Publication: Engaging Men for Women’s Economic Empowerment: Overview of the Evidence
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2023-10-02
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2023-10-02
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Promoting women’s socioeconomic empowerment means increasing women’s control over the resources and decisions that are important for their well-being. Achieving these goals requires engaging men, since men often have influence over the lives of women in t heir households and communities. This overview examines evidence on the effectiveness of three different types of approaches that have been tested: Adding an engaging men intervention to complement a program designed to support women’s individual economic activities: Studies of these interventions show mixed results. Some have had success while others highlight the risk that this type of intervention could reduce women’s autonomy; Complementing support for household production or consumption with programming that encourages cooperative management or joint planning: These types of interventions are promising, especially for increasing women’s role in the management of household resources, although they have had limited impact on women’s individual-level economic outcomes; and Encouraging men to recognize or enhance their wives’ rights to ownership of important assets: There is very limited research available on this category of intervention, although available evidence is promising. Additional research in other contexts is necessary.
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“Pierotti, Rachael; Delavallade, Clara; Kaur Brar, Rajdev. 2023. Engaging Men for Women’s Economic Empowerment: Overview of the Evidence. Gender Innovation Lab; September 2023. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/40418 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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