Engaging Women in the Market for Mobile Money

移动的货币已被证明可以减少总体贫困，改善家庭和企业的成果。 然而，并非每个人都能平等地获得这一重要的经济工具。 在低收入社区，妇女在参与移动的货币和劳动力市场方面落后于男子。 本研究项目将使用实验方法研究移动的货币市场中对妇女的歧视如何影响她们的劳动力市场参与、人力资本形成和其他社会成果。 它还研究了雇用妇女作为移动的货币代理人是否普遍减少了劳动力市场对妇女的歧视，并改善了她们的社会成果。 这项研究的结果将为减少劳动力市场对妇女不利的政策提供指导，但也可以提供减少贫困和减少收入不平等的机制。 雇用妇女作为移动的货币代理人提供了一个机会，可以增加妇女的经济机会，改变社会对妇女劳动力参与的态度，并改善她们获得移动的货币的机会。 本研究采用随机对照试验来衡量在低收入环境中雇用妇女作为移动的货币代理人对经济和其他社会成果的因果影响。 它还研究了与男性相比，工作对妇女收入、技能积累和自主权的影响;以及女性移动的货币代理人的可用性是否增加了女性客户对移动的货币的使用。 该研究将通过随机向500家雇用男性或女性员工的商店分配补贴，研究女性劳动力供应如何对从事移动的货币代理人的女性人数做出反应。 在需求端，研究人员将对90家BRAC分行的贷款还款进行随机数字化，这将增加女性客户对移动的资金的需求。 这项研究的结果不仅将为减少劳动力市场对妇女歧视的政策提供指导，还可以减少贫困和减少收入不平等。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Mobile money has been shown to reduce aggregate poverty and improve outcomes for households and businesses. However, not everyone has equal access to this important economic tool. In low income communities, women lag behind men in participation in both mobile money and labor markets. This research project will use experimental methods to study how discrimination against women in the mobile money market affects their labor market participation, human capital formation, and other social outcomes. It also studies whether employing women as mobile money agents decreases labor market discrimination against women generally and improves their social outcomes. The results of this research will provide guidance on policies to decrease labor markets against women but could also provide mechanisms to decrease poverty and reduce income inequality. Hiring women as mobile money agents offers an opportunity to increase economic opportunities for women, change social attitudes towards women's labor force participation, and improve their access to mobile money. This research uses a randomized controlled trial to measure the causal effects of employing women as mobile money agents on the economic and other social outcomes in low income environments. It also studies the effects of work on the incomes, skill accumulation, and autonomy of women compared to men; and whether the availability of female mobile money agents increases the use of mobile money by female customers. The research will study how female labor supply responds to the number of women working as mobile money agents by randomly assigning subsidies to 500 shops for hiring either male or female employees. On the demand side, the researchers will randomize the digitization of loan repayments at 90 BRAC branches, which increases the demand for mobile money by female customers. The results of this research will not only provide guidance on policies to decrease labor market discrimination against women but could also decrease poverty as well as reduce income inequality.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.