The Ironic Conditions of Clinics and Schools

Women’s experiences of accessing health and education services challenge the policy narratives around co-responsibility (the shared responsibility between household and state for overcoming poverty) and conditionality (the premise that women need a nudge to responsibly mother their children). Persistent staff shortages, discrimination, the low quality of instruction, and inadequate infrastructure reveal the state’s failure to redress persistent inequalities in the distribution of basic resources in rural places. While women’s compliance in meeting conditions was monitored, there was no simultaneous audit of the state’s compliance. Women’s compliance is disciplined by material need and notions of “responsible motherhood.”