Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan and Wesley Yin

World Development, 2010, vol. 38, issue 3, 333-344

Abstract: Summary 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 lead 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 toward female-oriented durables goods purchased in the household.

Keywords: savings; microfinance; female; empowerment; household; decision; making; commitment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (161)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines* (2007)
Working Paper: Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines (2007)
Working Paper: Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines (2006)
Working Paper: Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines (2006)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:38:y:2010:i:3:p:333-344

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