Female empowerment
Subtitle: impact of a commitment savings product in the Philippines
By: Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan, Wesley Yin
Contributors: Karlan, Dean S.; Yin, Wesley, 1978-; Harvard Business School
Series: Working paper / Harvard Business School -- 09-100; Working paper (Harvard Business School) -- 09-100
Publisher: Harvard Business School
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Boston]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 27
Description: Female "empowerment" has increasingly become a policy goal, both as an end to itself and as a means to achieving other development goals. Microfinance in particular has often been argued, but not without controversy, to be a tool for empowering women. Here, using a randomized controlled trial, we examine whether access to and marketing of an individually-held commitment savings product leads to an increase in female decision-making power within the household. We find positive impacts, particularly for women who have below median decision-making power in the baseline, and we find this leads to a shift towards female-oriented durables goods purchased in the household.
Notes: "March 2009"--Publisher's website.

Includes bibliographical references.