Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Growing Up in Ethiopia and Andhra Pradesh: The Impact of Social Protection Schemes on Girls’ Roles and Responsibilities

  • Original Article
  • Published:
The European Journal of Development Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The focus of this article is the effect on adolescent girls’ roles and responsibilities of public works schemes or cash transfers, which are the main forms of social protection in developing countries. Increasing participation in social protection is intended to enhance the development of girls in participating households, but evidence on their school participation and workloads suggests that the reverse may be happening. The article probes what happens to girls’ roles and responsibilities when households participate in social protection schemes in rural Ethiopia and Andhra Pradesh. It argues that effects are complex, and often context-specific; however, the assumption that ‘beneficiaries’ benefit means that negative impacts are rarely acknowledged. The article combines a review of other papers addressing the effects of social protection on children’s work with analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, recognising that this question cannot be answered with a methodology that considers girls’ schooling or workloads in isolation.

Abstract

Ce papier s’intéresse à l'effet, sur les rôles et responsabilités des adolescentes, des programmes de travaux publics et des transferts en espèces, qui constituent les principales formes de protection sociale dans les pays en développement. Augmenter la participation aux régimes de protection sociale vise, notamment, à favoriser le développement des filles appartenant aux ménages participant à ces programmes, mais des données sur leur scolarisation et leurs charges de travail suggèrent que l’inverse peut se produire. L’article examine en quoi les rôles et responsabilités des filles se modifient lorsque les ménages adhèrent à des régimes de protection sociale en Éthiopie rurale et dans l'Andhra Pradesh. Il indique que les effets sont complexes et dépendent souvent du contexte; toutefois, le principe selon lequel les « bénéficiaires » bénéficient implique que leurs impacts négatifs sont rarement reconnus. L’article associe une revue d’autres études portant sur les effets de la protection sociale sur le travail des enfants à une analyse de données quantitatives et qualitatives, et reconnaît que cette question ne peut être abordée en considérant séparément la scolarité et le travail des filles.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. www.younglives.org.uk/what-we-do.

  2. For example, they aim to increase female participation in paid work, but do not adequately address the absence of childcare. Similarly, they fail to acknowledge the vulnerability implicit in wage payments that are not indexed to inflation.

  3. Adato (2007) maintains that few qualitative studies on the impact of social protection schemes have been published, even in Latin America where CCTs originated (examples include Adato, 2000, Adato et al, 2000, Adato, 2007, Molyneux and Thomson, 2011, Streuli, 2010). While most studies focus on women’s experience of participation rather than girls’, the way programmes can reinforce gender roles and obscure increases in women’s labour (Molyneux, 2006) is clearly relevant to this paper.

  4. The composition of the household in terms of age and gender has been found to be an important influence on girls’ work in studies of, for example, Progresa-Oportunidades in Mexico. This dynamic is also visible in the case studies presented later; for example, Beletch takes responsibility for all the household chores as there are no other girls or women in the household, and Haymanot and Tsega were unable to go to school as they were looking after young siblings.

  5. I designed the qualitative fieldwork with Yisak Tafere (Ethiopia) and Uma Vennam (Andhra Pradesh), carried out training and piloting, and participated in the early individual and group interviews.

  6. I cannot confirm this figure in the whole sample because the girls are too young to be officially participating and thus this is unlikely to be reported in a survey.

  7. The reason why there are registered households that are not working is that some schemes are inactive and some households take job cards as a form of insurance.

  8. Of those who do not work, four are studying in residential hostels during the week as they live in a remote tribal area, and one has a disability.

  9. The equivalent figure for the whole sample ranged from 29 per cent to 35 per cent, which may reflect a pro-poor bias in the qualitative sample – see also figures for PSNP/NREGS participation.

  10. OFSP is a credit and agricultural extension programme in which PSNP recipients are compelled to participate to facilitate graduation from the scheme.

  11. All of the three cases from Ethiopia dropped out of school due to their own or others’ illness – Haymanot and Tsega to look after their mother and sister and Beletch to repay a loan for medical care.

References

  • Adato, M. (2000) The impact of Progresa on community relationships. IFPRI, Washington. Unpublished report.

  • Adato, M. (2007) Combining Survey and Ethnographic Methods to Evaluate Conditional Cash Transfer Programs. Canada: University of Toronto. Q-Squared Working Paper No. 40.

  • Adato, M., de la Briere, B., Mindek, D. and Quisumbing, A. (2000) The Impact of PROGRESA on Women’s Status and Intra-household Relations: Final Report. Washington DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.

  • Ansell, N. (2008) Substituting for families? Schools and social reproduction in AIDS-affected Lesotho. Antipode 40: 802–824.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Attanasio, O., Fitzsimons, E., Gomez, A., Lopez, D., Meghir, C. and Mesnard, A. (2008) Child Education and Work Choices in the Presence of a Conditional Cash Transfer Programme in Rural Colombia. London: IFS. IFS Working Papers, W06/01.

  • Barrera-Osorio, F., Bertrand, M., Linden, L. and Perez-Calle, F. (2008) Conditional Cash Transfers in Education: Design Features, Peer and Sibling Effects. Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Colombia. Washington DC: Human Development Network, World Bank. Policy Research Working Paper 4580.

  • Behrman, J.R., Parker, S.W. and Todd, P.E. (2011) Do conditional cash transfers for schooling generate lasting benefits? A five-year follow-up of PROGRESA/oportunidades. Journal of Human Resources 46 (1): 93–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berhane, G. et al. (2011) Evaluation of Ethiopia’s Food Security Program: Documenting Progress in the Implementation of the Productive Safety Nets Programme and the Household Asset Building Programme. International Food Policy Research Institute Report, Unpublished.

  • Bevan, P. (2005) Studying Multi-Dimensional Poverty in Ethiopia: Towards a Q-Integrated Approach. Canada, UK, Q-Squared Working Paper #15.

  • Borraz, F. and Gonzalez, N. (2009) Impact of the Uruguayan conditional cash transfer program. Cuadernos de Economia 46 (Noviembre): 243–271.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caeyers, B. and Dercon, S. (2008) Political Connections and Social Networks in Targeted Transfer Programmes: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford, CSAE Working Paper Series 2008-33.

  • Camfield, L. and Roelen, K. (2012) Household trajectories in rural Ethiopia – What can a mixed method approach tell us about the impact of poverty on children? Social Indicators Research 113 (2): 729–749.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camfield, L. and Vennam, U. (2012) From Policy to Implementation: An In-Depth Exploration of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Andhra Pradesh. Oxford: Queen Elizabeth House. Young Lives Working Paper Series No. 82.

  • Cardoso, E. and Souza, A.P. (2003) The impact of cash transfers on child labor and school attendance in Brazil. São Paulo: University of São Paulo (mimeo).

  • Carpio, X.V. (2008) Does Child Labor Always Decrease with Income? An Evaluation in the Context of a Development Program in Nicaragua. Washington DC: World Bank. The World Bank Human Development Network Social Protection Division, WPS4694.

  • Carpio, X.V. and Macours, K. (2009) Levelling the Intra-Household Playing Field: Compensation and Specialization in Child Labor Allocation. Washington DC: World Bank. The World Bank Independent Evaluation Group Corporate Global and Methods Team, Working Paper 4822.

  • Cockburn, J. and Dostie, B. (2007) Child work and schooling: The role of household asset profiles and poverty in rural Ethiopia. Journal of African Economies 16 (4): 519–563.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Degraff, D.S. and Levison, D. (2009) Children’s work and mothers’ work – What is the connection? World Development 37 (9): 1569–1587.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Janvry, A., Finan, F., Sadoulet, E. and Vakis, R. (2006) Can conditional cash transfer programs serve as safety nets in keeping children at school and from working when exposed to shocks? Journal of Development Economics 79: 349–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Devereux, S. and Guenther, B. (2007) Social Protection and Agriculture in Ethiopia. Country Case Study Paper Prepared for an FAO review commissioned on Social Protection and Support to Small Farmer Development.

  • Donath, S. (2000) The other economy: A Suggestion for a distinctively feminist economics. Feminist Economics 6 (1): 115–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edmonds, E. (2006) Child labor and schooling responses to anticipated income in South Africa. Journal of Development Economics 81 (2): 386–414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edmonds, E.V. and Schady, N. (2009) Poverty Alleviation and Child Labor. Cambridge, MA, NBER Working Papers 15345.

  • Elson, D. (1999) Gender-Neutral, Gender-Blind, or Gender-Sensitive Budgets? Changing the Conceptual Framework to Include Women’s Empowerment and the Economy of Care. London: Commonwealth Secretariat.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emirie, G., Negatu, W. and Getachew, D. (2009) Impacts of Productive Safety Net Programme on Child Poverty Reduction: Implications for Child Education. Young Lives IDRC Paper, Addis Ababa.

  • Ferreira, F.H.G., Filmer, D. and Schady, N. (2009) Own and Sibling Effects of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs. Theory and Evidence from Cambodia. Washington DC: World Bank. Policy and Research Working Paper 5001.

  • Ferro, A.R., Kassouf, A.L. and Levison, D. (2010) The impact of conditional cash transfer programs on household work decisions in Brazil. In: R.K.Q. Akee, E.V. Edmonds and K. Tatsiramos (eds.) Child Labor and the Transition between School and Work. (Research in Labor Economics, Volume 31) UK: Emerald Group Publishing, pp. 193–218.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Folbre, N. (1994) Children as public goods. American Economic Review 84 (2): 86–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gailiani, S. and Macewan, P.J. (2011) The Heterogeneous Impact of Conditional Cash Transfers in Honduras. Unpublished report.

  • Hall, A. (2008) Brazils bolsa família: A double-edged sword? Development and Change 39: 799–822.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobson, M. (2009) The food price crisis and its impact on the Productive Safety Net Program in 2008. Humanitarian Exchange Magazine 42: 17–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoddinott, J., Gilligan, D.O. and Taffesse, A.S. (2009) The impact of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program on schooling and child labour. Journal of Development Studies 45 (10): 1684–1706.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, R. and Jones, N. (2011) Public works programmes in developing countries: Reducing gendered disparities in economic opportunities? Paper prepared for the International Conference on Social Cohesion and Development; 20–21 January, Paris.

  • Ilahi, N. (2001a) The Intra-Household Allocation of Time and Tasks: What Have We Learnt from the Empirical Literature. Washington DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ilahi, N. (2001b) Children’s Work and Schooling: Does Gender Matter? Evidence from the Peru LSMS. Washington DC: World Bank. World Bank Working Paper No. 2745.

  • Imai, K. (2007) Targeting versus universalism: An evaluation of indirect effects of the Employment Guarantee Scheme in India. Journal of Policy Modeling 29: 99–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • International Labour Organization (ILO) (2009) Give Girls a Chance. Tackling Child Labour, a Key to the Future. Geneva: ILO.

  • Jandu, N. (2008) Employment guarantee and women’s empowerment in rural India, http://www.righttofoodindia.org/data/navjyoti08_employment_guarantee_and_women's_empowerment.pdf, accessed 30 July 2012.

  • Jones, N. and Holmes, R. (2011) Why is social protection gender‐blind? The politics of gender and social protection. Institute of Development Studies Bulletin 42 (6): 45–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumra, N. (2008) An Assessment of the Young Lives Sampling Approach in Andhra Pradesh, India. Oxford: Young Lives. Technical Note 2.

  • Locke, C., Seeley, J. and Rao, N. (forthcoming) Neglected Linkages: Migration, (Social) Reproduction and Social Protection. UEA DEV Working Paper, forthcoming in Third World Quarterly.

  • Lokshin, M., Glinskaya, E. and Garcia, M. (2000) The Effect of Early Childhood Development Programs on Women’s Labor Force Participation and Older Children’s Schooling in Kenya. Washington DC: World Bank. Gender and Development Working Paper Series No. 15.

  • Maluccio, J. and Rafael, F. (2005) Impact Evaluation of a Conditional Cash Transfer Program: The Nicaraguan Red de Protección Social. Washington DC: IFPRI. Research Report No. 141.

  • Martin, V. (2010) The role of children’s work in protecting families in poverty from economic shocks: Two case studies from India. London: Master’s thesis, Birkbeck College, unpublished.

  • Molyneux, M. (2006) Mothers at the service of the new poverty agenda: Progresa/Oportunidades, Mexico’s conditional transfer programme. Social Policy and Administration 40 (4): 425–449.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molyneux, M. and Thomson, M. (2011) Cash transfers, gender equity and women’s empowerment in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. Gender & Development 19 (2): 195–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morduch, J. (2000) Sibling rivalry in Africa. American Economic Review 90 (2): 405–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nieuwenhuys, O. (1994) Children’s Lifeworlds: Gender, Welfare and Labour in the Developing World. London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nieuwenhuys, O. (1996) The paradox of child labour and anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology 25: 237–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Outes-Leon, I. and Dercon, S. (2008) Survey Attrition and Attrition Bias in Young Lives. Young Lives Technical Note 5.

  • Pankhurst, A. (2009) Rethinking safetynets and household vulnerability in Ethiopia: Implications of household cycles, types and shocks. Paper presented at the World Conference of Humanitarian Studies; 4–7 February, Groningen, the Netherlands.

  • Perova, E. and Vakis, R. (2009) Welfare Impacts of the Juntos Program in Peru: Evidence from a Non-Experimental Evaluation. Washington DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pitt, M.M. and Rosenzweig, M.R. (1990) Estimating the intrahousehold incidence of illness: Child health and gender-inequality in the allocation of time. International Economic Review 31: 969–989.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porter, C. (2010) Social Protection and Children: A Synthesis of Evidence from the Young Lives Longitudinal Research Programme in Ethiopia, India and Peru. Oxford, UK: Queen Elizabeth House. Young Lives Policy Paper 1.

  • Power, M. (2004) Social provisioning as a starting point for feminist economics. Feminist Economics 10 (3): 3–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ravallion, M and Wodon, Q. (1999) Does Child Labor Displace Schooling? Evidence on Behavioral Responses to an Enrollment Subsidy. Washington DC: World Bank. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 2116.

  • Reddy, D.N., Tankha, R., Upendranadh, C. and Sharma, A.N. (2010) National rural employment guarantee as social protection. IDS Bulletin 41 (4): 63–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ritchie, J. and Spencer, L. (1994) Analysis for applied policy research. In: A. Bryman and R.G. Burgess (eds.) Analyzing Qualitative Data, pp. 173–194.

  • Rubio-Codina, M. (2010) Intrahousehold time allocation in rural Mexico: Evidence from a randomized experiment. Research in Labor Economics 31: 219–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadoulet, E., Finan, F., de Janvry, A. and Vakis, R. (2004) Can Conditional Cash Transfer Programs Improve Social Risk Management? Lessons for Education and Child Labor Outcomes. Washington DC: World Bank. SP Discussion Paper No. 0420.

  • Sainath, P. (2007) Employment guarantee – No place for single women. The Hindu 22 May.

  • Scandizzo, P.L., Gaiha, R. and Imai, K. (2009) Does the employment guarantee scheme stabilize household incomes in rural India? Applied Economics Letters 16 (12): 1221–1225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schady, N. and Araujo, M.C. (2006) Cash Transfers, Conditions, School Enrolment, and Child Work: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Ecuador. Washington DC: World Bank. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3930.

  • Skoufias, E. and Parker, S. (2001) Conditional cash transfers and their impact on child work and schooling: Evidence from the PROGRESA program in Mexico. Economia 2 (1): 45–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Song, M.L.-K. (2011) Integrating Public Works and Cash Transfers in Ethiopia: Implications for Social Protection, Employment and Decent Work. Brazil: International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth, Working Papers 84.

  • Streuli, N. (2010) A study of how Peruvian children involved in a social protection programme experience well-being and poverty. Unpublished Doctoral thesis, Institute of Education, University of London.

  • Sudarshan, R.M., Bhattacharya, R. and Fernandez, G. (2010) Women’s participation in the NREGA: Some observations from fieldwork in Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Rajasthan. IDS Bulletin 41 (4): 77–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tefere, Y., Abebe, W. and Assazinew, A. (2009) Ethiopia Data Gathering Report 2008: Second Qualitative Round of Data Collection. Oxford: Young Lives. Young Lives Internal Document.

  • Uppal, V. (2009) Is the NREGS a Safety Net for Children? Oxford: Young Lives. Young Lives Student Paper.

  • Vennam, U. (2009) Andhra Pradesh, India, Data Gathering Report 2008: Second Qualitative Round of Data Collection. Oxford: Young Lives. Young Lives Internal Document.

  • Waring, M. (1997) The invisibility of women’s work: The economics of local and global bullshit. Canadian Woman Studies 17 (2): 31–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Webbink, E., Smits, J. and de Jong, E. (2012) Hidden child labor: Determinants of housework and family business work of children in 16 developing countries. World Development 40 (3): 631–642.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wells, K. (2009) Childhood in a Global Perspective. London: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woldehanna, T. (2009) Productive Safety Net Programme and Children’s Time Use between Work and Schooling in Ethiopia. Oxford: Young Lives. Working Paper 40.

  • Woldehanna, T., Jones, N. and Tefera, B. (2008) The Invisibility of Children’s Paid and Unpaid Work: Implications for Ethiopia’s national poverty reduction policy. Childhood 15 (2): 177–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yin, R. (1994) Case Study Research: Design and Methods. 2nd edn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Catherine Locke, Nitya Rao and participants at the International Conference on Migration, (Social) Reproduction and Social Protection (UEA-London, April 2012) for insightful comments on content and structure. The data used in this article come from Young Lives, which is core-funded by UK aid from the Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. Sub-studies are funded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank (in Peru), the International Development Research Centre (in Ethiopia) and the Oak Foundation. The views expressed are those of the author. They are not necessarily those of, or endorsed by, Young Lives, the University of Oxford, DFID or other funders.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

    Laura Camfield

Authors
  1. Laura Camfield
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Camfield, L. Growing Up in Ethiopia and Andhra Pradesh: The Impact of Social Protection Schemes on Girls’ Roles and Responsibilities. Eur J Dev Res 26, 107–123 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2013.36

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2013.36

Keywords

Search

Navigation