Power of partnership conference: Presentation: Insights into women's labour market behaviour in Bangladesh using mixed methods

1. Insightsinto women’slabour market
behaviourin Bangladesh usingmixed
methods
Naila Kabeer (London School of Economics) and Lopita Huq
BRAC Institute of Governance and Development

2. Team members
Naila Kabeer
Simeen Mahmud (1950 -2018)
James Heintz
Lopita Haq
Kabita Chowdhury
Saiful Islam
Sadia Mustafa

4. Components of research
• Survey of 4000 women in 8 districts of Bangladesh
• Survey of 2000 men in 8 districts of Bangladesh
• Life histories of 80 women selected from different districts
• Life histories of 40 men selected from different districts
• Interviews with 20 employers from different districts

5. The story so far…
• Steady rates of economic growth
• Progress on key indicators of social development and gender
equality
• Including rising levels of female education and dramatic fertility
decline, both conducive to increased female labour force
participation
• Yet female labour force participation rates have increased very
gradually: from around 4% in 1970s to 36% according to 2010 LFS.
Male rates have remained high, fluctuating around 80-85%. So
problem related to gender rather than dearth of opportunities
• And according to LFS data, vast majority of working women in
unpaid family labour (56% compared to 7% of men) or self
employment (25% compared to 48% of men). Biggest rise in recent
years is in unpaid family labour

6. The research question?
• Why despite respectable rates of growth and progress on
other measures of gender equality does women’s labour force
participation rates remain so low?

7. And why should we care?
• General rationale: increasing women’s labour force
participation rates relative to men’s contributes to pace of
economic growth and progress on social development
• Bangladesh-specific rationale: Pathways study suggests
women in paid work, particularly in formal paid work, exercise
greater voice and agency within their households and
community.
• Women themselves attached a great deal of value to an
income of their own: You can tell as soon as you see a working
woman. If women work and earn an income of their own, then
there is a different sense about them. They have a mental
strength.

9. Refining the research question
Our quantitative survey results tell us that while official statistics have documented rising rates
of female labour force participation, they continue to underestimate women’s economic
activity. This is because a large percentage of working women are in home-based self
employment and expenditure-saving (unremunerated activity).
So question is less why is female labour force participation so low and more why is female
labour force participation concentrated in home-based work?
While there have been some attempt on the part of economists to apply neo-classical
household economics, with its emphasis on rational choice calculus in explaining human
behaviour, to the analysis of women’s labour market behaviour in Bangladesh, others have
questioned the relevance of the standard neo-classical model to contexts in which ‘socio-
economic factors affect tastes and preferences with respect to women´s work’ (Hossain et al.,
2004: p. 10).
What is needed is a more sociological understanding of economic behaviour, one that
acknowledges the influence of cultural norms in shaping the labour market responses of
women and their households while leaving room for individual agency. These concerns explain
the interdiscplinarity of our theoretical approach and the plurality of our methods.

10. Fromtheoutset,therehasbeenafocusonculturalnorms,particularlypurdah
norms,asafactorshapingwomen’slabourmarketbehaviour.Ethnographic
researchfromthe1970s(Cainetal.1979)
• Concept of patriarchal risk explained why divorced/separated and
widowed women most likely to seek wage labour but …
• The market for a woman's labour is normally demarcated both
physically and functionally. The physical limits of the market for a
particular woman's labour are described by a circle with a radius of
200-400 meters, with her homestead as the center of the
circle….What is important is that, geographically, the market for the
labour of any given women is small, and the pool of potential
employers is limited by the condition that some sort of prior social
relationship exist between the woman seeking work and the
employer. The norms of purdah influence the distance a woman
would be willing to travel to work, the distance a husband would
permit his wife to travel, a woman's willingness to work for a
stranger, and the receptivity of potential employers…. The psychic
and tangible costs of job search rise quickly when a woman leaves
the confines of her "circle.“ (p. 428).

11. Theseobservationsgiverisetoopposingdichotomiesabout
acceptableandunacceptablecharacteristicsofwomen’swork
• By task: men’s work/women’s work
• By location: the physical limits of the market for a particular
woman's labour are described by a circle with a radius of 200-400
meters, with her homestead as the centre of the circle (home
/outside; near/far).
• By employer: Had to be some sort of prior relationship between the
woman seeking work and her employer (kinship, patronage or
political allegiance. (self/others; kin/non-kin; known
others/unknown others).
• Internal and external constraints: The norms of purdah influenced
the distance a woman would be willing to travel to work and the
distance a husband would permit his wife to travel
• Internal and external constraints: The norms of purdah influenced a
woman's willingness to work for a stranger, and the receptivity of
potential employers to employing women

12. Theseobservationsgiverisetoopposingdichotomiesabout
acceptableandunacceptablecharacteristicsofwomen’swork
• Inside/outside
• Near/far
• Kin/non-kin
• Known others/unknown others
• Own work/work for others
•

13. Ourdata:somechange,muchcontinuity?
Our surveys from 2008 and 2015 suggest that engagement in
outside employment remains low, although it has increased.
-Formal/semi-formal wage employment went from 3.5 to 4.2%:
-Daily wage labour went from 5.9 to 6.3%
- Outside self employment went from 3.6 to 4%
The vast majority of women continue to be in home based self
employment:
Market oriented self employment went from 47.3% to 54.2%
But expenditure saving work declined form 17.5% to 8.8%
Economic inactivity remained constant at around 22%

14. 2015surveytellsusthat participationintoeconomicactivity
(inclusivelydefined)reflectedfollowingpattern
• Rises and then declines with age
• Lower for married women and widows relative to unmarried
(marriage penalty)
• Higher for female headed households
• Lower for women with children under 5
• Higher for those responsible for child care and domestic chores.
• Lower for those who subscribe to traditional gender norms
• Higher for women associated with NGOs and for those who took out
loans
• Lower for women with educated household heads
• Higher for women with employed household heads (regardless of
occupation)
• Higher for poorer households
• Higher for those who owned livestock and poultry
• Insignficant for religion, cultivable land, household electricity and
distance for road

15. 2015survey:selectioninto different kindsof
activity(relativeto economicinactivity)
• Formal waged work (4.2%): more likely for divorced women
relative to married, for women with post-primary education,
for women who had migrated (garment jobs), for women
whose household heads in waged work, positive for
Narayanganj (garments)
• Informal waged work (6.3%): more likely for divorced/single
women relative to married/widowed women, for women who
migrated (domestics), for women with no education, for
women from poor households and households that were food
insecure, for women from households whose heads were
either in waged work or non-agricultural self employment,
also positively associated with payment of bribes (public
works) and for women from poorest district. Less likely for
women wearing burkah, for women with educated household
heads and for women who owned livestock poultry.

16. 2015survey:selectionintodifferentkindsofactivity(relativetoeconomic
inactivity)
• Self employment outside the home (4%): more likely for
divorced/single/widowed women relative to married, for those with
post-secondary education (tuition), for NGO members and for those
near pucca roads. Less likely for women wearing burkah, for those
who household head is in wage labor and for those owning livestock.
• Self employment within the home (54%): more likely for married
women relative to divorced/widowed/single women; more likely for
those with care responsibilities; for women wearing burkah; women
owning livestock and poultry,. Less likely for women with post-
secondary education; for women who migrated, or who had to pay
bribe; less likely for women close to pucca road
• Expenditure saving (9%): more likely for married women relative to
divorced/single women; more likely for women wearing burka and
subscribing to traditional norms; more likely for wealthy households.
Less likely for women with care responsibilities; for women whose
household heads were employed (regardless of employment) and
for households owning livestock

17. Overarchingrelevanceofpurdahnormsandconsensusthatitinvolves
modestofdressandbehaviourbutsomevariationinthediscourse:the
culturalframingofpurdah
The cultural framing of purdah revolves around the ideology of the male
breadwinner, his responsibility to protect and provide for women and
children and the significance of women’s behaviour for family honour and
status. Along with concerns about the modesty of women’s garb and their
conformity to norms of female virtue, cultural discourses were particularly
concerned with ensuring that women’s actions did not undermine her
husband’s public image as someone able to feed his wife and children and
his family’s reputation as able to protect its female members.
People will honour you if you live your life the right way. But if you take the
wrong path for earning income, you will lose your honour. Perhaps, you
will have money, but not honour. If you want to be honoured, then you
need to rear hens, ducks, cows, and goats to improve your family’s
financial condition. Yes, if you go to work outside, you will lose your honour
in the society. You may work outside your home and earn taka 200. Then
you buy something for your family with that money, but at the cost of your
honour. People work for others in order to earn income; but men are
supposed to take care of that business. A woman is not allowed to work for
others.

18. Overarchingrelevanceofpurdahnormstodayandaconsensusthatit
involvesmodestofdressandbehaviourbutsomevariationinthe
discourse:religiousframingofpurdah
• The religious framing of purdah: Embedded concerns with women’s clothing and
demeanour within a broader complex of religious practices which were considered to
define the pious Muslim woman:
• You have to obey religious rules. There are rules for everything – whether you are walking,
eating or sleeping. There are rules/prayers for when you get out of the house, board a
vehicle, eat, go somewhere; you have to say your prayers, fast, recite the Quran in the
morning, cover your head, go about in a way that you don’t look into a man’s eyes. Be
careful women!!! You should buy and read the book, “Why don’t women stay within
purdah”. You will feel as if Azrael has come to your door. If I read it at night, I feel scared
going from this room to that one.
• Violation of purdah invokes notions of shame, zina or sexual dangers associated with
women’s uncovered bodies, divine wrath and judgement day. There has been active and
organized efforts to ‘purify’ the Bangladeshi traditions in favour of more authentic middle
eastern traditions. Often enforced by those with authority (teachers, bank managers, local
imam’s wife) Emphasis on wearing gloves and socks (and sun-glasses), declaration of
various local traditions as unIslamic, changing of vocabulary (salaf instead of namaz, Allah
Hafiz instead of Khudi Hafiz), holding of taleem classes for women by those considered to
have authority

19. Consensusthatpurdahinvolvesmodestyofdressandbehaviourand
thatthishasimplicationsforwomen’slabourmarketbehaviour–but
exceptionstoleratedoncertaingrounds
Both versions of purdah favoured home-based work for women
where they could not lead men astray with their bodies or bring
dishonour to their husbands and families by make the need for
an income visible.
But both versions of purdah also accommodated one set of
exceptions to this norm which related to patriarchal risk. It was
considered acceptable for women who had no adult male,
father, husband or son, to provide for them to go out to work
because they did it out of need. This was in sharp contrast to
women who had husbands or grown up sons to provide for
them: such women could only be going out to work out of
‘greed’.

20. Purdahnormsandtheformsofdressanddeportmentwhichthey
prescribegiverisetoacultural,andhighlysexualized,economyof
honourandshamewhichunderliesthehierarchyofoccupations
womenreported
• Most preferred occupations according to survey data:
• Livestock and poultry rearing (53% of total and 71% of daily wage labour)
• Tailoring (18% of total and 22% of those in formal waged labour and the
inactive)
• Teaching (8% of total and 19% of those in outside self employment)
• Handicrafts (6% of total and 8% of those in outside self employment)
• These jobs also emerged as the most preferred activities in our qualitative interviews along
with growing vegetables and fruits around the homestead. With the exception of
teaching, all these were activities that could be carried out in and around the home.
Teaching and tuition featured heavily along with government jobs more generally in our
qualitative interviews.
• As the survey data suggests, these preferences were often more likely to be
expressed by those not in these jobs. So a high percent of those in daily
wage labour (among the least desirable of jobs) would have preferred to
have been at home raising livestock and poultry. Those in formal/semi
formal wage labour (usually garment workers) and the inactive would have
liked to have done tailoring.

21. Purdahnormsandtheformsofdressanddeportmentwhichthey
prescribedgaverisetoacultural,andhighlysexualized,economyof
honourandshameandassociatedhierarchyofoccupations
• Least preferred occupations according to survey data:
• Domestic service (32% of total and 37% of those in expenditure saving work)
• Daily wage labour (23% of total and 27% of those in home-based self-employment)
• Begging (14% of total and 36% of those in daily wage labour)
• Garments ( 12% of total and 18% of those in outside self-employment)
• They survey data suggests that aversion to these jobs were not necessarily most
widespread among those doing them. Those in home-based self-employment were most
frequent in expressing aversion to daily wage labour while those in outside self
employment were most frequent in expressing an aversion to garment work. These jobs
also featured among the least preferred occupations in the qualitative interviews along
with migration abroad mainly to the Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries for paid domestic
work. The government had not only lifted the legal ban on women migrating abroad but
also made it much cheaper. So this has emerged as a new economic opportunity over the
last four or five years but one condemned by many of the women we spoke to. The other
occupation that emerged as among the less desirable of jobs was trading in the qualitative
interviews, particularly when it involved selling in the market place.
• So both preferences for certain jobs and aversion to others were most frequently expressed
by those who were not doing these jobs and may never have done them. They can
therefore be seen as expressing commonly held norms and perceptions about forms of
work for women that bring honour, and status and forms of work that bring shame and
opprobrium.

22. Views of others with regard to highly ranked
jobs
• Preferences for forms of work that could be carried out within
the home were easy to understand. They conformed to
purdah norms in both cultural and religious meanings of
the word. They also seen to offer flexibility, allowing
women to combine their economic activity with
household chores and to rest when they were tired.
Teaching and government jobs more generally were
highly ranked because they were seen to offer a regular
income and to carry social status. Many poorer women
commented on the fact that when poorer women went
to work, they were looked down on while when
educated women took up jobs, they were honoured by
society

23. Viewsofotherswithregardto highlyrankedjobs
If my daughter finished her education, I would like her to get a
job. It is a matter of honour. People would say, so-and-so’s
daughter has a job. For instance there is BRAC or RDRS or ASA.
People teach in BRAC schools. I would like it if she were to join
such a programme. There is honour in that. Then they have
people giving loans. Then BRAC has doctors who gives advice.
She could be one of these. The work is not that arduous. For
instance they come to take your loan instalments. Or they ask
you what your problems are? How much do you weigh? That’s
all. The salary is also good. And if you do tailoring at home, you
make blouses and petticoats, you earn 20 or 40 takas. This is
your own work. You cut the material and you get money. And if
you don’t feel well, you don’t have to do it.

24. Viewsofotherswithregardto lowrankedjobs
• The aversion to certain jobs revolved strongly around social
opinion ( social stigma, demeaning, family honour), the
conditions of work and the likelihood of encounter with
strange men. Concerns with social opinion were about family
status and honour, conditions of work related to the toll on
bodies and health while the fear of strange men related to
their behaviour in terms of looking, speaking and touching.
Such fears were particularly strong for younger women and in
relation to younger men. Women’s bodies in the public
domain were inevitably, unavoidably sexualized. Wearing a
burqa went some way towards ameliorating this.

25. Others’ opinionsof low-rankedjobs
Physical wage labour: I dislike earth-digging, sand loading, and road construction jobs. I wouldn’t do any of those jobs
even if someone offered me taka 2000 a day because I don’t like working in the streets in front of other men. I
wouldn’t work side by side with other men.
I don’t like begging like Radha Rani did. It is better to do work and earn. I don’t like this. If you go to someone, then
people shoo you away. People would say, can’t you get any work at your age? There are so many types of work. Why
are you going door to door begging? Won’t people say this. It is hurtful.
We live in a bit of fear. We can’t go to the haat, bazaar. People tease us, taunt us. If you go out on the road, they say
so many things. They pass a lot of comments, sing songs. Yes, those who have daughters have a lot to worry about.
You never know what could happen. Haven’t there been incidents? They took a girl from that house apparently for
‘love’. That is why we feel a bit afraid. Yes, last time, I had said that I do not like women working in the field. I don’t like
it because you have to go and work with men. Not all men are the same. They taunt you or tease you. It is good to
work. But I don’t like the fact that men say bad things to you, . When women go to work in others’ field, or to dig
earth, then people taunt them. They say, look she’s come to work for someone else. Young boys pass these
comments.
I don’t like women’s work that involves walking to peoples’ houses. I don’t like women going to the haat bazaar for
any work. I mean work that involves going to the haat or bazaar. I mean women selling things, for example chickens
door to door. I don’t like this. I don’t like women walking around selling things because people in the village do not
approve of this and because to me it feels forbidden. It feels forbidden because people will speak ill of it that so and
so’s wife is doing this kind of work. People have a low opinion of such work. The reason they have a low opinion of it is
because jobs are considered to be big (good) but this kind of work is considered to be lowly. This is small work, work
for pittance. So people think, how small minded she is that she is doing this kind of work for pittance. We don’t care
for such work. The reason I don’t like women going to the haat or bazaar because they are very far away.

26. Others’ opinionsof low-rankedjobs
Garments: People don’t have positive thoughts about them. People
consider garments job as something bad. When the groom’s side learns
that the bride had worked in a garments factory, they cancel the marriage
thinking the bride could be a bad woman. Ninety-five percent women of
our village, who work in garments factories, are bad women. That’s my
observation.
Garments: I don’t like garment factory work. When I went to Dhaka for the
training, I saw them. They would be let off at 12 o’clock. Men and women
would come milling out of the factory. They would be pushing each other.
If a woman pushes another woman, it is okay. But women would be
holding on to men. You’d probably hear that they’ve eloped after that.
Going abroad: Does any good woman ever go abroad? Don’t women have
any work opportunity in this country? I had said I don’t like it because a lot
of people in the village say that it is not good work. It is bad. According to
what people say, they take girls and do dishonourable things with them. I
haven’t actually been there and seen it. By dishonourable things I mean
that apparently employers make the girls massage their legs. That cannot
be good. It is not part of the contract.

27. Views of thoseengaged in home-basedwork
Many of those in home-based work expressed satisfaction with what they were
doing for reasons which reflected the general view. But not all:
A number of women were told by husbands that there was no need for them to
earn any money: they would eat what he earned and go hungry otherwise.
Those working on their own farms, weeding, harvesting crops, bringing it home and
processing it pointed out how much they were saving in terms of costs of hiring
labour but they did not generate a direct income and did not feel their work was
recognized.
Three women were denied permission by husbands to go for training which might
have allowed them to earn some money (tailoring, midwifery) or were prevented
from weaving baskets
One woman had worked as a government health worker and wanted to take up
outside paid work as husband’s earnings were low but was denied permission.
For those from higher status households, government jobs could have been an
option but they could not afford to pay the bribe
Machining was particularly valued as it appeared to offer a steady and independent
source of income but so was selling eggs and milk – either to neighbours or to local
shops

28. Viewsofthoseinoutsideself-employment
These women could be seen as transgressing the boundaries of
purdah but how they experienced the work varied according to the
degree of choice they exercised in taking it up.
The survival imperative evident in the case of the woman who took a
loan and began peddling goods after her husband died and left her to
fend for herself and children. Combined with other survivalist
activities.
But a number of other women took it up as a way to make money,
buying sarees in towns and selling them in their villages. One crossed
the border to India and commented on how useful the burqa was in
this occupation. Another would take her vegetables in a van to the
market in the nearby town and sell them wearing her burqa. They
might be aware of their transgressive behaviour but enjoyed getting
out of the house and a sense of freedom. More educated women took
up tuition as a respectable way of earning (close to teaching)

29. Views of those in daily waged
labour
• None of these women ‘chose’ these jobs. They were either born
poor and resigned to having to work for the rest of their lives or they
were precipitated into wage labour by loss or low earnings of male
breadwinner. They were least likely to be satisfied with their work.
Material grounds: low wages, sometimes in kind, often at the
discretion of employer or set at the same level, regardless of the
work they did, working in scorching sun and driving rain, the physical
discomfort of having to work bending down all day or washing
dishes/clothes all day or doing heavy work in road construction.
Symbolic grounds: demeaning work, maid servant no better than a
slave, given left overs to eat or told to eat outside, constant
criticism, employer never satisfied with her work, accused of theft.
They might try to avoid certain kinds of work or certain employers
but the best option was to be able to retire into home-based work.
• Government public works among the most coveted as work not hard
and for a period of time pay was guaranteed but bribes and
connections necessary

30. Views of those in garment
work
• A few were precipitated into it by loss of male breadwinner
but many came from the countryside as a way to make more
money than most jobs available to those with little or no
education. Many wear burqas on the way to work. Evidence
of an economic calculus at play. Husbands and wives
sometimes entered together, daughters came as a way of
contributing towards family. While garment girls (and boys)
not well regarded in society and considered unmarriageable,
many married each other. For some the work was hard, days
were long and the factory felt like a prison, others spoke of
improvements in working conditions but some ambivalence
about withdrawal of opportunity to do overtime.

31. Views of thosegoing, or havingbeen, abroad
• Very clear economic calculus at work because of effort required: Why do people say that working
abroad is bad? Consider the first part of my life – I didn’t even have a straw mat to sleep on I was
so poor. I had to spread a sari to sleep. So I had to go to others to ask for a straw mat. Now I don’t
have to go and ask you for anything. My situation has improved. Now my neighbours will get
jealous. So they decide to spread a rumour that working abroad is bad thing. The Arabs take
Bangladeshi women to marry them or what not. A neighbour of mine said such things to me when
I was going abroad. Then I sent tk.20000 home. This tempted her to go abroad which she did.
Then I took her phone number and asked her why she said all those things. Working abroad is not
amongst my preferred jobs because there is nothing to like about it. But if raise poultry, I will have
to wait till it grows and then I can sell it and then I will be able to feed my children. But with
working abroad, you can work there and immediately be able to feed your children. But the work
is very hard. I don’t like working abroad. If I were here I would be able to see my children, bring
them up properly, see my neighbours, get consolation from all that. But in this work, once you are
on the plane, you don’t know where Allah will land you. But you have to do this work to feed your
children.
• Applied for a passport to go abroad: My elder sister toils in a garment factory like a donkey all day
long. Not everyone in a foreign country is not bad and similarly not all people in Dhaka are good.
Many women of our locality go abroad. They don’t say anything bad about foreign countries; they
say good things. A woman from the other side of the river went to Jordan; and these women here,
they went to Qatar, I guess. Her neighbour used to be in Dubai, she did the household chores for a
family there. Someone close to me, my sister-in-law, who stays in Lebanon, will manage me the
visa for me. She had to cook, and iron clothes. She said that I would get about taka 12000 to
15000 by working in Lebanon. Some people say that in Qatar, a domestic worker’s monthly salary
is taka 20,000.
•

32. Views of those in
government/NGO jobs
• Of those who work outside the home, these are the most satisfied with
the work they do. They are among the most educated, their work,
particularly teaching, has social status and many of their jobs have a
community service element to it. Many chose to take up these jobs but
status and regularity of pay appeared to play a more important role
than earnings per se. Many wear burqas to work or on their rounds
within the community
• Though I haven’t tried any other occupation, I like teaching the most.
Teaching is an honorable profession. Education gains you respect. I like
teaching because it earns you respect. Some people say, “Wow, she is a
teacher of BRAC School!” But I believe a teacher is a teacher no matter if
she is a teacher of BRAC School or some other not so reputed school. A
student can never become educated without completing his or her
primary education. And I am responsible for giving them the primary
education. I teach them myself. So many children I have taught so far …
but you can tell them apart as my students by seeing their handwriting. I
have become older now and even though I want to quit, but others don’t
let me. They want me to teach the students of primary level. Nobody
wants to employ the young graduates, who would be of your age

33. Sowhatisthestoryaboutwomen’slabourmarketbehaviour
thatiscomingoutoftheseinterviews?
• Purdah norms remain powerful but we see a number of variations on how they
are interpreted:
• Purdah as culture revolving around the male breadwinner and household status
• Purdah as religion revolving around women’s virtue and piety and the need to
avoid interactions with strange men
• Given rise to an occupational hierarchy organized around a cultural, and highly
sexualized. economy of honour and shame
• Much of the ranking is based on compatibility with purdah norms, particularly
protection from male gaze, rather than earnings.
• There are very few respectable formal jobs available for women and they are
rationed by bribes and social connections.
• Sexual harassment is not a figment of the cultural imagination. A very real and
present danger for women, especially of younger women by younger men, and
particularly in forms of work that entail women’s continued presence in the
public domain as in daily wage labour.
• Difficult to disentangle how much women inhabit cultural norms and how much
their choices are shaped by the constraints imposed by family and society.

34. Atthesametime,constantpushbackbywomenagainstthe
boundariesofwhatispermissiblethroughdestabilizing
dichotomiesandthroughperformanceratherthan
internalizationofculturalnorms.
• Near versus far: Near may mean within 200-400 meters, it may mean
within your village while far may mean walking mile into the hills to
work in lemon groves or going to Dhaka or going out of the country
• Own work and work for others often overlaps with inside/outside
distinction: women who are working in their own paddy
fields,harvesting and carrying paddy tend to avoid the inside/outside
distinction and talk in terms of own work as opposed to working for
others. But they are working outside and doing tasks which were
previously reserved for men
• Kin/non-kin and familiar versus unfamiliar: tendency to invent kin as you
go along, to refer to the village as your kin, especially natal village.
• Need versus children’s future
• The multiple meanings of burqa: religious, practical, strategic and
fashion).
• Markets come to the house (mobile phones, peddlars, wholesalers)
• When economic rationality comes to the fore…..