New researcher at CMI: Charlotte Ringdal
While working on her Master's thesis, our new post doctoral researcher Charlotte Ringdal did a puzzling discovery that inspired her to delve deeper into the world of women's empowerment and children's welfare.
Charlotte has a master's degree in economics from the University of Bergen and a PhD from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) where she was affiliated with FAIR - Center for Experimental Research on Fairness, Inequality and Rationality. Before coming to CMI, she was a postdoctoral researcher at CREED (Center for Research in Experimental Economics and Political Decision Making) at the University of Amsterdam.
What are your main research interests and background?
- My main research is household decision-making and women's empowerment. In my work, I try to improve our understanding of how families make decisions. Among other things, I look into whether improving women's status within the family improves children's welfare. I am also interested in other reproductive health outcomes including contraceptive use and intimate partner violence. Geographically, I have so far mostly focused on Tanzania and Kenya.
What got you into this field of research?
- While writing my master thesis on child labor, I came across a theoretical model that really fascinated me. The model showed that child labor did not necessarily decrease when women became more empowered. This puzzled me because I had the impression that empowering women would always be beneficial for children. It turns out that this is not necessarily the case, and that the research on this topic was relatively scarce.
Why CMI?
- I was affiliated to CMI when I wrote my master thesis and had first-hand experience of the good working environment here. I have always wanted to make a difference, and since CMI is working closely with policy-makers, I think this is the ideal place to be!
What are your professional goals?
- I would love to find some results in my research that could make the world a better place to be, especially for the next generation.
How can your research contribute to solve global challenges?
- My research focuses on women and children which can give input to how to deal with important challenges regarding gender equality, intergenerational poverty, and global inequality.
Would you like to share a fun-fact about yourself?
- In the evenings, I love to snuggle up in the sofa with good (or bad) TV and a cross-stitch project in my hands!