Gender quotas in development programming: Null results from a field experiment in Congo

Artikel

We examine whether gender quotas introduced by development agencies empower women. As part of a development program, an international organization created community management committees in 661 villages to oversee village level program expenditures. In a randomly selected half of these villages the organization required the committees to have gender parity. Using data on project choice from all participating villages, data on decision making in a later development project (105 villages), and data on citizen attitudes (200 villages), we find no evidence that gender parity requirements empower women. We discuss potential reasons for the null result, including weakness of these social interventions in terms of the engagement they generate, their time horizon, and the weak delegation of responsibilities.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Journal: Journal of Development Economics ; ISSN: 0304-3878 ; Volume: 133 ; Year: 2018 ; Pages: 326-345 ; Amsterdam: Elsevier

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior ; Other Economic Systems: Political Economy; Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies ; Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact ; Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
• Subject: Gender quotas ; Experimental methods ; Development aid ; Political attitudes and behavior

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): van der Windt, Peter ; Humphreys, Macartan ; de la Sierra, Raul Sanchez
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Elsevier ; ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics
• (where): Amsterdam
• (when): 2018

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.02.006
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/209579
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET