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                   enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database



           Community Programs and Women's Participation: The Chinese Experience

      Author(s)          David Coady, Xinyi Dai, Limin Wang
      Contact            lwang@worldbank.org

      Country            China

  Organizing Theme       Voice and Agency, Economic Opportunities and Access to Assets

       Status            Completed

Intervention Category    Collective Action

       Sector            Social Development
                         Using household-level data specifically collected for the purpose of evaluation, we empirically
                         evaluate the impact on household income of a rural program in China that focuses on
                         increasing women’s economic and social participation in the local community. We find that
                         the program substantially increases women’s participation and household income, and also
                         generates positive social benefits. Our results also suggest that the income gains accrue to
      Abstract           participants only, and partly at the expense of non-participants. We find that the magnitude of
                         the program impacts depends sensitively on the program’s ability to increase participation
                         rates within villages. In the presence of the program, individual participation helps to avoid
                         the negative externalities and to buy into the positive gains accruing to participants. Our
                         results support the view that effectively implemented gender-focused interventions can have
                         substantial social benefits when supported by the necessary legal and institutional framework.
 Gender Connection       Gender Focused Intervention

  Gender Outcomes        Gender disaggregated income, aspirations

     IE Design           Instrumental Variable
                         The Population Control and Community Development Project is a gender-focused
                         community program intended to help women identify a range of economic and social
    Intervention         opportunities and facilitate the development of public and community institutions. The
                         program involved agricultural seminars and extension services, organized cultural activities
                         and political meetings. Women were provided priority access to these services.
 Intervention Period     1993-
                         A household survey was conducted for 57 villages with 38 treatment villages and 19 control
  Sample population
                         villages.
                         The study compares localities that implemented the program with localities that did not have
Comparison conditions
                         the program.
   Unit of analysis      Individual Level

  Evaluation Period      The study uses data from 1996



    Last updated: 14 August 2013                                                                       1
                enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database


                      The program increases household income by between 19.4 percent and 28 percent The
                      impact of individual participation is higher for treatment villages, but negative for control
                      villages. Similarly, the effect of program treatment is positive for participants (an increase in
                      income of 169 percent) and negative for non-participants (decrease in income of 114 percent).
                      As for the role of village participation rates, the results suggest that the magnitude of the
                      program positively depends on the ability of the program to increase participation rates, that is
   Results
                      if the program increases participation rate, then its income impact will also increase
                      substantially. In the case of the social externalities of the program, the analysis demonstrated
                      that the project had a substantial effect on reducing the probability of preferring boys over
                      girls. In addition, the results show that the program reduced the probability of valuing male
                      over female labor by 23 percent. Finally, the program also reduced the probability of wanting
                      a large family by 7 percent.
                      The period between the program implementation and the survey (three years from 1993 to
                      1996) is too short to observe any significant change occurring within households in regards to
                      fertility outcomes. Secondly, the information directly related to such issues is limited to
Primary study         measures on children's education and attitudes towards fertility and gender, which face a
 limitations          problem of subjectivity since they reflect expressed views rather than actual preference
                      observed through actions. However, the authors highlight that it is changes in attitudes rather
                      than any other indicator such as lower fertility rate that the program participation is expected
                      to impact.
Funding Source
                      Coady, D., Dai, X., & Wang, L. (2001). Community programs and women's participation: The
 Reference(s)         Chinese experience (No. 2622). World Bank, East Asia and Pacific Region, Poverty Reduction
                      and Economic Management Sector Unit.
Link to Studies       http://elibrary.worldbank.org/docserver/download/2622.pdf?expires=
                      1366642890&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=89D0452C932A280C455AD5B24621CBA2
  Microdata




 Last updated: 14 August 2013                                                                       2