HPS³ -Janina Steinert - The Empowerment Paradox: Experimental Evidence from a Cycling Program for Girls in ZambiaWe welcome Janina Steinert on Wednesday, 24 April 2024 to the HPS Seminar Series

24 April 2024, 5:15 pm

The Hamburg Political Science Seminar Series (HPS³) features international speakers presenting cutting-edge research in empirical political science and political economy.

We welcome on Wednesday, 24 April 2024 17:15-18:45 CET in VMP9 A 411

Janina Steinert (TU München)

Title: The Empowerment Paradox: Experimental Evidence from a Cycling Program for Girls in Zambia
 ​
Abstract:​
Using data from a randomized field experiment across 91 schools in the Southern Province of Zambia, we examine the long-term impacts of an in-kind transfer, a bicycle, distributed to adolescent girls in 2017. Five years after the program implementation, we document no significant impacts on girls’ school attendance and observe increased rates of early marriages and pregnancies among girls in the treatment group. We argue that these effects are driven by higher socioeconomic status of program beneficiaries and thus higher attractiveness on the marriage market. We further find higher levels of self-reported empowerment and decreased levels of family and intimate partner violence among girls who had received a bicycle. Overall, our findings suggest that receiving a bicycle can have beneficial effects on girls’ economic status and perceived empowerment but may not effectively delay marriage and childbearing.

We invite everyone interested to attend!

The HPS³ seminars take place  in person at the UHH. Please find the preliminary program on the HPS³ Website.

We invite everyone interested to attend the HPS Seminar Series and are looking forward to seeing you.