Bard College receives $500K grant to study economic empowerment of African women

The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College has received a two-year $500,000 grant from the Hewlett Foundation to support its Gender Equality and the Economy (GEE) program, which seeks to generate new knowledge and share information about the economic empowerment of women, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

During the grant period from 2023–2025, the institute and its partners—including Levy scholars Thomas Masterson, Fernando Rios-Avila, Aashima Sinha, and Ajit Zacharias, alongside regional partners Abena Oduro of the University of Ghana and Nthabiseng Moleko of the University of Stellenbosch—plan to generate new research on gender disparities in employment security and welfare outcomes in Ghana and South Africa. The grant will also support continued research using the Levy Institute’s expanded measure of poverty.

The grant funds will enable the institute to host two two workshops in the region to disseminate its findings, along with related work by scholars in the region, and engage with policymakers and other stakeholders. Additionally, the institute will host an international workshop on gender and economic analysis featuring new research in feminist economics.

“We are grateful to the Hewlett Foundation for their generous decade-long support” said Ajit Zacharias, senior scholar and director of the Institute’s Distribution of Income and Wealth Program, who added the institute aims “to provide fresh insights and evidence on these issues, hoping they will contribute to policies that promote gender equality and social justice.”