Women's Empowerment
Farm & Family Balance Study:
the intra-household and gender dynamics of cash-cropping
Uganda
Collaborators: Kate Ambler and Mike O'Sullivan
2016-2018. American Economic Association RCT Registry # AEARCTR-0001647
Despite much interest in increasing women’s access to markets and improving the returns to their efforts, little rigorous evidence exists about what works to achieve these objectives. In this study we use a randomized-controlled trial to test two approaches, one designed to be championed and scaled-up by private sector actors, and one that addresses the intrahousehold barriers to women’s participation and access to profits.
We partnered with a large cash crop processor in Jinja, Uganda, and 2,300 smallholder farming households that sell to it. Households were randomly assigned in a 2x2 design to receive one, both, or neither of the two study interventions. Both interventions were designed to increase women's access to output markets and control over the returns to their labor. The first intervention was a Family Vision Workshop that encouraged spousal communication and cooperation, gender sensitivity, and women’s participation in cash cropping. The second intervention included encouragement to men to either transfer a cash crop contract to a wife or allow a wife to register a new contract in her own name. Take-up of the interventions was 80% and 70%, respectively.
We evaluated whether these interventions affected intra-household allocation of resources, decision-making power, consumption and investment, productivity of the cash crop at the household level, and success of contract fulfillment for the buyer. Baseline data collection prior to randomization included lab-in-the-field experiments to provide novel measurements of existing intra-marital dynamics and women’s bargaining power. Follow-up data collection included high-frequency measures of labor allocation and personal consumption, as well as detailed agricultural productivity, experimental measures of bargaining power, and standard measures of decision-making, food security, and other welfare indicators.
Increasing Savings for Vulnerable Women’s Empowerment (iSAVE)
Western Kenya
Collaborators: Erick Gong and Felipe Dizon
2013-2015. American Economic Association RCT Registry # AEARCTR-0000323.
In lower-middle income countries like Kenya, the gender gap in holding formal savings is a shocking 33%. Evidence from Kenya and across Africa suggests that women's inability to smooth consumption during income shocks can increase harmful shock-coping behaviors, including transactional sex. Increasing women's access to and knowledge of appropriate savings products has the potential to offset the harmful impacts and externalities of some shock-coping behaviors.
We enrolled 600+ vulnerable women in an randomized-controlled trial to test the ability of personal precautionary savings to change shock-coping behaviors. Half of the women were self-identified commercial sex workers in Kisumu, the other half were widows and other single women with dependents in a nearby rural area. All of the women received training on savings, and participated in weekly interviews for three months. Half of each sample was randomly assigned to additionally receive a new mobile money account earmarked for personal savings, and weekly text message reminders.
We find significant increases in savings balances among the treated group. We examine how these exogenously-induced changes in savings impact participation in informal risk-sharing arrangements and shock-coping behaviors.
Related Publications
“Experimental measures of intra-household resource control” (2024) with Maria Recalde and Kate Ambler. (2024) Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. (open access) Previous version: “Measurement of intra-household resource control: Exploring the validity of experimental measures" (2020) IFPRI Discussion Paper 01984 (link)
"Empowering women to engage in commercial agriculture" with Kate Ambler and Michael O'Sullivan. (2022) AEA: Papers & Proceedings, 112: 456-550.
"Facilitating women's access to an economic empowerment initiative: Evidence from Uganda." (2021) with Kate Ambler and Michael O’Sullivan. World Development, 138. (open access), Previous version: IFPRI Discussion Paper 01762 (link)
"Precautionary Savings and Shock-Coping Behaviors: Effects of Promoting Mobile Bank Savings on Transactional Sex in Kenya" with Erick Gong. (2021) Journal of Health Economics, 78: 102460. Ungated accepted manuscript (link) Previous version: AU Economic Working Paper 2019-06 (link)
Links to media coverage: VoxDev
"The effect of promoting savings on informal risk-sharing: experimental evidence from vulnerable women in Kenya" with Felipe Dizon and Erick Gong. (2020) Journal of Human Resources 0917-9077R2; published ahead of print June 7, 2019.
Web appendix link. Replication package link. Ungated working paper version link.
Working papers
"Increasing women's empowerment: Evaluating two interventions in Uganda" (2023) with Kate Ambler and Michael O’Sullivan. Revision requested at Journal of Development Economics. Most recent version here. Previous versions: "Increasing women's empowerment: Implications for family welfare" (2021) IZA Discussion Paper 14861 (link); "Empowering Women: Comparing the Impacts of Economic and Behavior Change Interventions" (2019) IFPRI Discussion Paper (link)
"Household production efficiency, women’s empowerment, and household cooperation" (2023) with Maria Recalde, Tricia Koroknay-Palicz, Silvia Espinosa and Markus Goldstein.