Table 4 Tabular synthesis of the interventions and findings of experimental studies.
S no. | Author | Intervention | Place | Gender-based finding | Methodology | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Only economic intervention | ||||||
1 | Dupas and Robinsion (2013) | Free individual commitment savings account with high withdrawal fees for self employed vendors who were mostly women (Separate Male and Female groups) | Rural Kenya | Savings of women increased by 45%—increase in women’s private expenditure by 40%—no effect on men—long-term effects upto 3 year were observed | Field experiment using logbooks for data collection. Sample size (n) = 156 respondents | |
2 | Schaner (2017) | Provision of ATM cards free of charge | Rural Kenya | 22% accounts active in short run only 7% used in the third year—ATM service increased transaction upto 62% in short run and 68% in long run—married couple—security decresed as wife’s card was being used by husband—joint saving decisions—male female—increased | Experimental Design was used with treatment effect. Sample size (n) = 749 married couples | |
3 | Prina (2015) | Formal saving account paying 6% annual interest at NGO with no account opening, maintainence or withdrrawal charges | Pokhra, Nepal | High demand for small regualar saving accounts. After intervention the capability to bear shocks and perceived improvement in situation increased. | Randomized field experiment and the combination of pre- and post-survey data. Sample size (n) = 1118 female household heads in 19 slums. | |
4 | Roy et al. (2015) | Grant-based package for “Specially Targeted Ultra Poor” (STUP). Livestock (cows and goats) and related training was provided. | Bangladesh | Perceived ownership of women increased by 9090 taka, while that of men by 942 taka, agriculture asset ownership of women increased by 173 taka, while that of men by 681 taka, land ownership of men increased by 11,292 taka without any change in woman’s position. | Cluster Randomized Control Trial (RCT) evaluation design. Within 13 districts, 20 treatment branch offices and 20 control branch offices. Baseline Sample (n) = 7953 households, Followup roung sample (n) = 6919 households. | |
5 | Dupas et al. (2014) | Formal savings accounts with offer voucher to coverup cost of opening savings account | Rural Kenya | Male headed households used the account more often than female headed households and men saved more than women | Experimental Design was used Savings Experiment and Credit Experiment. Sample size (n) = 1565 unbanked individuals | |
6 | Lall et al. (2017) | Microfinance-based HIV prevention for Cisgenger and transgender women sex workers ingaged in drug abuse | Malaysia | After intervention participants recorded high motivation to join other jobs or to start up their own enterprize | 35 in-depth interviews. Used grounded theory as a framework of analysis, transcripts were analyzed through Nvivo 11. | |
7 | Squires (2018) | Cash transfer to access impact of “kinship tax”a | Rural Kenya | Women faced less pressure to share their income with relatives as they had an excuse that their work options were restricted | Cash transfer lab experiment. Sample size (n) = 1805 participants | |
Only Social Intervention | ||||||
8 | Cho et al. (2013) | 3 months vocational training for vulnerable youth | Urban Malawi | 33% participants dropped out: males left to take advantage of unrelated job opportunities, while women left mainly due to external constraints.—Training was costlier for women who had less access to financing and used more personal savings—Women were treated inferior than men during apprenticeship | Experimental phase-in design. Determinants, consequences and mediation of Program drop-outs. Baseline sample size (n) = 1122, 363 in control group and 759 in treatment group. Follow-up survey sample (n) = 755 respondents from baseline and 274 new participants. | |
9 | Adoho et al. (2014) | Adolescent girls livelihood and lifeskills training with assistance in job placement | Urban Liberia | Employment increased by 47%, Earnings increased by 80%, 50% increase in likelihood of Savings, 7% increase in Control over Own Assets. Positive effects on self-confidence—Access to money and less anxiety about future | Randomized controlled trial—ordinary least square method (OLS) on panel data obtained from three successive rounds of quantitative surveys and two sets of focus group discussions. Sample—2106 young Liberian women. | |
10 | Bandiera et al. (2015) | Vocational and lifeskills training for woman | Uganda | Increase in entrepreneurial skills—72% increase in likelihood of self employment—26% lower fertility rates—6.9% less likely to get married after two years. | Experimental study: Four years post-intervention evaluation. Sample—5966 respondents | |
11 | Honorati (2015) | Private sector internship and lifeskills training for vulnerable youth | Urban Kenya | Probability of women getting employment increased by 4.5% and for men increased by 6.5%—Wages for women and girls in the group increased by 132%—Probability of women opening a bank account for saving increased after intervention | Experimental design with two treatment groups and one control group. Random sample (n) = 1618 youths. Women represent about 40 percent of the sample. Also, used Impact evaluation design through instrumental variable approach to estimate the average treatment effects. | |
12 | Valdivia (2015) | Intensive business training and technical assistance | Peru | Women who received both business training and technical assistance saw an increase of 19 percent in sales | Treatment and control (T–C) group differences based on the randomly allocated intention to treat (ITT) to estimate the impact. Sample size (n)—711 repondents | |
13 | Chakravarty et al. (2016) | Youth employment programs with training from NGO | Nepal | Greater employment effects were observed for women, Women were more likely to be employed in non farm activities | Difference in difference (DID) technique and OLS was used along with propensity score matching. Intention to treat (ITT) effect as well as average treatment effects on the treated (ATT) were studied. Sample size (n) in 2010 = 64 events, n in 2011 = 69 events, n in 2012 = 85 events. Female participation was 64%. | |
14 | Diaz and Rosas (2016) | NationalYouth job training program | Peru | 50% women as compared to 42% men were formally employed in the follow up. 44% women as compared to 22% men were without any employment | Experimental evaluation design. Panel data collected for 3 years. Sample size (n) = 7151 participants. | |
15 | Alzúa et al. (2016) | Youth training program | Urban Argentina | Unlike interventions in other parts of the world, men were found to derive greater benefit than women. The intervention resulted in the ability of holding on to one job rather than switching to another. | Used Ordinary least square (OLS) regressions and discussed impact through ITT effects. Sample size (n) = 407, where 220 are in treatment group and 187 in the control group. | |
16 | Stark et al. (2018) | 10 months mentor facilitated sessisions for adolescent refugee girls | Ethopia | Experimental group had no more likelyhood than control group in attending school, working for pay or engaging in transactional sexual exploitation | Used logistic regression modeling. Treatment group (n = 457) Control group (n = 462) | |
Both social and economic intervention | ||||||
17 | Julia C. Kim et al. (2007) | Microfinance for Aids and Gender Equity (IMAGE) with health, gender norms domestic violence and sexuality related training. Ten 1-h training sessions | South Africa | After 2 years of intervention, the risk of physical/sexual abuse by intimate partner was reduced by more than half. | Sample Size Treatment group (n) = 430 loan recipients. Sample Size Control group (n) = 430 enrolled. Quantitative data through interviews at baseline and 2 years after exposure. Additionally, 7 focus group discussions were conducted with 46 intervention participants | |
18 | Ibarrarán et al. (2019) | National level training program with stipend and accidental insurance for poor and uneducated youth | Urban Dominican republic | Treatment group women had 25% higher wages and 60% higher chances of getting formal employment than women in the control group | Large-scale randomized controlled trial. Estimating 6 years effects. Sample size (n) = more than 3200 youths. | |
19 | Field et al. (2016) | Two days business counseling and loan assistance with a subsample invited to attend with a friend | Urban India | Business Borrowing by women significantly increased within 4months when they were accompanied by a friend. Women who attended alone used loan for home repair while one with a friend used it for business purposes | Two-step stratified randomization procedure.Sample size (n) = 636 women, Control group sample size (n) = 212, treatment group 1 (train alone)sample size (n) = 217, treatment group 2(train with a friend) sample size (n) = 207. | |
20 | Buehren et al. (2015) | business development training compared to the same training bundled with microfinance for adolescent girls | Tanzania | In the bundled intervention, earnings increased by 72%, consumption increased by 38%, teen pregnancy reduced by 26%, early marriage reduced by 58%, likelihood of savings increased. Takers for training increased with microfinance | Randomized trials—Intention to treat (ITT) effect as well as Intrumental Variable (IV) was used to estimate the impact. Baseline survey sample size (n) = 5454 adolescent girls from 150 villages. Follow‐up survey sample size (n) = 3179 girls. | |
21 | Maitra and Mani (2017) | Subsidized 6 months vocational training program in stiching for young women | Urban India | Women employment increased by 6%, Self employment increased by 4%, Monthly earnings increased by 150%—Positive effects were sustained in the medium term follow up—More than 40% trainees could not complete six months course due to distance to training center and lack of available child care support. | Randomized field experiment: Pre-intervention data with two rounds of post-intervention data. Baseline sample (n) = 594, mid line survey(n) = 504, endline survey (n) = 439, to quantifying 6–18 months effects. Intent-to-treat (or ITT) effects measured | |
22 | Brudevold et al. (2017) | Two labor market interventions in 3 poorest locations—one exposed to only CT($239) and the other with CT along with vocational and lifeskills training—for young poor women | Urban Kenya | In short term—56% growth in income of only CT group and 30% growth in income of bundled group. No income effect observed in long run. | Randomized evaluation. Reported intent-to-treat (ITT) estimates as well as treatment-on-the-treated (TOT) estimates via the OLS regression | |
23 | Ismayilova et al. (2018) | Two experimental groups—one exposed to only economic intervention and the other to economic intervention and family coaching—for ultra-poor married women | Burkina Faso | Significant improvement in financial autonomy, marital relations with reduction in IPV was reported in both groups.—integrating psychological component was found even more effective. | Three-arm cluster randomized controlled trial with baseline and one-year follow-up. Sample (n) = 360 ultra-poor married women | |
24 | Gonzales Martínez et al. (2020) | Timed credit disbursal activities for 70 credit officers | Bolivia | Women were prefered to men for loan disbursal. Non indegeneous women were prefered 2 times to men, while indegeneous women were prefered 1.5 times to men in loan allocation | Laboratory field experiment. Point estimates of a Bayesian mixed‐effects logistic regression, Sample size (n) = 70 credit officers. No. of credit files evaluated = 280 | |
