The effects of microcredit on women’s control over household spending in developing countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis
This report (PDF) by a group of researchers under the editorial control of the Campbell Collaboration, aims to provide a systematic review of the evidence on effects of microcredit on women’s control over household spending in developing countries. The authors identified 310 papers for full text examination, of which 29 papers, corresponding to 25 unique studies, were retained for further analysis. These papers were then analysed through application of both statistical meta-analysis and context-mechanism-outcome synthesis. Through the analysis, the report finds that overall there is no evidence for an effect of microcredit on women’s control over household spending. The authors argue that there appears to be a gap between the societal belief in the capacity of microcredit to improve the position of women in decision-making processes within the household on the one hand, and the empirical evidence base on the other hand.