1. Widow, deserted, and destitute women allowances and rural female labor force participation in Bangladesh: Linking social protection to the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Author
-
Murshed, Muntasir
- Subjects
WIDOWS ,RURAL women ,LABOR supply ,MICROFINANCE ,SUSTAINABLE development ,WOMEN'S employment ,PROPENSITY score matching ,SOCIAL services - Abstract
In developing countries, often a major segment of the population is characterized as poor. Thus, social protection programs play a crucial role in facilitating the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda across these nations. Among the several socioeconomic benefits associated with the social safety net programs, the impacts on female labor force participation are vital from the perspectives of enhancing women empowerment and welfare. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to evaluate the impacts of social transfers under the "allowances for the widow, deserted, and destitute women" social protection program on the rural female labor force participation responses in Bangladesh. The overall results from the probit, IV‐probit, and propensity score matching techniques provide statistical evidence regarding the cash transfers acting as a "mini‐push" to nudge greater participation of the beneficiary women in the labor force. Moreover, the cash transfers are also found to positively influence the labor force participation decisions of the other female members within the households of the program beneficiaries. Besides, the female labor force participation decisions are evidenced to be heterogeneous across the age cohorts, marital statuses, and the gender of the household head. In line with the major findings from the analyses, some key policy interventions are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF