Downloads

Download working paper here
PDF | 708.37 KB
We ask whether it is more effective to target men, women, or both – with the same intervention in the same context – to improve women’s outcomes when behaviour is governed by gendered social norms. We conduct a cluster-randomized controlled trial of an edutainment intervention in Pakistan – aimed at delaying marriage of adolescent girls, whereas community norms favour early marriage. We find that targeting men, either alone or jointly with women, reduces child marriages in households directly targeted by the intervention. Targeting women, however, either alone or jointly with men, leads to sustained reductions in child marriages at the village level. To rationalize this pattern of results, we build on a model of Bayesian persuasion in the household, where women are more hesitant to deviate from social norms. We extend this by allowing for gender-segregated information transmission from targeted spouses to other households in the village.
Authors

Research Associate World Bank
Rachel Cassidy is a Research Associate of the IFS and a Research Economist at the World Bank's Africa Gender Innovation Lab.
PhD Candidate Utrecht University of Economics

Amsterdam Institute for International Development
Centre for Economic Research Pakistan
Associate Professor of Economics Utrecht University of Economics
Working Paper details
- DOI
- 10.1920/wp.ifs.2024.2324
- Publisher
- Institute for Fiscal Studies
Suggested citation
Cassidy, R et al. (2024). Targeting men, women or both to reduce child marriage. 24/23. London: Institute for Fiscal Studies. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/targeting-men-women-or-both-reduce-child-marriage (accessed: 9 February 2025).
More from IFS
Understand this issue

Share of apprenticeship budget spent on each apprenticeship level
The proportion of funding directed to higher-level apprenticeships (level 4 and above) has trebled between 2017–18 and 2021–22 from 13% to 39%.
16 January 2025

The school funding challenges awaiting the new government
5 July 2024

Levelling up: it’s time to step up
30 June 2024
Policy analysis

Public spending on adult education and skills (actual and projected for 2024–25)
Public funding for adult skills has declined significantly since its peak in the early 2000s.
16 January 2025

Participation in classroom-based further education qualifications by adults (19+) in England
There have been large and sustained reductions to public spending on classroom-based learning over time.
16 January 2025

Hourly funding rate for ‘Preparation for work and life’ and ‘Health, public services and care’ courses
The new funding rates for the 2024–25 academic year establish a consistent hourly rate, simplifying the funding system.
16 January 2025
Academic research

Call for papers: IFS-ADBI-GHE Workshop on Health Economics in LMICs 2025
Submissions are open until 15th February for the IFS-GHE Workshop on Health Economics in LMIC 2025

Changes in marital sorting: theory and evidence from the US
Measuring how assortative matching differs between two economies is difficult, we show how the use of different measures can create different outcomes
27 November 2024

Resource windfalls, public expenditures and local economies
We show that the redistribution of natural resource tax revenues to non-extractive municipalities stimulates economic activity in local economies.
18 November 2024