Health Policies for Women's Empowerment: Evidences from Malawis's Antiretroviral Therapy for HIV Campaign

Can major health interventions promote women’s empowerment? Focusing on rural Malawi, I study the effect of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic on women’s empowerment. To identify the effect, I use the ARTroll-out campaign launched by the Malawian government in 2004. I calculate an index based on the scope and accessibility of treatment to measure the benef it of ART to rural communities. Women in communities that benefited the most from the treatment, in terms of the number of beneficiaries and access, experienced increased decision-making indicators and decreased justification and experience of physical violence. The rise in women’s empowerment can be explained by the positive effects of health improvement on economic empowerment and human capital formation. This paper advocates for the central role of health interventions in future women’s empowerment campaigns.