Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • Article
  • American Economic Review

On Her Own Account: How Strengthening Women's Financial Control Impacts Labor Supply and Gender Norms

By: Natalia Rigol, Simone Schaner, Rohini Pande, Erica Field and Charity Troyer Moore
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

Can increasing control over earnings incentivize a woman to work, and thereby influence norms around gender roles? We randomly varied whether rural Indian women received bank accounts, training in account use, and direct deposit of public sector wages into their own (versus husbands') accounts. Relative to the accounts only group, women who also received direct deposit and training worked more in public and private sector jobs. The private sector result suggests gender norms initially constrained female employment. Three years later, direct deposit and training broadly liberalized women's own work-related norms, and shifted perceptions of community norms.

Keywords

Social Norms; Employment; Wages; Gender; Banks and Banking; Perception

Citation

Rigol, Natalia, Simone Schaner, Rohini Pande, Erica Field, and Charity Troyer Moore. "On Her Own Account: How Strengthening Women's Financial Control Impacts Labor Supply and Gender Norms." American Economic Review 111, no. 7 (July 2021): 2342–2375.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Author

Natalia Rigol

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Investing in the Next Generation: The Long-Run Impacts of a Liquidity Shock

    By: Patrick Agte, Arielle Bernhardt, Erica M. Field, Rohini Pande and Natalia Rigol
    • March 2022
    • American Economic Review

    Targeting High Ability Entrepreneurs Using Community Information: Mechanism Design in the Field

    By: Reshmaan Hussam, Natalia Rigol and Benjamin N. Roth
    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Understanding Rural Households' Time Use in a Developing Setting: Validating a Low-Cost Time Use Module

    By: Erica M Field, Rohini Pande, Natalia Rigol, Simone G. Schaner, Elena M. Stacy and Charity M. Troyer Moore
More from the Authors
  • Investing in the Next Generation: The Long-Run Impacts of a Liquidity Shock By: Patrick Agte, Arielle Bernhardt, Erica M. Field, Rohini Pande and Natalia Rigol
  • Targeting High Ability Entrepreneurs Using Community Information: Mechanism Design in the Field By: Reshmaan Hussam, Natalia Rigol and Benjamin N. Roth
  • Understanding Rural Households' Time Use in a Developing Setting: Validating a Low-Cost Time Use Module By: Erica M Field, Rohini Pande, Natalia Rigol, Simone G. Schaner, Elena M. Stacy and Charity M. Troyer Moore
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College