Search our database of 1,200+ summaries of randomized evaluations conducted by our affiliates in 100 countries. To browse key policy recommendations from a subset of these evaluations, visit the Policy Publications tab above.

Young women seated looking at papers

Improving Labor Market Opportunities to Increase Women's Employment and Education in India

Researchers provided three years of recruiting services to help young women in randomly selected rural Indian villages get jobs in the business process outsourcing industry. Women who had access to these recruiting services were significantly more likely to be employed outside the home at the end of...
A woman votes at a polling station in Rajasthan, India.

Empowering Female Leaders and Voters in Rajasthan, India

Researchers evaluated a voter information campaign and exploited the random assignment of reservations for women in village councils to measure the impact of information and reduced incumbent advantage on village council elections. Both interventions increased the number of candidates and drove the...
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Empowering Women through Land Tenure Regularization: Evidence from the Impact Evaluation of the National Program in Rwanda

Daniel A
Klaus Deininger
Eliana La Ferrara
Markus Goldstein
Girls in school uniforms in India

Changing Teenage Girls' Aspirations and Educational Attainment through Increased Female Representation in Leadership in India

Lori Beaman
Esther Duflo
Rohini Pande
Petia B. Topalova
In 2008, women accounted for 18 percent of parliamentarians worldwide, and only 13 countries had a female head of government. In India, researchers studied the impact of a constitutional amendment that reserved village council leadership positions for women on adolescent girls’ career aspirations...
Seated woman showing pieces of cloth to another woman

Leveraging Business Networks to Boost Women’s Entrepreneurship

Edward Asiedu
Monica Lambon-Quayefio
Francesca Truffa
Ashley Wong
Researchers investigated the role of online networking groups (via WhatsApp) and free legal aid on improving business innovation, practices, sales, and profits among growth-oriented women-owned firms in Ghana. They found that online networking groups meaningfully encouraged business innovation...
Young woman holding cash in DRC

A Multifaceted Approach to Increase Women’s Empowerment in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Manuela Angelucci
Rachel M. Heath
Eva Noble
Researchers evaluated a multifaceted program for women experiencing extreme poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a region facing protracted conflict. The intervention had positive and enduring effects on women’s consumption, employment, finances, and empowerment, and small positive impacts...
Women in India moving receptacles of dirt.

Impact of Financial Control on Women's Labor Supply and Gender Norms in India

Erica Field
Charity Troyer Moore
Rohini Pande
Natalia Rigol
Simone Schaner
Researchers worked with local banks and the state government of Madhya Pradesh to provide women with their own bank accounts, training on how to use them, and direct deposit of wages earned through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to measure the impact of...
Women looking at phone

The Impact of Encouraging Mobile Money Use on Women’s Empowerment in Tanzania

Supporting women’s empowerment, the ability for women to control their resources and make their own choices, is a common policy goal both as its own outcome and as a vehicle to drive other change like improving children’s health and education. Many empowerment programs have targeted women’s income...