Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines
29 Pages Posted: 20 May 2008
There are 2 versions of this paper
Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines
Date Written: March 2007
Abstract
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 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.
Keywords: Commitment, female empowerment, household decision making, microfinance, savings
JEL Classification: D12, D63, D91, J16, O12, O16
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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