{"title":"'What's the worth of a promise? Evaluating the longer-term indirect effects of a programme to reduce early marriage in India'","authors":"Upasak Das, S. Biswas","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3923582","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3923582","url":null,"abstract":"One important dimension of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs apart from conditionality is the provision of continuous frequency of payouts. On the contrary, the Apni Beti Apna Dhan program, implemented in the state of Haryana in India from 1994 to 1998 offers a “promised” amount to female beneficiaries redeemable only after attaining 18 years of age if she remains unmarried. This paper examines the long-term indirect effects of this programme on their human capital outcomes. Using multiple large scale datasets in a triple difference framework and exploiting the exogenous variation in the timing of implementation, we found significant improvements in educational attainment but no discernible effect on measures related to labour participation, time allocation, empowerment or intergenerational health indicators. While underage marriage has reduced, the likelihood of marriage after receiving the transfers has increased. We provide suggestive evidence of the CCT money and the associated educational gains being used by brides’ parents to ensure grooms of higher social status. The paper recommends a set of complementary potential policy instruments that include altering gender norms through behavioural interventions skill development and incentives to encourage female work participation.","PeriodicalId":325714,"journal":{"name":"WGSRN: Empowering Women & Girls (Sub-Topic)","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128316479","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Empowerment of Women in Semi-Urban/Semi-Rural Regions of Delhi and Haryana","authors":"Prateek Chakraverty","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2364901","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2364901","url":null,"abstract":"Ensconced within the urbanized environs of the Delhi metropolis and its umbrella towns, there exists several semi-urban semi-rural pockets which are inhabited by communities with agrarian backgrounds who had sold off their lands to merge with the fast developing city spaces. Still holding on to their traditional socio-cultural ethos, these communities have taken to sundry businesses and fringe jobs to fulfill the requirements of surrounding urban settlements. The womenfolk living in these areas are at an interface between the traditional and the progressing worlds. Despite voluminous research on different sections of city-based women, very little attention has been paid to this particular category. This paper analyzes the scope and potential of women empowerment in such areas. We conducted a survey based on a questionnaire targeting representative womenfolk of four such pockets in and around Delhi. Our findings indicate that there is a latent potential among these women which, with due support is waiting to be tapped for the progress of the human populace.","PeriodicalId":325714,"journal":{"name":"WGSRN: Empowering Women & Girls (Sub-Topic)","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127202197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}