Quick and dirty assessment: if poor men and poor women had approximately equal status, then we’d expect the following:
People would value nonprofits that primarily help women as equal or lesser in value to equivalent nonprofits that help all (depending on the strength of anti-discrimination sentiment.) So, you wouldn’t see many nonprofits expend resources getting the message out there that they primarily help women.
There would be an equal number of nonprofits that primarily help women and those that primarily help men, and they would be about equally loud about it.
That could also be explained by people preferring helping women to helping men because they expect men likely to feel insulted/humiliated when offered charity. Or because they are more likely to perceive distant/foreign/poor men as potential threats.
The argument I’ve seen is that microlending works better when it’s offered to women. Women are claimed (I haven’t checked this) to be much more likely to put the money into supporting their families rather than spending it on personal consumption.
This seems to run into exactly the problem I brought up. Women in poor countries having higher status than men in the eyes of the West is not the same thing as the eyes of the West seeing women as worse off. If women are worse off then putting more effort into helping them may have higher marginal return than just helping men or helping everyone. What you’ve pointed to isn’t good evidence for your claim.
It does not seem likely to me that this gap is entirely due to poor women being overwhelmingly worse off than poor men. Indeed, given the higher variance of men on a number of traits, it seems very unlikely to me that the worst off of men are better off than the worse off.
Given that “charity is not about helping,” this discrepancy is more likely due to the status-induced motivated ignorance of philanthropists, than a rational cost-benefit calculation of where money can do the most good. (As a practical matter, I do think it’s plausible that microfinance is more workable among women in the regions that Kiva has decided to target. But I don’t think that’s the motivation that shines through from the copywriting.)
Indeed, given the higher variance of men on a number of traits, it seems very unlikely to me that the worst off of men are better off than the worse off.
I’m not sure how you would effectively measure the very worst off in any population. But this has other problems as well. First, most of the traits that males have high variance are things like mental illness where there’s really not much we can do that is at all efficient even in the developed world, much less in poor countries. Second, what matters is not the absolute worst, but rather what the average level is like. If the average female is worse off than the average male, then it is likely that putting more resources into helping females will have higher pay-off than helping males.
Your analysis also ignores the basic fact that many of these societies are extremely discriminatory in their treatment of women. To use the example that you brought up of Kiva, part of why more microlending has been targeted at women more than at men is because it is often much easier in these societies for men to get loans through pre-existing social chanels.
Given that “charity is not about helping,” this discrepancy is more likely due to the status-induced motivated ignorance of philanthropists, than a rational cost-benefit calculation of where money can do the most good.
I think you are engaging in a false dichotomy here. While charity is to some extent about status, it is also about actively helping. Groups like Village Reach wouldn’t do very well if that weren’t the case. Village Reach has effectively reached near optimal funding rates at this point in time. And other genuinely efficient charity groups are also doing quite well.
Furthermore, even charities like the Make A Wish Foundation get substantial anonymous donations or donations where the donors don’t spend that much effort talking about it. This is because there’s a third cause for donations- feeling like one is being helpful and good (or as is frequently termed here “warm fuzzies”). Some of this discrepancy also likely due to the fuzziness from helping people who are not only badly off but are actively mistreated in their own countries. The only charities that could possibly produce more warm fuzzies are charities for abused and abandoned puppies and kittens.
Quick and dirty assessment: if poor men and poor women had approximately equal status, then we’d expect the following:
People would value nonprofits that primarily help women as equal or lesser in value to equivalent nonprofits that help all (depending on the strength of anti-discrimination sentiment.) So, you wouldn’t see many nonprofits expend resources getting the message out there that they primarily help women.
There would be an equal number of nonprofits that primarily help women and those that primarily help men, and they would be about equally loud about it.
This is pretty demonstrably not the case. (Quick google: compare the marketing resources devoted to http://www.kiva.org/women vs. http://www.kiva.org/men)
That could also be explained by people preferring helping women to helping men because they expect men likely to feel insulted/humiliated when offered charity. Or because they are more likely to perceive distant/foreign/poor men as potential threats.
The argument I’ve seen is that microlending works better when it’s offered to women. Women are claimed (I haven’t checked this) to be much more likely to put the money into supporting their families rather than spending it on personal consumption.
I have seen a study that supports this. One of the leading uses men made of money was throwing parties to show how well off they were.....
This seems to run into exactly the problem I brought up. Women in poor countries having higher status than men in the eyes of the West is not the same thing as the eyes of the West seeing women as worse off. If women are worse off then putting more effort into helping them may have higher marginal return than just helping men or helping everyone. What you’ve pointed to isn’t good evidence for your claim.
It does not seem likely to me that this gap is entirely due to poor women being overwhelmingly worse off than poor men. Indeed, given the higher variance of men on a number of traits, it seems very unlikely to me that the worst off of men are better off than the worse off.
Given that “charity is not about helping,” this discrepancy is more likely due to the status-induced motivated ignorance of philanthropists, than a rational cost-benefit calculation of where money can do the most good. (As a practical matter, I do think it’s plausible that microfinance is more workable among women in the regions that Kiva has decided to target. But I don’t think that’s the motivation that shines through from the copywriting.)
I’m not sure how you would effectively measure the very worst off in any population. But this has other problems as well. First, most of the traits that males have high variance are things like mental illness where there’s really not much we can do that is at all efficient even in the developed world, much less in poor countries. Second, what matters is not the absolute worst, but rather what the average level is like. If the average female is worse off than the average male, then it is likely that putting more resources into helping females will have higher pay-off than helping males.
Your analysis also ignores the basic fact that many of these societies are extremely discriminatory in their treatment of women. To use the example that you brought up of Kiva, part of why more microlending has been targeted at women more than at men is because it is often much easier in these societies for men to get loans through pre-existing social chanels.
I think you are engaging in a false dichotomy here. While charity is to some extent about status, it is also about actively helping. Groups like Village Reach wouldn’t do very well if that weren’t the case. Village Reach has effectively reached near optimal funding rates at this point in time. And other genuinely efficient charity groups are also doing quite well.
Furthermore, even charities like the Make A Wish Foundation get substantial anonymous donations or donations where the donors don’t spend that much effort talking about it. This is because there’s a third cause for donations- feeling like one is being helpful and good (or as is frequently termed here “warm fuzzies”). Some of this discrepancy also likely due to the fuzziness from helping people who are not only badly off but are actively mistreated in their own countries. The only charities that could possibly produce more warm fuzzies are charities for abused and abandoned puppies and kittens.