Country:

Pakistan

Population:

177 million

Per Capita Income:

$2581

Poverty rate:

Last WB figures (at $1.25 in 2006): 22.6 %

Now estimated at: 37%

How poverty triggers shame; lessons from four districts in PakistanResearch Sites:• 2 Urban developed districts (Islamabad & Lahore) • 2 Rural developing districts (Muzafargarh & Bahawalpur)

Sample size: 48

Research Method:Semi Structured Interviews

Researcher:Sohail ChoudhryUniversity of Oxford

Structure of presentation

• Material inadequacies and people’s response • Psychosocial inadequacies and people’s

response• Inadequacy of responses• Resultant shame and its exposure• Selective participation and its advantages• General withdrawal and its disadvantages

Shelter (Housing) ‘The only room of our ‘Jhuggi’ also serves as our kitchen, bathroom and toilet....At night, we sleep on ground....kids kick each other while sleeping...everybody disturbs everybody’. AF09M

Food ‘‘At times we cook, at times, we don’t, we starve.... we usually take our lunches meals and skip our dinners’ CF16M

Education ‘Our children study until year 4 or 5, then we have to pull them out and sent them to work’. AM35M

Health ‘If we have money, we go to doctors. Otherwise we just take an Aspirin’. AF01M

Livelihood / Employment opportunities

I want to expand my tailoring business but I can’t. We still have no money’. AF05C

Povertyandmaterialinadequacies

• Prioritising expenses• Saving in advance• Borrowing from family, friends and employers• Looking for free opportunities for recreation• Through religious / other charities

Common responses to material inadequacies

Relationships ‘I can’t go to see my married daughter because i cannot afford the fare and gifts to take’. (AF07C)

Control‘It’s not that they always treat you badly; it’s just that it is always their choice how to behave on a given day’. AM37C

Powerlessness‘What do you talk of the poor people sir….you can beat them up with a shoe whenever you like’ AM31M

Aspirations‘First we have hopes in our children. Then they fall out of the school. Then they also become unemployed. Sometimes they take to drugs. Our whole life keeps falling apart as we go along’ (AM 37C)

Happiness‘Those who have money; they’d like to say that money can’t buy happiness…. If the wall of my house collapses, do I need money or happiness to raise it again’. (AM36M)

Povertyand Psychosocialinadequacies

Common responses to psychosocial inadequacies

• Self-Esteem / dignity• Stay Happy• Pride (often in work)• Religion / faith• Pretence• Aspirations• Interaction amongst family & friends

Responses to inadequaciesMaterial

• Prioritising expenses• Saving in advance• Borrowing from family,

friends and employers• Looking for free

opportunities for recreation• Through religious / other

charities

Psychosocial

• Self-Esteem / dignity• Stay Happy• Pride (often in work)• Religion / faith• Pretence• Aspirations• Interaction amongst family

& friends

Connections between charity and dignity

Structural shameStructural• Welfare Assistance largely recommended by MPs.• Stigma associated with Zakat• ‘Nationalisation’ of Zakat• Minority Electorates• Political Instability

Procedural• Excessive Paper work (57 percent literacy in 2009)• Errors of exclusion• Corruption & Bribes

Excesses of Officials:‘Nobody considers anything of the poor….you know police guys will arrest a poor man for no reason. They will take him away slapping on his face ’ AM32C

Shame & selective exposure:

Exposure of shame is painful But is unavoidable for the low-income Selective exposure before a ‘few’ to avoid shame before the ‘rest’.

The ‘few’ may include: Parents & familyOld / trusted friends Government (for social assistance)EmployersLucrative connections (political, administrative & financial)

‘’We have to say ‘yes’ to

those we have an interest

with....we throw down our

pride before them. We know

this will save us from hunger’. (AM33M)

Social Capital and its benefits

Bonding: ‘Back in villages, people do help in times of need’. (AF02M)

Bridging: ‘I pursued my (cash assistance) case for three years; nothing happened. Then I approached a kind lady, whose husband was a senior government officer. He had my case resolved within an hour’. (AF01M)

Benefits:

Sense of security A favourable balance between shame and dignity

Guard against exploitation

Help in jobs, careers, welfare matters.

Shame and Wider Participation

With Higher income groupsPersonal Interaction Social Occasions

Within their own income groupsPersonal Interaction Social Occasions

‘Those with money do not interact with us….the way we interact amongst ourselves is on the street. It’s not like we are throwing parties. We meet and greet, we ask how you are doing, and we think it is okay. That’s what we need’. AM36M

Thank you

‘the thing is, one has to bow a little. One has to, you know. You have to lower your gaze a little. You don’t need to do it; it lowers itself, when you ask for a favour. You cannot do but to remain a little humble’. (AM 36MM)

Acknowledgements

• Chief Minister Secretariat, Government of the Punjab, Pakistan• Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Islamabad• Chief Commissioner Islamabad• DCOs, Lahore, Bahawalpur and Muzafargarh• Photo 1: AP Photo/Anjum Naveed• Photo 2: Jazba East Blog Website• Photo 3: Katie Falkenberg; The Washington Times • Photo 4: Forgotten Diaries organisation website• Photo 5: Hitmasty website