Microcredit Self Help Groups and Social Networks in Rural India: Expanding Poor Women’s Personal Contacts

• In Event: 485 - Section on Sociology of Development Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 06. Gender and Work in the Global South

Abstract

This paper studies the role of microcredit groups in the expansion of social networks. We examine the size and composition of the networks of microcredit self-help group (SHG) members and particularly of women members. We use social network data and demographic data from seventy-five villages in India and compare the social networks of men and women and of SHG members and non-members. We also examine differences in network composition by kin and non-kin, by gender, and by membership in microcredit groups. We find that women who participate in microcredit groups have significantly larger ego-networks than both female non-participants and men. The increase in size is largely due to ties from female non-kin SHG members and to a smaller extent from female relatives who are SHG members. We argue that SHGs have increased opportunities for social contact for disadvantaged women in rural India. The social network gains are most prominent for women who have married and moved to their husband’s village, who comprise the overwhelming majority in the Indian context. We conclude by highlighting the sociological significance of the findings, which should be given separate consideration from the economic effects of microcredit programs.

Authors

• Thomas Ralph Davidson, Cornell University

• Paromita Sanyal, Florida State University