òòò½Íø Papers and Proceedings
ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)
Does Gender Tagging Public Works Increase Women's Participation? Experimental Evidence from Haiti, Kenya, and Rwanda
òòò½Íø Papers and Proceedings
vol. 115,
May 2025
(pp. 318–23)
Abstract
Public works programs often fail to induce participation by women in dual-headed households, with implications for closing gender gaps in autonomy. We randomize "gender tagging," labeling as "for women" in cash-for-work programs targeting poor households in Haiti, Kenya, and Rwanda. Gender tagging increases women's participation by 11 to 27 percentage points (29–192 percent) in contexts where women have low labor market attachment. We apply recent econometric methods to test heterogeneity across households to show that gender tagging generates catch-up: The women least likely to participate under the status quo program experience the largest increase in participation from gender tagging.Citation
Balantrapu, Tanay, Paul Christian, Lelys Dinarte-Diaz, Felipe Dunsch, Jonas Heirman, Dahyeon Jeong, Erin Kelley, Florence Kondylis, Gregory Lane, and John Loeser. 2025. "Does Gender Tagging Public Works Increase Women's Participation? Experimental Evidence from Haiti, Kenya, and Rwanda." òòò½Íø Papers and Proceedings 115: 318–23. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20251023Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- H54 National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: Infrastructures; Other Public Investment and Capital Stock
- H76 State and Local Government: Other Expenditure Categories
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply
- O12 Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development