Improved menstrual health and the workplace: An RCT with female Bangladeshi garment workers☆

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Czura, Kristina; Menzel, Andreas; Miotto, Martina
• 署名单位: University of Groningen; Charles University Prague; Czech Academy of Sciences; Economics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences; University of Warwick
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103174
• 发表日期: 2024
• 关键词: Menstrual health; Health behavior; labor force participation; Export manufacturing

摘要

Menstrual hygiene practices in low-income countries are often limited by lack of finances and information, with potentially adverse consequences for women's well-being and workplace outcomes. In a randomized controlled trial with around 1,900 female workers from four Bangladeshi garment factories, we relax both constraints individually and jointly by providing free sanitary pads and information on hygienic menstrual practices. Both access to sanitary pads and information improve menstrual practices, either by the adoption of new products, or by knowledge gains and improved use of traditional materials, and both interventions improve health outcomes. However, these positive effects do not translate to better labor outcomes, such as earnings and work attendance.