The Effects of Microcredit on Women's Control over Household Spending in Developing Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta‐analysis

Abstract

Contributions Jos Vaessen (JV), Maren Duvendack (MD), Hugh Waddington (HW) and FransLeeuw (FL) contributed to the writing and revising of this systematic review. JV, Ana Rivas and Ger van Gils (GG) contributed to the design of the review and the information retrieval activities associated with the review. In the quality assessment of selected studies, we distinguish between assessment of methodological quality, carried out by MD, Richard Palmer Jones (RPJ) and HW, and assessment of the quality of the theoretical framework of selected studies carried out by GG and FL. The meta-analysis was conducted by MD, RPJ and HW, with additional support from Jorge Hombrados. The qualitative synthesis was conducted by GG, FL and JV. Nathalie Holvoet and Johan Bastiaensen helped developing the theoretical framework on microcredit and empowerment. Ruslan Lukach contributed to methodological design. JV will be responsible for updating this review as additional evidence accumulates and as funding becomes available.

PROTOCOL: Interventions to Improve Labour Market Outcomes of Youth: A Systematic Review of Active Labour Market Programmes

“…The following describes some of the study level variables that will be coded for each of these types of characteristics. In order to assess the risk of bias of primary studies, we are adapting the framework proposed in Duvendack et al (2011Duvendack et al ( , 2013 and utilised recently in Vaessen et al (2014). The approach combines an assessment of both research design and the method of statistical analysis.…”

Rural credit and the time allocation of agricultural households: The case of PRONAF in Brazil

“…It is more likely that rural credit will have an effect on women's participation in household spending in a context where the existing gender norms are not extremely male-biased. In a situation where general norms are mainly taken by men, it is less likely that the credit will be enough to increase women's power in household decisions (Vaessen et al, 2014). Also, women's bargaining power within households is connected to variables such as the well-being of girls and the health and education of children.…”

“…In addition, these findings are related to an increase in male heads' decision-making authority within the household. According to Vaessen et al (2014), a large number of studies have found both positive and negative effects of credit programs on women's empowerment. Several factors can explain this mixed evidence, such as different regions, countries, rural or urban settings and culture.…”

Creating community‐based indicators of gender equity: A methodology

“…We have adapted some of the proxies for measuring women's individual agency that are commonly used to measure change in women's empowerment such as access to income, and decision‐making control over income, access to education (a contributor to higher income) and increased confidence and voice (see Vaessen et al, ). As per Fig.…”