{"id":29117,"date":"2024-10-03T11:19:39","date_gmt":"2024-10-03T15:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/gdp\/?p=29117"},"modified":"2024-10-03T11:19:39","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T15:19:39","slug":"summer-in-the-field-understanding-gender-politics-in-the-context-of-clientelism-and-social-networks-in-hyderabad-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/gdp\/2024\/10\/03\/summer-in-the-field-understanding-gender-politics-in-the-context-of-clientelism-and-social-networks-in-hyderabad-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer in the Field: Understanding Gender Politics in the Context of Clientelism and Social Networks in Hyderabad, India"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hyderabad, India. Photo by Rushikesh Patil via Unsplash.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Vidhu Priya Mukundan<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

What do we know about women\u2019s political participation and their engagement with the government in urban democracies?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With increasing discourse on the need to increase women\u2019s electoral and political participation, its impact on <\/span>women\u2019s policy preferences<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>public health services<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>promoting economic and social rights<\/span><\/a>, there is a gap in understanding how women navigate complex political networks to be heard and to claim their space. Simultaneously, with rapid urbanization, research on how <\/span>slum-dwellers <\/span>interact<\/span><\/a> with complex bureaucratic systems<\/span> and the State in the Global South is flourishing. However, the gendered element of this interaction is severely understudied.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a PhD Candidate in Political Science at Boston University, my research seeks to examine how women in urban slums communicate their policy preferences in the presence of political intermediaries and networks <\/span>that are ubiquitous and male centric<\/span><\/a>. To understand the role of social networks, I explore the presence of women\u2019s Self-Help Groups (SHGs). SHGs are microcredit groups made of 10-20 members, usually women, coming together for <\/span>economic<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>social<\/span><\/a> empowerment. As of 2023, India has around <\/span>12 million SHGs<\/span><\/a> and 88 percent of them are exclusive to women. SHGs have also been shown to improve <\/span>women\u2019s political participation<\/span><\/a> by providing women with avenues to build political networks and create institutionalized spaces to increase social ties within patriarchal societies.<\/span><\/p>\n

My research builds on my previous work where I found that SHGs actively make claims to the state on behalf of their communities \u2013 be it issues related to drainage, water supply or electricity, going to the police to settle disputes in the slum or even meeting politicians. I also found that the government recognizes the potential for problem-solving and policy implementation through these groups. For example, SHGs were instrumental in conducting door-to-door surveys on household statuses on COVID-19 vaccinations, monitoring vaccination camps, etc. in Hyderabad. The <\/span>World Bank<\/span> also <\/span>reported<\/span><\/a> similar trends on the crucial role that SHGs played in other parts of the country. Therefore, my research seeks to understand the potential of SHGs and their leaders as political intermediaries parallel to the existing male-centric ones.<\/span><\/p>\n

My <\/span>2024 Summer in the Field Fellowship<\/span><\/a> allowed me to better understand the role of SHG leaders as channels of communication between the state and women and how they work in the presence of existing problem-solving networks of slum leaders that are usually male and affiliated with political parties. In the larger picture, I also sought to understand the gendered gatekeeping of politics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A crucial part of my fieldwork was to shadow SHGs. I was able to sit in and observe one of the SHGs\u2019 monthly meetings that are mandated by the state. Members of 10-20 SHGs in a ward, an administrative unit which comprises of several slums, form a Slum-Level Federation and meet to address issues related to loans, small business investments and educating members on business strategies. However, what was interesting is that a significant portion of the meeting was run by a social worker who talked about the state\u2019s initiatives for women. These included free driving lessons and licenses, free computer courses, discussing issues of public schools and education and even counselling sessions for children who suffer from drug abuse and alcoholism. Most of the conversation among the women revolved around children\u2019s education and well-being, and their families\u2019 health and showed that the group provides an institutionalized space for women to find strength in numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n

To better understand the gender politics at play, I conducted surveys across 15 slums in the city. I built a research team of eight young women, all undergraduate students in the city, and trained them on survey data collection. I conducted two pilot surveys before launching the final version of my survey, which ultimately surveyed 400 people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The survey aimed at understanding what people view to be the biggest issues with public services in their respective slums and who they reach out to when these problems occur. The options we included for points of contact included family (to learn if there are designated family roles for problem solving), neighbors (to foster collective action), slum leaders, SHG leaders and government officials.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n