Empowering Women through Development Aid: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Afghanistan

Beath, Andrew; Christia, Fotini; Ениколопов, Рубен

doi:10.1017/s0003055413000270

Cited by 169 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…When this is not a stated goal, then benefits form one domain will not spill over into others and empowerment impact is likely to be low and partial, rather than transformative. This is a common feature of collectives focused only on economic outcomes which achieve increased income and control over resources for women but have no positive impact on health, household decision-making, independence, Gender Based Violence (GBV) or gendered social norms (Baden 2013, Beath et al 2013. The SHGs within KGR do not seek to challenge social and gender norms, and therefore, their impact is limited rather than transformative.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of self-help groups on pastoral women’s empowerment and agency: A study in Nigeria

et al. 2017

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While women in pastoralist communities are key stakeholders in the production of milk and dairy products for income generation, they are largely ignored in other areas of development such as health. The need to involve women self-help groups, in pastoralist areas in both animal health and human health development programmes, is essential, particularly given the high incidence of zoonotic diseases in these communities (Maudlin I, Eisler MC and Welburn SC, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364 (1530): [2777][2778][2779][2780][2781][2782][2783][2784][2785][2786][2787] 2009). Understanding the process and impact of social networks on livelihoods is essential for any development programme that aims to prevent and control zoonotic diseases. This study examines the roles and responsibilities of women self-help groups in Kachia Grazing Reserve and Bokkos, Jos Plateau, Nigeria. The findings show that groups promoting social, physical and psychological health strongly motivated women's involvement in self-help groups. Self-help activities showed commitment to effect a change in their livelihoods, despite constraining environmental, cultural and social factors. Engagement of women's self-help groups in livestock development programmes offers a powerful instrument for driving forward the One Health practice in pastoralist communities, promoting human, animal and environmental health and well-being.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of self-help groups on pastoral women’s empowerment and agency: A study in Nigeria

et al. 2017

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“…In Afghanistan, gender quotas in village development councils led to increased women's participation in village governance, community life, and economic activities [4]. In Indian communities with quotas, women were more likely to speak in community meetings [3] [10].…”

Section: Supporting Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Afghanistan, when quotas were applied in a short-term development program, there were no broader changes in attitudes toward the general role of women in society, possibly because the quotas were applied in a narrowly defined program. However, these quotas increased support for women's participation in community decision-making [4].…”

Section: Supporting Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Improving women’s representation in politics through gender quotas

2018

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Gender quotas for women in local government bodies can improve women's representation in politics, increase provision of public services, and improve perceptions of women as leaders.Posters for female political candidates in India. Photo: AjayTvm | Shutterstock.com Summary:Gender quotas are one policy tool designed to increase women's representation in politics. Women hold fewer than 25 percent of parliamentary seats worldwide, and just 12 percent of the world's heads of state and government are women. In many countries this imbalance extends to local governments.Countries are taking action: In 2013, 118 countries were implementing a form of gender quotas for an elected office.One way to implement gender quotas is by reserving a certain number of leadership positions for women. A review of eleven randomized evaluations in Afghanistan, Lesotho, and across 24 states in India found that reservation quotas influenced women's political participation and policy outcomes and increased the provision of public goods aligned with female voters' preferences. Further, quotas improved men's perceptions of women as leaders, increased the aspirations of girls, and helped women get elected even after quotas were removed. Most of the rigorous research drawn on in this insight comes from India; comparative conclusions should be drawn cautiously.This evidence largely suggests that governments seeking to improve women's representation in politics should consider reservation quotas for local leadership positions. Supporting Evidence:Women leaders invested more in policies and programs women care about. Quotas are important because women may have different preferences about public goods than men.Communities in India with gender quotas for local village leaders had more public goods overall than communities without quotas, and female leaders invested more than male leaders in public goods linked to women's concerns Elected women made independent choices. One risk of gender quotas is that reserving political seats for women may not effect genuine change. For example, husbands of elected female leaders may maintain power by controlling the actions of their wives. In India, women elected under quotas were more likely than their male counterparts to state that their spouses encouraged them to stand for election and helped them do their jobs [3]. However, differences in public goods provision and policy preferences between female and male leaders demonstrate that women were able to make their own governing decisions [3].In some cases, having a female leader meant women participated more in community governance. In Afghanistan, gender quotas in village development councils led to increased women's participation in village governance, community life, and economic activities [4]. In Indian communities with quotas, women were more likely to speak in community meetings [3] [10].In Lesotho, although women in quota communities reported being less interested in politics than women in non-quota communities, they had similar levels of participation ...

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“…9 Buvinic et al (2013) provide a meta-level review of random-control impact evaluations covering different types of interventions in entrepreneurship, wage employment and agriculture on increases in women's productivity and earnings. 10 Beyond increasing female representation over a fairly rapid period of time, quotas and reservations are associated (in varying degrees) with a number of other outcomes, including increased legislative responsiveness to female concerns, targeting of public goods, better governance and changed girls' aspirations and educational attainment (Pande and Ford, 2011;Beath et al, 2013).…”

Section: Effectiveness Of Aid: Qualitative Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aid for Gender Equality and Development: Lessons and Challenges

Grown

Addison

Tarp

2016

J of Intl Development

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This UNU-WIDER special issue of the Journal of International Development comprises a set of papers on the theme of aid and gender equality. While the topic of aid effectiveness has been examined in this journal and elsewhere, the focus on how well development assistance to countries and non-governmental organizations promotes gender equality and empowers women is relatively new. This special issue is the first to marshal quantitative evidence and case studies on several themes: (1) macroanalyses of aid effectiveness and gender equality; (2) the determinants of aid for gender equality and women's empowerment; and (3) gender issues related to aid for education, health, land administration, fragile states and climate finance.

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Empowering Women through Development Aid: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Afghanistan

Cited by 169 publications

References 36 publications

The impact of self-help groups on pastoral women’s empowerment and agency: A study in Nigeria

The impact of self-help groups on pastoral women’s empowerment and agency: A study in Nigeria

Improving women’s representation in politics through gender quotas

Aid for Gender Equality and Development: Lessons and Challenges

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