Gender norms in rural Benin significantly affect the economic empowerment of girls and women. In response to climate-related financial shocks, households often resort to withdrawing girls from school, arranging early marriages, or restricting women’s entrepreneurship. Local PEP researchers suggest that addressing these social norms through community awareness and support for female entrepreneurship can strengthen household resilience. Recommended policy actions include incorporating women’s rights education into financial aid programs, providing conditional cash transfers to reduce child marriage and support girls’ schooling, and offering flexible financing options for rural female entrepreneurs to enhance their economic independence.
Find out more about the research methods, findings, and policy recommendations in the following PEP publications:
Working Paper coming soon|Policy Brief 282 in French|More about rural women’s economic resilience and gender norms in Benin
