Research on women’s labor in the informal sector largely tends to focus on the exploitation of women through intense and prolonged physical work, extra work hours, wage disparities, work irregularities, and financial insecurity. With respect to microfinance in particular, the question has often been about whether microfinance initiatives work to empower women and redress gender inequalities. In line with previous scholarship on the complex and contextual nature of power, this paper takes a micro-level perspective, focusing on the specific reasons that push women into the informal sector and their strategies to deal with everyday challenges. We draw from an ethnographic study of women working in Kudumbashree, a women’s empowerment program in Kerala that helps women start microenterprises supported by microcredits. Our research found that Kudumbashree tends to privilege women who can make the most of opportunities to work from or near the home. Setting up a workspace from home or working near the house is important for the flexibility it provides women by allowing them to earn without compromising their everyday family responsibilities. Additionally, working in an all-woman environment in a familiar neighborhood is advantageous. This paper draws on the findings of an ethnographic study to unpack the concept of vulnerability. Within the heteronormative family structure, vulnerability emerges as a complex phenomenon that is negotiated. On the one hand, informal work is often viewed in terms of the exploitative working conditions and gender discrimination in society. On the other hand, despite the less-than-ideal working conditions, by becoming an earning member of the family, over time, women are able to establish relationships beyond the family, thereby improving their access to resources and networks. When seen from the perspective of wellbeing, then, contextualized in the specific locations of women, we find that microfinance initiatives such as Kudumbashree enable women to negotiate their challenges and attenuate their vulnerabilities through the development of strategies, networks, and resources in solidarity with others.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to foreground the importance of context in discourse analysis by drawing on a study of online gender talk on Facebook in India. Design/methodology/approach Using Foucauldian discourse analysis (FDA), this study explored participants’ use of language to construct and perform various identities in online gender talk. This study discusses the methods used and challenges in analyzing digital spaces through FDA, focusing specifically on the importance of an ethnographic perspective to contextualize online talk. Findings Engagement with the larger socio-cultural context of the subject of study through various data collection methods enhanced our understanding of the contexts behind text. It helped the authors to explore the data from multiple directions from a Foucauldian framework. This study found that people constructed a “progressive” identity when talking about gender on Facebook. Originality/value There are very few studies combining discourse analysis and digital ethnography and this paper seeks to do that. Digital ethnography helps to look beyond the text and locate text in the larger socio-cultural context. To emphasize the importance of context in discourse analysis, this study engages with both online and offline data as online talk is connected with offline contexts in many significant ways. In this paper, the authors provide a description on various methodological steps used to collect and analyze online data using FDA.

The recent Malayalam film ‘The great Indian kitchen’ invoked debate in Kerala on women’s unpaid work in the house. Taking off from this film, this commentary draws on ethnographic research with women participating in the Kudumbashree, a women’s empowerment programme in Kerala, to engage with questions of paid work, household labour and care arrangements within the household. While the film depicts the struggles of a newly wedded young woman in her in-laws’ house and how she leaves the marriage to follow her dreams, this article shifts the focus to the tactics and strategies used by women in their 40s and 50s who remain within the family fold. We look at the experiences of these women who negotiate work and care arrangements to meet their needs. In doing so, we seek to understand what these strategies say about the conceptualisation of women’s agency and independence, particularly in South Asian contexts.