• 01 Mar 2024
• 2024

[CELGS-01/03/2024] Understanding drivers of male backlash in response to female empowerment programs: evidence from India

Dear Lecturers, Researchers and Students,

The College of Economics, Law and Government would like to respectfully invite lecturers/ researchers to come and share your experiences at the 1^st CELG seminar in 2024:

• Topic: Understanding drivers of male backlash in response to female empowerment programs: evidence from India
• Presenter: Assoc. Prof. Joe Vecci, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
• Time: 11:00 AM (Vietnam), Friday, March 01, 2024
• Location: Room B1-1001, 279 Nguyen Tri Phuong St, Ward 5, Dist. 10, HCMC

As women become more empowered across the developing world, there is growing evidence of male backlash. However, backlash is often poorly measured and its drivers poorly understood. We test multiple existing theoretical explanations for male backlash using lab-in-the-field experiments in rural India. We find 3 key results. First, men are willing to pay significantly more to retaliate against women who participate in the women’s empowerment program compared to women who do not. Second, mechanisms related to social image concerns and control over resources result in the greatest male retaliation; losing relative social status has no additional effect. Third, we find that backlash can be mitigated when programs are labeled as being about the non-sensitive topic of ‘families and communities’ rather than ‘women’s empowerment’. Social desirability bias and experimenter demand do not drive our results. 

About presenter:

Joe Vecci is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He completed his PhD in 2016 at Monash University, Australia. His primary research interests are in the fields of development economics and behavioural economics. A common thread in his research agenda is the utilisation of lab and lab-in-the-field experiments as a tool to study the effectiveness of policies. He has published in journals such as The Review of Economics and Statistics, Management Science and the Journal of Development Economics. 

To receive CELG seminar information, please fill out this form: //go.harthi.net/CELG seminar information.

Yours sincerely,

CELG