Karra’s India Social Networks Study Highlighted by News 18
Mahesh Karra, Assistant Professor of Global Development Policy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, recently had his research examining the challenges faced by women in rural India in navigating crucial issues like fertility and family planning highlighted in a news article.
Karra’s working paper, entitled “Curse of the Mummy-ji: The Influence of Mothers-in-Law on Women’s Social Networks, Mobility, and Reproductive Health in India,” was highlighted in a News 18 article entitled “Saas, Bahu and Social Networks: How a Mother-In-Law Influences a Rural Indian Woman’s Personal and Family Well-Being.”
From the text of the article:
While most young women in urban India enjoy greater opportunities these days to form and benefit from social connections created online as well as offline, a study suggests many of their rural counterparts are not so fortunate. And the blame could, in many cases, lie with the mother-in-law.
The working paper ‘Curse of the Mummy-ji: The Influence of Mothers-in-Law on Women’s Social Networks, Mobility, and Reproductive Health in India’ attempts to throw light on the challenges faced by women in rural India in stitching together social connections that can help them understand and navigate intimate yet crucial issues like fertility and family planning.
It has some astonishing findings and numbers to show how crucial the role of social bonds is for women to ensure personal and family well-being. A working paper is a preliminary scientific or technical paper that is often released by authors to share ideas about a topic or to prompt feedback before submitting to a peer-reviewed conference or academic journal.
Karra’s academic and research interests are broadly in development economics, health economics, quantitative methods, and applied demography. His research utilizes experimental and non-experimental methods to investigate the relationships between population, health, and economic development in low- and middle-income countries.