Research

Abstract: There are increasing calls for economic assistance in the form of social safety nets (SSNs) to be designed and implemented to promote women’s economic inclusion and agency, contributing to closing gender disparities globally. We investigate the extent to which SSNs achieve these goals through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Our sample includes 1,307 effect sizes from 93 studies, representing 218,828 women across 45 low- and middle-income countries. We show significant pooled effects (hedges’ g = 0.107, p<0.001), driven by increases in economic achievements (productive work, savings, assets and expenditures) and agency (voice, autonomy and decision-making). We find significant treatment effects for unconditional cash transfers (hedges’ g=0.128, p<0.001), social care services (hedges’ g=0.122, p<0.001), asset transfers (hedges’ g=0.115, p<0.001), and public work programs (hedges’ g=0.127, p=0.031). We find comparatively smaller impacts for conditional cash (hedges’ g=0.059, p=0.019) and found no evidence of effects for in-kind transfers. SSNs can empower women economically and socially, however limitations and evidence gaps remain, including need for further rigorous testing of design and operational components, the role of contextual factors, and cost-benefit analysis with a gender lens.

Most jurisdictions today require a state-issued license to establish a legally binding marriage, reflecting a global shift away from common law marriage—marriage formed without a license or ceremony—toward formal registration systems. These systems shape couples’ access to marriage and its accompanying legal protections. On the one hand, registration promotes uniformity by applying a single standard to all claims for marital rights. On the other hand, when registration offices are scarce or alternative forms of marriage (such as customary unions) remain common, registration mandates may restrict access to legal recognition.

This study examines the effects of phasing out common law marriage in Kenya, a context where civil registration points are limited and customary practices are widespread. I analyze how the introduction of a registration mandate influenced judicial decisions on the validity of marriages, focusing on whether a marriage certificate was presented in court cases. Using a novel dataset of decisions from Kenya’s superior courts, I exploit variation in the timing of judgments (before and after the mandate) and the presence of certificates to assess their impact. Preliminary results show a decline in marriages upheld without certificates and an increase in those upheld with certificates over the past fifty years