inaugural address, part ii
TRANSCRIPT
First Project• Avon in Africa with Catherine Dolan• ESCR/DfID Poverty Alleviation Grant• Focus on poor black women• Entrepreneurship system provides– Training, support, finance, product
• More stable than microfinance or training alone
• Income stream, economic autonomy• Confidence, independence, empowerment.
Building an Idea• Multiple, independently funded projects– MNCs and NGOs– Sanitary pads and Pampers/UNICEF
• Gaps in neoclassical economics– Care work, reproductive labor
• Women’s economy on its own terms– An economy of exclusion– Distinctive features, rules, ethos.
Monetization and Exclusion
• Unpaid labor• Exclusive rules of property, currency• Effect: pervasive cash poverty, even
within wealthy households• Characteristics of unmonetized
economies– Inseparable nature of transactions– Reciprocity versus self-interest– Exchange of people.
Sexual Economics• Body as capital• Barter for survival: marriage
– Reproductive services:• Sexual services, child-bearing, household care
– Earning chances limited, no control over funds
• Prostitution– Informality and vulnerability
• Slavery and the underground economy• Economic constraints on women and
instability.
Sanitary Care and Secondary School• Development lever: multiple, rapid benefits– Better work force, national prosperity– Fertility rates improved– Maternal and infant mortality reduced– Child well-being increased– Violence and disease transmission reduced
• Dropout rates steep at secondary level• West African site, GT sponsor: – Dolan, Dopson, Montgomery, Ryus– Effect of pads on school attendance, retention.
• .
Conditions on the Ground• Generational divide: modernity and taboos• Cloth usage: “as found,” scarce
– Limited access to clean water, soap– Private space for drying
• Long walk to school– No toilet or water to change
• Odor and embarrassment • Difficulty concentrating in classroom
– Memorization and recitation
• Pads have expected effect: – Attendance, activities, concentration, confidence.