Nussbaum, 2000). These are crucial in the analysis of Indian women’s marginalisation in natural disaster management as they influence the ways of life that they have reason to value. The human capabilities approach values gender equity whilst supporting gender equality by emphasising women and men are to be treated with the same level of respect while addressing their individual needs. This entrusts all stakeholders with the critical responsibility of analysing the effectiveness of policies and appropriate reformations for gender equity and changes towards gender equality. This way, both systemic and institutional responsibilities are scrutinised for accountability towards ensuring women are benefiting from intended outcomes through policies in natural disaster management processes (Stewart, 2013).

This paper explores Indian women’s marginalisation in natural disaster management, highlighting how intersecting issues impact on their human capabilities. Through a review of literature, several emerging themes are discussed such as unequal male-female power relations, inequities in education and health, constraints to women accessing resources, personal safety, and gender-based violence. The authors have worked with the grass roots communities, marginalised women and NGOs in India that were involved in natural disaster management. Informed by their personal knowledge and experience, the authors adopt an autoethnographic method to narrate women’s experiences of natural disaster management illuminating systemic and structural barriers for their agency and voice. Applying human capabilities framework, they discuss women’s marginalisation through several intersecting elements such as caste, income, education, age, health, sociocultural hierarchy, mobility and caretaking responsibilities. Their discussion highlights how these elements produce vulnerabilities and exclusion during natural disasters affecting women’s agency for disaster preparedness and to access relief measures. They analyse government policies and NGO interventions in assessing women’s specific needs and problems and suggest ways forward for women’s inclusion and participation in responding to natural disaster management.

Raising an all-round critical consciousness of marginalised women’s needs amidst ongoing problems relative to their welfare and well-being seems paramount for women’s participation in natural disaster management including preparedness, risk management and relief measures. The ways forward should be sustainable, human rights-based, and social justice oriented engaging with women’s agency. Specific suggestions include strengthening multi-actor, inter-agency work for needs analysis, reformation of policies and procedures, and holistic community empowerment. The discussion also emphasises the need for research addressing Indian women’s overall well-being in natural disaster management.

Keywords: Indian women, natural disaster management, marginalisation, human capabilities, multi-actor response

Paper short abstract:

The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, was enacted in 1993 with the expressed intent of liberating manual scavengers. Yet it remains entrenched. The paper shows how governmental power and social power collude to prevent the total eradication of manual scavenging. The problem is about social interaction, aspirations and legislations around it.

Paper long abstract:

The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, was enacted in 1993 with the expressed intent of liberating manual scavengers from a life of indignity and degradation. The practice of manual scavenging, a reprehensible practice of gathering human excreta from dry toilets with bare hands, brooms or metal scrapers, continues unabated, despite the initiatives taken under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, purported to become a ‘Jan Andolan’. This paper seeks to address the question of how and why manual scavenging as a form of social practice prevails, despite existence of laws which proscribe such practices. Such laws are caught between eradication and rehabilitation of manual scavengers. Building capabilities and empowering manual scavengers means taking cognizance of the social practices around the laws that silences voices of the oppressed. I would like to argue that even if one takes a top-down (laws, programs for amelioration of caste oppression) or bottom-up perspectives (desires for emancipation and material benefits) to the problem of caste and manual scavenging, it does not explain why manual scavenging persists. Evidence suggests that governmental power and social power colludes at vital intersecting social spheres of interaction, aspirations and laws to prevent the total eradication of manual scavenging. As much as this paper is about critiquing existing laws, it is also about focusing attention on the normative principles envisioned by the state and how in actual practice these principles are socially violated and made to stand apart from the injustices and hazards encountered by the marginalized in their everyday work lives. What can be done to ameliorate the condition of manual scavengers? Notwithstanding the contrasting theoretical positions vis-a vis manual scavenging by Gandhi and Ambedkar on the question of rehabilitation of manual scavengers, one has to be wary of taking a one-dimensional view of caste, namely its structural violence in which manual scavengers are treated as expendables and where it is the sovereign prerogative of caste to create that exceptionalism for its perpetuation. One needs to reiterate that structural violence around ritual rank and steps towards rehabilitation or eradication is contingent upon another narrative which deals with the fact of exploitation of lower castes that are at once ritual and material in nature, which is, lack of land ownership, indignity of manual work in general, lack of access to education, health and resources in rural and urban areas and no symbolic capital. The atrocities on Dalits and the fact that they have been cast aside and meant to do menial jobs has to be seen alongside the lack of access to resources thematic. Both these narrative processes are not apart but intertwined and each affects the outcomes of the other. The fate of manual scavengers hangs in balance particularly in times of distress and calamities. Furthermore, heightened vulnerabilities of labourers in other menial jobs forces them to shift occupation and enter the manual scavenging profession in urban areas which ensure partial security of pay in contractual employment within a semi-governmental arrangement. One must frontally acknowledge that caste practices and identities are materially based on exploitation and structural violence. This structural violence is most visible in the way untouchables are treated. While formally caste is not the language of bureaucracy, caste considerations implicitly inform or form the actual negotiations between state bureaucracies and the communities when it comes to redistribution of land, practice in schools, recruitment for government jobs. Emphasizing governmentality and historical negotiations between the bureaucracies and the dominant or landed caste should not lose sight of the structural violence inflicted upon the landless castes belonging to Dalit groups who are principally involved in manual scavenging. It is their manual labour that continues to sustain the governmental power. In this backdrop a comprehensive rehabilitation process can be worked out in which all the persons who are engaged in this practice should come under a legal regulatory framework based on principles of equity, human dignity and self-respect. This ethical dimension too has to be applied with caution. The apprehension is that a compassionate legal application, might take away the powers that the community derives from using the law on their own terms. Any policy exercise which will allow manual scavenging to exist in perpetuity must be curbed using activism, socialization and societal sensitization in the public sphere.

Paper short abstract:

To increase the idea of menstrual justice's applicability outside of the Global North, the study aims to approach a new lens named the Intersectional Environmental Gender-Centric Approach by combining various approaches. This approach may work to ensure that the needs of the most affected menstruators are met.

Paper long abstract:

Research Context:

Menstrual injustice is a ubiquitous and disregarded public health issue that still affects a great number of people who are menstruating. Consequently, the embarrassment and discomfort may deteriorate overall well-being, so that millions of women are subjected to injustice and inequity due to menstruation. For example, menstruation-related stigma and a lack of menstruation products can lead to frequent absences from school, jobs, and other activities, disrupting education and adding to financial stress. Hence, menstrual justice is necessary to advance women's equality and the achievement of dignity and liberty. Moreover, menstrual justice recognises the multifaceted needs of diverse communities to achieve meaningful change in menstrual equity and health practices, as women's personal, cultural, and political contexts influence the significance and meaning of menstruation. That’s why the legal scholar of the US, Margaret E. Johnson, has created a comprehensive framework for menstrual justice that integrates justice, rights, and advocacy. Johnson explains menstrual justice as "the oppression of menstruators, women, girls, transgender men and boys, and non-binary persons, simply because they menstruate." Furthermore, he divided all menstrual injustices into five categories: widespread injustices that lead to isolation and essentialization; harassment, discrimination, and constitutional violations; insults and indignities; disadvantageous economic conditions; and advantages related to health. This framework also acknowledges that there is more to menstruation than just health, sanitation, and having access to the right supplies. Moreover, Johnson proposes a method for evaluating menstruation activism that uses a "structural intersectionality lens," based on the research of Kimberlé Crenshaw. By using this lens, society can address the intersections of racial, socioeconomic, and gender identities with societal classification to combat multifaceted menstrual injustice. But it's important to recognise that social injustices are rarely "just" about race, gender, or any other kind of marginalisation and oppression; rather, they usually operate at the intersection of multiple identities. Therefore, it is accredited that no single approach to improving menstrual health and hygiene management (MHHM) that directs to justice across and within countries is likely to work for all contexts globally because menstruators’ experiences vary across a range of disciplines, geographic areas, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds.

Conversely, the "Global South" which includes emerging Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East has been linked with poverty, climate crisis, disease, political tyranny, and an overall lack of development. In multidimensional Global South contexts, the framework remains silent on several agendas related to menstruation. Johnson argues that to guarantee menstrual justice for all menstruators, such effort might be reinforced by taking into account how menstrual justice affects structural intersectionality. Therefore, to increase the idea of menstrual justice's applicability outside of the Global North, the study aims to approach a new lens named the Intersectional Environmental Gender-Centric Approach by combining various approaches. This approach may work to ensure that the needs of the most affected menstruators are met.

Methodology:

Methodologically, this research depends on content analysis of supporting documents of menstrual justice and menstrual wellbeing.

Analysis and Conclusion:

By analyzing its parts and mechanisms, this new lens can help us comprehend how society responds to or resists unwanted change and the dysfunctions of the social structure that perpetuate menstruation unfairness in society. This lens has proposed affirmative action that, in some circumstances, may be mandated under the equality principle to reduce or eliminate the elements that foster or encourage prejudice and to include all marginalized, untreated menstruators. Interventions and strategies need to be applied to people's circumstances and easily understood. It's critical to understand the diverse social, economic, and political contexts to address the demands of varied populations. By examining case studies and supporting data, this lens may help identify needs and requirements that are special to a certain setting. In a similar vein, this lens has given menstruators' capacities top priority, while considering the variety of human requirements as well as individual and environmental factors. Therefore, this lens includes the capability approach (CA) to assess human well-being by exploring inequalities, freedom, and rights. Due to its aid in comprehending how social construction within educational institutions results in gender disparities. Owing to the unregulated academic environment that produces derisory systems of education with incorrect educational priorities, particularly, in the form of inadequate water and sanitation facilities, menstruating schoolgirls are unable to exercise their right to comfortable and regular attendance at school during their menstrual periods. Consequently, the capacity approach aids in the understanding of educational systems that seek to promote health and education, encompassing elements such as helpful instructors, appropriate learning environments, and even peer support for learning. Moreover, by emphasizing the needs and values of menstruating schoolgirls, this strategy promotes gender equality in education.

As a result, this lens is inclusive, gender-centered, and human rights-based while also being environmentally sustainable. It entails placing a high premium on the interests and concerns of certain communities or groups. Additionally, this lens critically analyzes how menstruation and the environment are related. Menstruators may find it easier to recognize the knowledge in their own lives and experiences that supports their meaningful engagement to improve justice and inclusiveness through the use of this lens. Moreover, the new lens of the menstrual justice framework operates as an interconnected and comprehensive system, where actions at each level contribute interdependently to a transformative shift. It adjusts individual needs with community necessities, institutional policies, national strategies, and global advocacy creating a unified front to secure menstrual justice worldwide.

Keywords: Intersectional Environmental Gender-Centric Approach, menstrual justice, Global South

Paper short abstract:

Affirmative action policies aim to provide preferential treatment to those belonging to disadvantaged communities, but a beneficiary is unable to acquire benefits without a valid caste certificate in India. We explore the factors that are associated with a household’s likelihood of caste certificate possession and show that their possessions improve jobs prospects and enhance well-being.

Paper long abstract:

Social discrimination continues to exist across social groups (e.g., castes, ethnicities, races, genders, religious affiliations etc.) in different parts of the world and so do ‘affirmative action’ policies—seeking to provide preferential treatment to disadvantaged or underprivileged communities. Indian affirmation action has been a subject of significant academic and policy interest and has been widely studied. Affirmative action in India is primarily implemented through reservations of slots in public services and educational institutions for key socially disadvantaged communities: scheduled castes (SCs), scheduled tribes (STs) and other backward classes (OBCs). SCs, being subjected to untouchability practices, and STs, comprising of geographically isolated tribal communities, have both hereditarily faced stringent social exclusions and have experienced restricted access to various opportunities, which justify the need for affirmative action. In this paper, we chiefly focus on the two most disadvantaged communities comprising of SCs and STs.

The effect of India’s affirmative action policies have been examined by a significant number of contemporary studies on various outcomes of these disadvantaged communities, such as welfare, poverty, education, occupation and productivity and public goods allocation. While the findings vary, with some observing positive effects and others observing none, they all implicitly presume that all members of disadvantaged communities are automatically eligible for the intended benefits of affirmative action policies. However, to access the targeted benefits—offered separately by the state (i.e., provincial) governments and the Union (i.e., national) government—a beneficiary must satisfy certain essential requirements in addition to belonging to the scheduled lists of castes and tribes. The beneficiary must possess a documentary evidence of caste identity, known as a caste certificate (alternatively called, Community Certificate or Jati Shansapatra), issued by the competent authority of the beneficiary’s native domicile state government. It is also vital to note that a certificate given by a state government is only valid for accessing benefits from the issuing state and assessing Union government benefits anywhere in the country, but it is not valid for accessing benefits offered in another state. In practice, an intended beneficiary may be denied the statutory benefits if either the beneficiary lacks a caste certificate or the beneficiary possesses a caste certificate but does not reside in the beneficiary’s domicile state.

The contemporary literature studying the effect of affirmative action has not investigated this important aspect at the national scale. This lack of investigation is unsurprising, since widely recognised household surveys, such as the National Sample Surveys and the National Family Health Surveys, do not readily collect information on caste certificate possession. To the best of our knowledge, the only nationally representative survey containing any information on caste certificate possession is the second round (2011-12) of the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS-II hereafter). Upon initial examination, the survey reveals that in nearly half of the SC and ST households no member possesses any caste certificate. Furthermore, Figure 1 demonstrates that the SC/ST households with at least one member possessing a caste certificate is systematically better off in key social indicators than the SC/ST households with no one possessing a caste certificate. The differences are common both within urban and within rural areas. Not only the SC and ST households with caste certificates appear to be more likely to have at least one member with a public sector job than even non-SC/ST Hindu and non-ST Muslim households, but their well-being in monetary and non-monetary indicators also appear to be much closer, albeit lower except for urban STs, to the well-being of the non-SC/ST Hindu households.

The comparable performance of SC/ST households with caste certificates and non-SC/ST households on selected social indicators demonstrates the partial success of the Indian affirmative action. Nonetheless, the presence of noticeable heterogeneity by caste certificate possession among the scheduled households gives rise to inquiries concerning the role of caste certificates on effective executions of affirmative action policies, specifically in terms of their reach or distribution. Potential heterogeneous effect of affirmative action policies have been debated and examined previously in the literature. Some past studies, for example, have claimed that the benefits of these policies are disproportionately concentrated among the socio-economic elites of the disadvantaged communities. Recent studies have refuted the claim though and instead have posed a contrary view. Our findings in this paper, through a novel attempt, contribute to this debate establishing the existence of a different form of heterogeneity that arise through caste certificate possession (or its lack of).

If caste certificate possessions appear to be linked to better performance in different social indicators, then why do nearly half of the SC and ST households not possess any caste certificate? Given that a significant number of SC and ST households do not possess caste certificates, its acquisition can be seen as an informed choice and might be influenced by several factors. We first argumentatively explore different factors that may influence a scheduled household’s likelihood of caste certificate possession, by classifying them into demand-side, supply-side, procedural and community-level factors. Our corresponding empirical analysis reveals that the demand-side factors, such as aspirations, knowledge and strong social ties within and outside communities, are expectedly associated with increased likelihood of a household’s caste certificate possession. Similarly, the supply-side factors, such as the existence of public schools and colleges in a village and the availability of public sector jobs, are also associated with greater likelihood. Procedural factors—such as difficulties encountered during caste certificate applications—may reduce the likelihood of caste certificate acquirement, but are difficult to validate empirically owing to data limitations. However, we observe that SC households residing in constituencies, where the seat for the Member of Parliament (MP) is reserved for an SC candidate, are more likely to possess caste certificates.

We further examine whether there is a causal link between caste certificate possession and higher performance in different social indicators. We observe that caste certificate possession enhances monetary and multidimensional well-being among SC and ST households and improves their prospects for public sector jobs as well as professional- and formal-sector jobs. Our findings confirms the existence of the heterogeneous effect of affirmative action by caste certificate possession.

Paper short abstract:

We examine gender disparities in time allocation between paid and unpaid work in Brazil. Using the capability approach, we explore if these inequalities indicate restrictions in time allocation choices. Preliminary findings suggest that women's disproportionate engagement in care work might indicate a deprivation in capabilities and functionings, affecting their participation in the labor market.

Paper long abstract:

The capabilities approach, as initially proposed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, advocates that authentic freedom should encompass the ability to choose a desired life without regrets. However, for women, social norms, educational disparities, and barriers to job access signify deprivation. Women should have the freedom to choose jobs according to their values for working, with no constraints related to social norms, which usually impose on women the task of caring for children and for the elderly. Our paper aims to explore the hurdles that arise from gender social norms related to care, which can limit women's freedom of choice, acting as a source of deprivation. Our concern lies in the processes of converting resources into substantial freedoms, a process that is essential to empower women to flourish. The paper sheds light on the challenges women encounter in seizing opportunities and transforming resources into functional assets. Many of these challenges can be identified at the labor market, where gender inequalities can be significantly influenced by domestic work. Women often face a double workload, assuming a larger share of household responsibilities compared to men, consequently having fewer hours available for the labor market (Madalozzo, Martins, and Shiratori, 2010). Historically, women have borne the primary burden of caregiving, restricting their choices to participate fully in the labor market. While there has been a noticeable surge in female labor force participation in modern capitalist economies, women still bear the brunt of both paid and unpaid care work (Folbre, 2012). This increased involvement in domestic tasks leaves women with fewer labor market hours than men, compounding the issue of unequal domestic workload. In 2006, Brazil's National Household Sample Survey revealed that 40% of women worked less than 40 hours per week, while 50% of men worked more than 44 hours per week. Moreover, having children under 14 years old further diminishes women's time available for paid work, underscoring how household and caregiving duties curtail women's labor force participation (Queiroz and Aragón, 2015). Barbosa (2018) notes a recent reduction in gender disparities in Brazil concerning time allocation for work. However, despite this progress observed by the author between 2001 and 2015, men consistently maintained higher labor force participation rates and spent less time on household chores compared to women. The gender inequalities related to paid and unpaid work became more evident in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. In Brazil, the closure of schools and daycare centers increased the demand for care, which is usually attributed to women (Barroso and Gama, 2020). Our paper examines the disparity in time allocation between paid and unpaid work among men and women in Brazil using data from Brazil's National Household Sample Survey. Employing the capability approach, we explore whether the observed inequality in time usage between genders signifies limitations in time allocation choices. We use the capability approach to address gender-based time poverty, extending the discourse beyond the data to contemplate the reconciliation of caregiving and work decisions across genders. According to Walker, Berekashvili and Lomidze (2014) there is a growing recognition of the time use issue as one of the facets of poverty, especially in relation to gender, as they indicate a panorama of gender inequalities in the division of labor. Entrenched social norms often assign women the responsibilities within the family sphere, while men are designated the tasks deemed 'productive work' (Bandeira and Preturlan, 2016). The redistribution of caregiving responsibilities can serve as a means to women's ability to balance paid and unpaid work, thereby enhancing women's capabilities to function. Our preliminary findings suggest that women's disproportionate engagement in care work might indicate a deprivation in capabilities and functionings, ultimately affecting their participation in the labor market. We underline the necessity of achieving equilibrium between paid and unpaid activities within families, particularly to enhance young women's freedom of choice concerning their future careers.

Paper short abstract:

This study explores the pandemic impact on female workers in Sri Lanka's apparel sector through a participatory approach. Findings reveal income loss, challenges in social distancing, and increased caregiving burdens. The research emphasizes the need for gender-sensitive policies, increased female representation in decision-making, and institutional support for vulnerable workers.

Paper long abstract:

1. Research Context

The COVID-19 crisis highlighted critical issues with global health crisis management policies, particularly in terms of inclusivity and equity. As the risks of contagious disease outbreaks increase in tropical regions, the need for more effective pandemic response policies is essential for economic stability and sustainable development. This study aims to identify the policy gaps which act as barriers to effectively respond to the pandemic, based on female workers’ perspective. Acknowledging the significant lack of gender inclusiveness during the pandemic response, this study calls for gender-transformative pandemic response mechanisms, taking in to account the intersectionality of the impacts on the female workers. We focus on the Sri Lankan apparel sector, employing participatory research methodologies to gather insights from a diverse group of workers.

Workers in lower-wage categories were disproportionately affected due to the impracticality of physical isolation in their line of work. The impact on the apparel industry itself, a key manufacturing sector in Sri Lanka, was severe, with disruptions in the supply chain leading to challenges in obtaining raw materials, partial or complete lockdowns of manufacturing plants, and a decline in global demand (Castañeda-Navarrete et al., 2021). Women, ethnic minorities, disabled individuals, and migrant workers were among the most affected segments of communities during the pandemic. The sector is represented by a considerable proportion of informal workers not covered by social assistance programs or migrant workers living in congested shared spaces. The nature of the industry, with closely situated workstations, often centralized air condition systems and workers frequently in physical contact with each other, increased the risk of contagion exposure. Against this background we explore three query lines: the impacts of the pandemic on apparel workers, the intersectionality of the impacts and the underlying policy needs to even out the inequalities.

2. Methodology and data

Compared to questionnaire surveys, focus group interviews are more suitable for an in-depth examination of feelings, perspectives and differences of perception among different groups of individuals. Eleven focused group discussions were conducted across the island. The respondents were selected based on characteristics that introduced different perspectives of the worker population to the responses. The 86 respondents (82 female, 4 male) were also represented evenly by married and unmarried individuals. Unionized workers (n=15), non-unionized workers, internal migrants (n=32), ethnic minorities (n=14), workers from war affected areas (n=11) and workers representing urban (n=27), sub-urban (n=24), rural and plantation sector (n=24) were included in the discussions. The ages of respondents ranged from 18-56 years old. All individuals were factory-floor workers. All the respondents provided informed consent prior to the interviews. Ethical clearance for the study was obtained from the Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo.

The methodology involved semi-structured discussions, voice-recorded and transcribed, complemented by group activities where participants created timeline diagrams of their experiences during the pandemic. Back translation was employed to minimize translator bias. Thematic analysis (Williams, 2008) and grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) were utilized, facilitated by NVivo 14 software. R programming language and R Studio were used in analyzing time-bound information and creating data visualizations.

3. Results and Discussion

Our findings highlight three distinct phases in the pandemic response of apparel industry workers. The emergency phase starting with the country-wide lockdowns resulted in income loss due to factory closures. The income loss particularly affected women workers who were migrant workers and informal workers. For migrant workers, securing lodging and food became challenging in this stage while informal workers were not eligible for unemployment benefits or support schemes by employers. Material aid provided at this stage lacked essential items like menstrual hygiene supplies. The disease incidences and panic were higher in urban areas compared to rural. Maternal health provision by public health officials especially in rural areas, was disrupted. The recovery phase was marked by challenges in social distancing and quarantine for migrant workers due to housing conditions and increased burdens for women workers with caregiving responsibilities, especially those with underage, elderly, or chronically ill family members. Long-term separation from family members due to travel restrictions appears to have increased the psychological stress on women workers.

The study highlights the need for pandemic responses sensitive to the needs of women workers and increased representation of women in decision-making at national and industry levels. Informed decision-making necessitates centralized data sets for swift access to information on vulnerable workers. Particularly, the issues with following social distancing at worker dormitories, in securing aid during emergencies could be avoided by furnishing the administrative bodies with adequate information on the workforce. Institutionalized support for women workers with caregiving responsibilities can alleviate physical and mental burdens during health shocks. Provision of childcare facilities or schemes to support paid care facilities for workers can have the added benefit of attracting more women workers to the workforce. Streamlining pandemic policy responses involves expanding existing employment benefits programs to cover abrupt unemployment due to crises. The factory floor workers who are vulnerable to contagious disease incidences due to the nature of their work must be adequately insured against such diseases which would alleviate the financial impact on workers as well as the industry during another disease outbreak.

Keywords: Apparel Industry, COVID-19 Impact, Pandemic Response Policy, Participatory Research Methodology, Women Workers

Paper short abstract:

This paper argues that two types of biases may lead to the dampening of the economic gradient in self-perceived health in developing country contexts, a) inconsistency and b) positional objectivity. It proposes an alternative measure of SRH after adjusting for variations in age, education, and cognitive ability. This measure has a strong economic gradient for aged individuals in India.

Paper long abstract:

Research Content

Research has shown that indicators of population health are worse when economic inequality is higher. While the existence of a socioeconomic gradient in the capability to live a healthy life for the elderly in developed countries is well-documented, there has been relatively less research on the economic differential in the health of the elderly in developing countries. Analyzing data from health and retirement surveys conducted in Brazil, India and China, scholars have shown that while the socioeconomic gradient in frailty (the likelihood of poor recovery from a physiological stressor) of the elderly was strong when education was used as the indicator of socioeconomic status, evidence was mixed and inconsistent when economic indicators such as income or wealth were used. Studies have noted the income gradient to be weaker than the education gradient even when the indicator of self-rated health (SRH) was used. Counter-intuitive results on the linkages between socioeconomic status and self-perceived health led to a complete dismissal of these indicators by a section of important scholars (Sen (1993; 2002; 2009).

Though recent studies vouch for the validity of SRH in developing countries such as India (Cullati et al. 2018), surveys still show that the absence of a strong economic differential in SRH. The Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) Wave-1 (2017-18) shows that among the elderly population in India, the proportion reporting poor health varies between 24.4 for the richest economic quintile and 26.4 for the poorest. Contrastingly, it varies between 26.5 for people with no education and 15.7 with those who have completed 10 or more years of schooling.

Methodology and Analysis

This paper argues that two types of biases may lead to the dampening of the economic gradient in self-perceived health in developing country contexts, namely a) inconsistency and b) positional objectivity (Sen 1993; 2002; 2009). Inconsistent responses would mean that an individual provides substantively different ratings of health if they are asked the same question a second time (in the same survey) using a different rating scale. Consider a person who says that she has ‘very good’ health when asked to rate her health in a scale of 1-5 where 1 is poor, 2 is fair, 3 is good, 4 is very good and 5 is excellent. The same person says that she has ‘poor’ health when asked to rate her health in a scale of 1-5 where 1 is very poor, 2 is poor, 3 is fair, 4 is good and 5 is very good. We would consider her responses to be inconsistent.

In developing countries like India, a second type of bias may further confound indicators of self-perceived health, namely positional objectivity a la Amartya Sen (1993; 2002; 2009). Sen (2002) dismissed these indicators, since they ‘can thoroughly mislead public policy on health care and medical strategy’ (p. 860). Sen (2009) again wrote, ‘[t]he comparative data on self-reporting of illness and the seeking of medical attention call for critical scrutiny, taking serious note of positional parameters’ (p.165). He provided the contrasting examples of certain Indian states, namely, Kerala, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh on the other. While Kerala is the best-performing Indian state in terms of life expectancy at birth (even higher than that of China) and a successful health transition, it also has the highest figures for self-perceived morbidity. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are typical less developed states not undergoing any health transition and having low life expectancies at birth but ‘astonishingly low rates of self-assessed morbidity.’ Sen understood such responses for self-perceived health to be positionally objective. Responses vary, but not subjectively, they are instead conditional on positional parameters such as education, awareness, and access to healthcare. Thus, in Bihar, where these parameters are poor, a person’s understanding of their actual health condition may be systematically limited.

We are unaware of scholarly work that has comprehensively dealt with both types of biases. This paper is novel in its approach since it proposes a simple method that would purge the self-rated health responses of the two types of biases.

We use (LASI) Wave 1 data to estimate the association between economic status We find that age, cognitive ability (measured by word recall and verbal fluency) and educational attainment significantly determine the likelihood of providing inconsistent responses to the two questions on SRH. We then use age, cognitive ability, and educational attainment to predict SRH ratings. We argue that this also controls for biases arising from positional objectivity since education has been shown to be the most important positional parameter for SRH (Subramanian et al. 2009; Mukhopadhyay et al. 2022). Running state-fixed effects regression to obtain adjusted SRH controls for all unobservable positional parameters. This new measure of SRH is seen to have a strong economic gradient for aged individuals in India. The substantive finding that the economic gradient is dampened by the aged poor systematically reporting better health because of certain biases merits attention of ageing research and health policy in India.

Conclusion

India is currently undergoing a unique wave of demographic changes. The much-discussed demographic dividend is accompanied by a dramatic increase in dependency ratio and the population above 60 years (from 8.6% to 19.5%, at 319 billion in 2050, as projected by UN estimates). This paper concludes that a weak economic gradient, which is obtained when one uses the unadjusted SRH scores, may misguide public health policy. Our results show that the aged poor in India indeed have worse health and deserve policy focus.

References

Cullati S, Mukhopadhyay S, Sieber S et al. 2018. Is the single self-rated health item reliable in India? A construct validity study. BMJ GlobalHealth 3(6): 1-12.

Sen A.K. 1993. Positional objectivity. Philosophy and Public Affairs 22:126–145.

-- 1998. Mortality as an indicator of economic success and failure. Economic Journal 108:1­25.

--2002. Health: perception versus observation. British Medical Journal 324:860–861.

-- 2009. The Idea of Justice. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Keywords: Self-rated health, positional objectivity, ageing, socioeconomic gradient, inequality

Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on testimonial justice. I argue that moral emotions such as love and compassion must be incorporated into the model of credibility judgment, and that epistemic tolerance is need when consequences of epistemic oppression are taken into account. Testimonial justice is to restore one of the basic capabilities important for human epistemic well-being, the capability to be heard.

Paper long abstract:

In her seminal work Epistemic Injustice: Power & the Ethics of Knowing, Miranda Fricker identifies two kinds of epistemic injustice - testimonial injustice and hermeneutical injustice – and explicates ways to counteract theses injustices. (Fricker, 2007) This paper focuses on the first kind of injustice and expose major flaws of her account of testimonial justice. The first flaw is with Fricker’s perceptual model of credibility judgement, the second with the judgment of untrustworthiness given by a hearer to a speaker. I would like to argue that emotions like love, compassion, benevolence and forgiveness must be incorporated into an unbiased model of credibility judgement, and that sometimes it is needed for the hearer to suspend her judgment of untrustworthiness toward the speaker. I will show that the harm of testimonial injustice is not just the severe undermining of the speaker’s capacity as a knower as Fricker puts it, it is a significant form of epistemic oppression in which the socially prejudiced people are deprived of their capability to be heard. Therefore, the pursuit and realization of testimonial justice is to restore and protect one of the basic capabilities vitally important for human epistemic well-being.

Testimonial injustice happens when a speaker receives lower credibility judgment by a hearer based solely on identity prejudice. If a hearer judges the speaker’s words as less credible just because of the latter’s identity like gender, race and disability, then the speaker suffers testimonial injustice. Due to their disadvantaged position in social power structure, such speakers are deprived of the opportunities to speak, being ignored or even silenced. Fricker proposes a perceptual model of credibility judgment, that is, the hearer should develop virtuous testimonial perceptions. Such a model is spontaneous, unreflective, non-inferential and with critical alertness. I would argue that even if this perceptual model is correct, even if the credibility of a speaker is judged correctly by a testimonially virtuous hearer, the speaker would still suffer biased and prejudiced treatment in social interactions with the hearer. Testimonial justice is still unrealized.

Drawing on the concept of belief-discordant alief proposed by Tamar Szabo Gendler (Gendler, 2008), the hearer would show discriminative attitudes and feelings towards the speaker, even when she judges correctly the latter’s credibility. For example, one believes skin colour has nothing to do with intelligence and morality, but she still shows disgusted attitudes when facing an African person. She might believe this man’s words are trustworthy, but her feelings toward him are still discriminative, distrusting and despising. Fricker thinks that one’s trusting another person’s words “contains a feeling of trust” (Fricker, p. 79), this view is wrong. Taking another example, one might believe that homosexuality is nothing immoral, but she is still shamed about her family member’s homosexual behaviours. Such a mismatch between belief and attitude, and between judgment and feeling are not infrequently seen in social interactions. When a speaker suffers testimonial injustice, she faces two forms of harms: her words are disparaged, receiving lower credibility judgment; her feelings are despised, being treated with contempt by others repulsion and disgust. The former is the undermining of the speaker’s capacity as a knower, as Fricker points out; the latter harm is serious damage, even devastation of the speaker’s personality and dignity. One may suffer the latter harm, not the former one. Hence the whole picture of testimonial justice needs a correction of the latter harm, which requires the development of moral emotions in a hearer. To treat a speaker justly, a hearer not only needs reliable judgments, but also morally appropriate emotional responses. Compassion and love motivate respecting and understanding attitudes towards each other, no matter what the rational judgments are. (Haidt, 2001)

Fricker’s account of testimonial justice ignores the consequences of epistemic oppression. She aims to not “miss out on a truth” (Fricker, p. 122), i.e., the hearer would recognize a truth when a speaker tells one without being influenced by the speaker’s identity. But what if the speaker tells a non-truth, something that is not true? On Fricker’s account, the hearer would judge it correctly as being false and judge the speaker as being untrustworthy. But social identity influences people in a continuously constitutive way. People like women or disabled have been undermined in their intellectual capacity through years and years, and they would be made intellectually unable to tell truths in many fields of life. How should we treat them when they say p, and that p is false? We wouldn’t be giving them just treatment if we don’t take this factor into account. Judging them as untrustworthy would be reinforcing the social structure of epistemic oppression. I suggest that we must make a distinction between judging that p is false and judging that the speaker of p is untrustworthy. We must consider whether the speaker has long suffered testimonial injustice in her social life, such as: whether she has suffered unjust distribution of information and knowledge (not being able to get access to information and knowledge influences one’s epistemic growth as a knower), whether she has been laughed at, despised or ignored frequently when speaking out her mind, whether she has adapted to and even adopted prejudiced identity due to long-term epistemic prejudice. We may judge her telling p as false, but not judge her as untrustworthy. By giving her epistemic tolerance and epistemic compassion, we are treating her as a person who would become trustworthy if she had been given epistemic justice in her life. In so doing, we are creating an epistemic space in which she would change and grow in her epistemic capacities and in which she is given the vital capability to be heard.

1、 Miranda Fricker, Epistemic Injustice: Power & the Ethics of Knowing, Oxford University Press, 2007;

2、 Tamar Szabo Gendler, “ Alief in Action (and Reaction)”, Mind & Language, Vol. 23, No. 5, 2008, pp. 552-585.

3、 Jonathan Haidt, “The Emotional Dog and Its Rational Tail: A social Intuitionist Approach to Moral Judgment”, Psychological Review, Vol. 108, No. 4, pp. 814-834.

Paper short abstract:

This study examines the gender inequality in access to digital devices (mobile, smartphone, TV) and internet among households in rural India, and how it is associated with the growing gender gaps in the learning outcome.

Paper long abstract:

Gender inequality in digital divide and remote learning has emerged as an important social and policy concern worldwide, particularly during COVID-19 pandemic. A recent report by World Bank (2021) observes that girls often have reduced access to digital devices and internet at home, more so in developing countries and rural areas. Also, in households where both boys and girls have equal access to digital devices, its use is likely to be higher among boys. Girls are often engaged more in household chores (specifically in rural areas) that impede their ability to access and benefit from remote learning effectively. What’s the story in a patriarchal society such as India, which also experienced the longest school closure in the world amid pandemic? This study examines the gender inequality in access to digital devices (mobile, smartphone, TV) and internet among households in rural India, and how it is associated with the growing gender gaps in the learning outcome. Two key questions raised in this study are: (a) What is the extent of inter- and intra-household gender inequality in access and its uses to digital devices and internet in rural India, and what are the major determinants of such inequalities? (b) How does the gender inequality in remote learning at the household level result differential student learning outcome in math, reading and English between boys and girls? We use Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2022 data, a nationwide rural household survey covering 697,561 children (between 3 to 16 age) in in 19,108 villages across 600 districts in India. We restrict our sample to elementary school-going children (grades 1 to 8) in this study where the evidence of digital divide is greater, and these schools were closed for longer days during pandemic. Results show that female children are six percentage points and 22 percentage points less likely to get access to smartphones and internet respectively, and this gap widens among poor, lower caste and less educated households. While we find a positive and statistically significant association between access to remote learning (smartphone and internet) and children’s learning outcome in reading, math and English, it differs considerably between boys and girls. For example, boys in grade 5 accessing internet are 26.6 percentage points more likely to read a story than girls, and more or less similar gaps exist in math and English. This supports the argument that technology’s problems and successes are rarely due to technology alone — they are more often associated with user's social and cultural settings (Burns 2021). The study contributes novel insights to a nascent body of research in India on gender inequality in remote learning, as well as to a wider literature concerning technology and education.

Paper short abstract:

This paper considers the capabilities of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in high income countries. I consider the impact of participating in work in the public sphere on the social inclusion of people generally excluded from employment. Exploring a group of cases and applying theories of relational agency, I consider the impact on their capabilities.

Paper long abstract:

Context

This paper focuses on the capabilities of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in high income countries. Such people have access to income from benefits, but are highly constrained in what they are able to be and do. A significant factor in their capability deprivation is lifelong exclusion from employment. Exclusion from the activities and productivity of their societies has pervasive effects. The term ‘social exclusion’ is commonly applied but conceals some outcomes relevant to this group specifically - the limitation of social connections to family and disability services, the lack of meaningful occupations, and sparse opportunities to develop skills and knowledge across the lifespan (see Yeoman, 2014). A range of policy efforts to address extremely low employment statistics (c. 6% in the UK, NHS Digital, 2022) have been ineffective in the case of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (Hatton, 2016; Blamires, 2014). Inclusive employment and ‘social inclusion’ remain sustainable development goals (United Nations, 2016).

Personal assistance has been proposed as a means for disabled people to reclaim an autonomous position in the public sphere, and to rethink perceptions of their ‘dependent’ status (Mladenov, 2012; 2020). It is defined as a human right in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Article 19). If autonomy is construed as relational, disabled people can be autonomous and ‘entitled to participate in the public sphere’ (Mladenov, 2012, p .11).

Theories of relational autonomy support the significance of social participation and social policy in the development of agency. Relational theorists understand people to be relationally and socially constituted across the lifespan, with development proceeding through embodied social interaction with others, including various relations of dependency. Agency is understood to be a capacity that develops dynamically in relation to opportunity and interpersonal, social and institutional scaffolding. As with other capabilities, individual agency is ‘to a large extent’ a social achievement (Claassen, 2017, p. 1285). Theorising autonomy as social and relational may have added significance for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, who have historically been subject to the control of others and policies of segregation (e.g., Mackenzie, 2014; 2019; Davy, 2019).

Methods

This paper explores the social dynamics of work in five contrasting cases of young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities using personal assistance to enable participation in work in the public sphere. The research uses video-stimulated qualitative methods to explore the social and learning dynamics of participation in work, as understood by the young people themselves, their families, Personal Assistants and co-workers. A collaborative approach to discussion follows the participatory ethic of the capabilities approach (Vizard & Burchardt, 2007). Multiple perspectives are taken to enrich understanding of the dynamics in complex relational arrangements (Zartler, 2010; Vogl, 2016).

Analysis

The relational role of each PA was perceived as tied to close understanding of the supported person’s existing knowledge, communication style, habits and modes of thinking. With personal support, participants with intellectual and developmental disabilities managed social contexts and tasks that were out of reach to them as individuals. At a fundamental level, having PA support made work viable. This perception held across large differences in supports needs and work contexts.

A large part of the PA role concerned support for learning. As ‘more knowledgeable others’ (Vygotsky, 1978), PAs provided significant support for learning and relational agency. Learning was also reciprocal and involved mutual accommodation, as conceived in participatory theories of learning (e.g. Rogoff, 2003, Tomasello, 2016). Co-workers adapted to the characteristics of the participant with intellectual and developmental disabilities through the PA’s modelling of modes of interaction.

Language and communication was a key area where PAs were instrumental in ‘helping the individual to negotiate the world around them and intervening in the social world to make it more accommodating’ (Davy, 2019, p. 109). One PA characterised an aspect of her work as ‘translating’ – mediating between her partner’s vocabulary and patterns of speech and people unfamiliar with them.

From the workplace perspective, PAs served a quality control function, ensuring that work undertaken was performed successfully, for example, by filling gaps in understanding, or pointing out omissions. As a result, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities were relied upon and regarded as net contributors to the work context, rather than as dependents requiring support.

Conclusions

In the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and the policies concerning them, capabilities and agency have particular significance given the history of paternalism in social arrangements and social care (Mackenzie, 2014). Research on the perceptions of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities suggests that attitudinal change in society hinges on how far shared experiences allow people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to be perceived as competent participants (Scior, 2011). These findings suggest that working with personal assistance develops competence among social co-participants.

Conceiving of support as necessary to achieving agency, rather than as evidence of a deficit of agency, enabled people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to take work in public spheres, where they could represent themselves to others as individuals and valuable co-workers. If personal assistance is to operate in the terms of relational agency, it may need to be understood as having this capacity. I argue for the value of relational agency as a concept for policy and social care, and offer a critique of ‘independence’ as a target of policy and practice.

Paper short abstract:

This paper shares the participatory process that shaped the gender sensitivity manual produced by the author and the insights from representatives of Indian community radio stations that contributed to the co-learning process. It analyses the capabilities that the manual seeks to focus on and the gender-based challenges that disrupt the agency of the community media producers at the grassroots.

Paper long abstract:

The author has been working on community radio (CR) in India and South Asia for the past two decades, and her work has contributed to policy advocacy and formulation. She has been researching the empowerment question of CR concerning women in South Asia. CR has a track record of facilitating social groups in negotiating diverse identities and articulating concerns from marginalized perspectives. Many CR initiatives are women-led, while others work on issues related to women and gender. Despite the proven ability of CR as a platform for marginalized women, there has been no systematic or conscious attempt to develop tools to build the capacities of CR stations for strengthening gender sensitivity in its policies, operations, and programming. A participatory project granted to the UNESCO Chair on Community Media by the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) was anchored by the author, who sought to address this gap by developing a Gender Sensitivity Manual for Community Radio. This paper will share the participatory process that shaped the manual despite the challenges posed by the pandemic and the insights from representatives of CR stations that contributed to the co-learning process. It analyses the capabilities that the manual seeks to focus on and the gender-based challenges that disrupt the agency of the community media producers at the grassroots.

Paper short abstract:

This study aims to critically review how an NGO in a developing economy deviates from traditional development means to alternative social enterprise mechanisms for enhancing their impact on women's empowerment and economic independence.

Paper long abstract:

This study aims to critically review how an NGO in a developing economy deviates from traditional development means to alternative social enterprise mechanisms for enhancing their impact on women's empowerment and economic independence. In the context of NGOs, value co-creation has shifted how modern NGOs manage the organizational and development capabilities (Chmielewski et al. 2020; Dumalanede & Payaud, 2018; Kerlin 2013). Transforming from development aid providers to socially marginalized people to include them in social and economic value creation has been criticized as well as appreciated in past studies (Baser et al., 2022; Muhammad, 2018; Mair et al., 2012; Karim, 2011). Therefore, this study aims to investigate whether including marginalized groups in the value chain as a means for economic and social growth is effective by analyzing a social enterprise, BRAC Aarong, operating in Bangladesh. An in-depth analysis of the social enterprise by integrating the theoretical framework of social innovation and value co-creation has been conducted based on primary (e.g., in-depth interview) and secondary data (e.g., BRAC annual reports from 2013 to 2023). The findings of the study broadly illustrate the innovative model the NGO has developed to support under-represented women by creating demand and a market for their skills. It bridges the gap between the buyers and local rural women entrepreneurs, creating opportunities for the underprivileged to achieve a better living by enhancing their capability (Doherty et al., 2020; Mair et al., 2012; Sen, 2000). However, factors such as institutional settings (Doh & Guay, 2006), government policies (Fifka & Pobizhan, 2014), corruption and mismanagement of funds and resources internally and externally (Baser & Hasnath, 2022) create unequal platforms and disparity in how the social enterprise contributes to and facilitates the development activities. The finding also suggests that collaborative approaches with other traditional (e.g., international development agencies ) and non-traditional (e.g., multinational corporations) development agents create new avenues for development initiatives and access to resources (Ajwani et al., 2021; Ghauri, 2018; Doherty et al., 2014; Jamali et al., 2008). Moreover, the two-fold effects of the outcome of the operation of the social enterprise have proved to be beneficial to building a financially independent enterprise model for the NGO (Cho et al., 2015). Hence, the research outcome adds new dimensions to the existing literature on development policies and the intersection between social innovation and value co-creation. Moreover, the practical implication of innovative approaches showcased in the study would benefit both developed and developing countries' policy actors, practioners and NGOs.

Keywords: Social innovation, value co-creation, social enterprise, developing economy.

References

Ajwani-Ramchandani, R., Figueira, S., Torres de Oliveira, R., Jha, S., Ramchandani, A. and Schuricht, L. (2021), “Towards a circular economy for packaging waste by using new technologies: the case of large multinationals in emerging economies”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 281, p. 125139.

Baser, S., & Hasnath, S. A. (2022). The Rise and Fall of the NGOs in Bangladesh: What Does the Future Hold? In www.intechopen.com. IntechOpen. https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/84563

Cho, S. and R. Sultana (2015). “Journey from NGO to Sustainable Social Enterprise:Acceleratory Organizational Factors of BRAC”. Asian Social Work and Policy Review 9. pp. 293-306.

Chmielewski, D. A., Dembek, K., Beckett, J. R. (2020) Business Unusual: Building BoP 3.0. J Bus Ethics 161(1):211–229

Doh, J. P., & Guay, R. T. (2006). Corporate social responsibility, public policy, and NGO activism in Europe and the United States: An institutional-stakeholder perspective. Journal of Management Studies, 43, 47–72.

Doherty B, Haugh H, Sahan E, Wills T, Croft S (2020) Creating the new economy: business models that put people and planet first. Available online at: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/155977/

Doherty, B., H. Hough and F. Lyon (2014). “Social enterprises as hybrid organizations: A review and research agenda”. International Journal of Management Reviews, 16. pp. 417-436.

Dumalanede, C., & Payaud, M. A. (2018). Reaching the bottom of the pyramid with a social enterprise model: The case of the NGO Entrepreneurs du Monde and its social enterprise Nafa Naana in Burkina Faso. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 37, 6, 30–39.

Fifka, M. S., & Pobizhan, M. (2014). An institutional approach to corporate social responsibility in Russia. Journal of Cleaner Production, 82, 1, 192–201.

Ghauri, P.N. (2018). Multinational Enterprises and Sustainable Development in Emerging Markets. In: Bergé, JS., Harnay, S., Mayrhofer, U., Obadia, L. (eds) Global Phenomena and Social Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60180-9_2

Jamali, D., Safieddine, A. M., & Rabbath, M. (2008). Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility Synergies and Interrelationships. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 16(5), 443–459. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8683.2008.00702.x

Kerlin, J. A. (2013). Defining Social Enterprise Across Different Contexts: A Conceptual Framework Based on Institutional Factors, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 42(1): 84–108. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764011433040

MAIR, J., MARTÍ, I., & VENTRESCA, M. J. (2012). BUILDING INCLUSIVE MARKETS IN RURAL BANGLADESH: HOW INTERMEDIARIES WORK INSTITUTIONAL VOIDS. The Academy of Management Journal, 55(4), 819–850. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23317616

MUHAMMAD, Anu, "Rise of the Corporate NGO in Bangladesh,"Economic and Political Weekly 53, no. 39 (September 2018): 45-52

Hossain, N., & Sengupta, A. (2009, July 5). Thinking Big, Going Global: The Challenge of BRAC’s Global Expansion. Papers.ssrn.com. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1879104

Karim, L. (2011). The Structural Transformation of the NGO Sphere. University of Minnesota Press EBooks, 1–34. https://doi.org/10.5749/minnesota/9780816670949.003.0001

Mair, J., & Marti, I. (2007). Entrepreneurship for social impact: encouraging market access in rural Bangladesh. Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, 7(4), 493–501. https://doi.org/10.1108/14720700710820579

Pacesila, M., & Colesca, S. E. (2020). Insights on social responsibility of NGOS. Systemic Practice and Action Research. DOI: 10.1007/s11213-020-09520-1

Sen, A. (2000). Development as freedom. New Delhi: Oxford University Press

Paper short abstract:

What can be the meaning of transformative social protection when economic growth becomes increasingly jobless? The increasing de-coupling of economic growth and growth in jobs also implies a questioning of social transformation as the Polanyian 'second movement' to accompany the process creative destruction. We propose to do this by departing from Sen's ideas on coupling of disadvantage.

Paper long abstract:

We start with a review of the initial argument for considering social protection as part of a larger project of transformation. We then consider the evidence and drivers of the increasing decoupling of economic growth and growth in jobs. As ‘decent work for all’ increasingly loses ground as a realistic policy goal, this also has serious implications for the project of 'transformation' as conceptualized by Karl Polanyi in terms of a 'double movement' or a struggle between capitalist interests in sustaining the process of creative destruction on one hand, and other societal forces in making this process socially (and ecologically) sustainable. Building further on work by Svytich (2024), we argue that Sen's ideas on coupling of disadvantage can be helpful in re-conceptualizing social transformation. Coupling of disadvantage can be understood to operate in the form of basic capabilities triggering others, in the form of different conversion factors and in the form of capability deprivations in access to resources (Burchardt & Hick 2018). Consequently, we can redefine transformation as de-coupling of (dis)advantage. Our argument is substantiated empirically by reviewing the debate on the transformative potential of cash transfers.

Svytich, O. (2024) "Amartya Sen, Karl Polanyi, and universal basic income" in: Journal of Human Development and Capabilities. Vol. 25 n° 1, pp. 42-60.

Burchardt, T. Hick, R. (2018) "Inequality, advantage and the capability approach" in: Journal of Human Development and Capabilities. Vol. 19, n° 1, pp. 38-52.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the experiences of Pakistani and Indian heritage tenants in a post-industrial northern English town. Research is based upon interviews with 20 residents who identify as economically marginalised, living in poor quality housing. The paper also looks at their relationship to the wider community and applies the capabilities approach to understand their experience of wellbeing.

Paper long abstract:

The death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak in 2020, resulted from a respiratory condition caused by inadequate ventilation and exposure to mould in his home. This highlights the problems faced by minoritized communities living in private rented or social housing in the UK. Awaab’s family arrived as refugees from Sudan in 2015 and found themselves in Rochdale, a post-industrial town in the north of England. Rochdale has significant rates of ethnic diversity, deprivation, and poor housing stock . A subsequent coroners inquest found that the family’s housing options were severely limited by economic marginalisation and racial discrimination .

This presentation will focus on the housing and residency experiences of a group of tenants living in Blackburn, a post-industrial town, located 20 miles from Rochdale. The town is characterised by high rates of ethnic diversity (36%), above national average rates of child poverty (36.5% ) and high rates of covid infection and mortality . Blackburn in common with neighbouring towns also has a sizable stock of poor-quality housing and a lack of affordable accommodation (Rhodes 2012; Makin-Waite 2021). This has resulted in declining home ownership (60%), and an increase in the social housing / private rented sector (40%) . There has been concern that this will lead to an increase in “slums” and “ghettos” from which it is difficult to escape (Johnston, Forrest, and Poulsen 2002; Hancock and Mooney 2013).

The residents that form the subject of this study self-identify as Muslim of Indian or Pakistani heritage and typify the experiences of many ethnic minority groups in Blackburn. These residents referred to feeling “trapped” and “limited” by their housing opportunities, which they argued is a result of historic discriminatory policies linked to their socio-economic position. This has limited their potential for social mobility and flourishing - as housing is a key determinant of access to education, employment, healthcare, and overall wellbeing. My research draws upon the Capabilities Approach (Sen 1987; Nussbaum, Sen, and World Institute for Development Economics Research 1993; Sen 1983; 1985) to understand the multidimensionality of tenant wellbeing through their level of agency, dignity, and psycho-social wellbeing.

This is an ongoing piece of research, and I will present initial findings from the first phase which adopts a mixed-methods approach (second phase expected to conclude by September 2024). Background data was secured from the 2021 ONS Census in addition to a variety of inequalities datasets. A thorough literature review was also conducted which included white, black, and grey literature.

Primary data was collected through one-to-one semi-structured interviews which lasted between 90-120 minutes. Respondents (n=20) were recruited via one of three channels- response to an advert, referral by a trusted third sector body or snowballing. They were then screened for suitability for this study. The interviews drew upon Nussbaum’s essential capabilities (Nussbaum 2013) and were transcribed verbatim and interpreted using an interpretive phenomenological approach (IPA). The identity of respondents was protected using pseudonyms.

The scarcity of affordable housing disproportionately impacts minoritized ethnic communities and can lead to a perpetual cycle of deprivation. The interviews revealed that respondents felt ‘trapped’ and ‘forgotten’ in poor quality housing - a condition which has recently deteriorated due to an increase in fuel costs and the general ‘cost-of-living crisis’ (2022-ongoing). Several respondents shared that their experience of coronavirus lockdown made them acutely aware of how crowded and unhealthy their homes were due to multigenerational occupancy and the lack of nearby green spaces.

Despite their poor living conditions, several respondents expressed reluctance to move from the area due to the sense of community they enjoyed. Respondents highlighted the positive experience of having access to local resources including places of worship, culturally appropriate food shops and informal networks of support. This suggests the potential to apply a social capital approach to this research.

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