Sarthak Joshi

Now with a working link!

docs.iza.org/dp17450.pdf

👉 Which Policies Can Mitigate Backlash?

4️⃣Reframing the same program as a “Family and Community Program” instead of a “Women’s Empowerment Program” boosted support.

See the draft for a lot more!
🔗https://docs.iza.org/dp17450.pdf

Comments welcome!

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🔁In round 2, men were placed at the receiving end.

- 18% paid money to hide their household's involvement in empowerment programs.
- Men who hid were more likely to have penalized empowered women in round 1.

3️⃣Social image concerns are likely a key driver of male backlash

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👉 What Drives Backlash?

Using separate treatment arms, we study backlash under different conditions, including:
- men's loss of relative status
- men's loss of control over resources.

2️⃣Backlash occurs regardless of how empowerment is achieved.

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👉 Measuring Backlash Ethically

- Our study paired 1,007 men in Bihar with an anonymous female partner.
- In a one-shot game, men decide whether to financially penalise their partner at a cost.

1️⃣ Empowered women are penalised 2X of an otherwise identical control (17% vs 8%).

👉 Backlash is widespread yet understudied

🔍 We reviewed 20 years of studies on female empowerment programs in top economics journals.

- Only 26% collected data on potential male backlash.
- When measured, it was identified in some form in 40% of programs (!)🚨

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🚨New WP Alert!🚨

When women become empowered, some men retaliate. Why? Which policies can mitigate this?

We investigate male backlash in response to female empowerment in rural India (with @ccullen.bsky.social , Vecci, & Talbot-Jones).

🔗https://docs.iza.org/dp17450.pdf

#EconSky 🧵👇

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