Female Empowerment: Impact Of A Commitment Savings Product In The Philippines

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, they examine whether access to and marketing of an individually-held commitment savings product leads to an increase in female decision-making power within the household. They find positive impacts, particularly for women who have below median decision-making power in the baseline, and they find this leads to a shift towards female-oriented durables goods purchased in the household.