Misperceived abilities and gender stereotypes within the household

Last registered on August 25, 2022
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Misperceived abilities and gender stereotypes within the household
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009909
Initial registration date
August 24, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
August 25, 2022, 2:40 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
Bangladesh
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Carlotta Nani
Affiliation
Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2022-06-26
End date
2023-10-31
Keywords
Behavior, Gender, Lab
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Over the past twenty years, the gender gap in Bangladesh has substantially shrunk. Nevertheless, Bangladeshi women constitute the majority of the unbanked population, they maintain a low level of agency within the household and are excluded from income-generating activities. Stereotypes that depict women as unfit to work or to manage resources can reinforce social norms and make rules of the law or policies ineffective. If individuals form opinions through gender stereotypes that present women as not capable, then correcting these misbeliefs could reduce gender discrimination and improve women’s agency.
I conduct an experiment across 42 rural villages in Bangladesh and I study women’s low agency as a result of imperfect information. Specifically, I investigate (i) whether women are discriminated against because they are deemed unskilled; (ii) whether women have a low willingness to be more involved because they believe the stereotypes; (iii) whether updating beliefs alleviates stereotypes and improves women’s agency.
I test these hypotheses with an innovative incentivized decision-making game played by married couples: during the game, I update individuals' beliefs about women's abilities and I observe whether and how decisions change.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Nani, Carlotta. 2022. "Misperceived abilities and gender stereotypes within the household." AEA RCT Registry. August 25. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9909-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2022-07-01
Intervention End Date
2022-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Number of high-payoff questions assigned by the husbands to their wives.
Number of high-payoff questions assigned by the wives to themselves.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The lab experiment consists of an incentivized decision-making game played by married couples. During the game, spouses play simultaneously but separately: they answer simple questions and earn money for each correct answer. Final earnings depend on both spouses’ performance. The main feature of the game is that some questions are worth more, and some are worth less. Players decide privately how many high and low-payoff questions they and their spouses will answer. Couples are randomly assigned to an information arm and a control arm. After the first round, couples in the information arm receive a belief update about women’s skills. The control arm receives no update. I measure whether and how, following the information provision, players’ decisions change.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Couples
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
500 couples
Sample size: planned number of observations
1000 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
250 treated couples
250 control couples
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethics Review Committee of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.
IRB Approval Date
2022-05-10
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials