Forcing Gender Equality With Design - Pacific Standard
Equality, Bohnet says, should be as easy to comply with as automatic lights in hotel rooms. By connecting lighting with your keycard, no one has to think about turning off the lights, and automatic energy saving becomes the norm. Behavioral economists such as Iris test strategies for how to create a more equal status quo, and feedback loops so that social norms can change over time, eventually modifying people along with them. Bohnet cites one example of an intervention in India to reduce gendercide, or the mass phenomenon of sex-selective abortion and neglect of girls under five years. Rob Jensen, development economist, ran a field experiment offering Indian women training to work in call centers. Jensen questioned: Does economic opportunity for women translate into whether women work, and does it impact how parents treat their daughters? Over 10 years, the survival chances, BMI, years of schooling, and age of childbearing increased significantly for girls who participated in the study.
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