Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings
Product in the Philippines

Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan, and Wesley Yin

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.

JEL Codes: D12, D63, D91, J16, O12, O16

Keywords: Savings, microfinance, female empowerment, household decision making,

commitment

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