In Simple Words
Evaluating athletic potential across runners by measuring shoe size while ignoring ankle weights leads to wrong predictions. Multidimensional norm indexing works like weighing each specific ankle weight—such as rules on speech, movement, or veiling—to determine how freely each runner can move before designing a training regimen.
Observed social groups at SEWA Bank
- Muslim women
- Restriction index: 1.70
- Upper-caste Hindu women
- Restriction index: 0.75
- Scheduled-caste Hindu women
- Restriction index: 0.48
Observed group averages on a 0–5 index counting highly restrictive norms. These differences are descriptive.
See source →Research question
Standard socio-economic evaluations group female entrepreneurs by income or education, masking granular cultural restrictions that dictate economic mobility. Evaluating specific behavioral prohibitions across sub-castes reveals structured variance in female autonomy that drives intervention outcomes.
Participants
N = 597 female micro-entrepreneurs across Hindu sub-castes and Muslims in Ahmedabad, India.
Study Design
Quantitative composite indexing (0 to 5 scale) evaluating sub-caste constraints across five specific social norms: solitary socializing, veiling, speaking directly to elders, leaving the house alone, and widow remarriage.
Results
Scheduled Caste Hindu women face the fewest restrictions (mean index = 0.48), Upper Caste Hindu women face 50% more restrictions (mean index = 0.75), and Muslim women face more than double the restriction intensity of Upper Caste women (mean index = 1.70).
Takeaway
Quantify social and mobility constraints using multi-norm sub-caste index tools before deploying entrepreneurial development programs in culturally conservative regions.