With or without him? Experimental evidence on gender-sensitive cash grants and trainings in Tunisia

Working paper

Is it possible to stimulate women’s employment by relaxing their financial and human capital constraints? Does involving husbands help or hinder the effort? To examine these questions, we randomly allocated cash grants and financial training to 1,000 poor women in Tunisia. To encourage gender dialogue, a random subset of women could invite their male partner to the training. The cash grants and financial training positively impacted women’s income generating activities, but only for women who had to attend the training alone, suggesting that gender dialogue backfired. The program also reinforced traditional gender roles: it stimulated employment of other household members as well as investments in small-scale agriculture and livestock farming—two activities traditionally undertaken by women at home. Impacts on household living standards are overwhelmingly positive.

Authors: Gazeaud, J; Khan, N; Mvukiyehe, E; Sterck, O

• Publication status: Published
• Publisher: Centre for the Study of African Economies
• Article number: CSAE-WPS-2022-02
• Series: CSAE Working Paper Series
• Publication date: 2022-01-20
• Paper number: CSAE-WPS-2022-02
• Language: English
• Keywords: financial training; cash transfers; employment; gender roles