 In Recom, UNU Wider's global network of researchers compile and assess the best evidence on the impact of foreign aid. Here we take a closer look at how aid works to promote gender equality and women's empowerment. Over the last decade, most donors have made strong commitments to improving the lives of women and girls. These commitments have translated into a four-fold increase in foreign aid toward gender equality and women's empowerment. Increasing from US$6.5 billion in 2002 to US$25.5 billion in 2011. A substantial part of this aid has been directed to the education and health sectors. For instance, education and health receive more than half of the total bilateral aid. Whereas by contrast, the agriculture and rural development sectors have received one-fifth of the total aid allocated to support economic and productive sectors. There are encouraging signs that foreign aid has reduced gender inequality and benefited women and girls. An increase in foreign aid is associated with an improvement in both the human development and the gender inequality indexes. Specifically, aid appears to be effective in reducing maternal deaths as well as helping to close the gender gap in youth literacy. Larger amounts of aid is given to countries that grant more extensive rights to women. Increased aid to women's organisations has had a positive effect on women's political empowerment in the Middle East and in North Africa. Furthermore, initiatives that use an economic entry point to empower women have spillover effects. Improving women's self-confidence and decision-making as well as increasing household income. Foreign aid has been a catalyst in improving gender equality, but it has not done so alone. Women themselves have actively organised to ensure their rights are respected, their voices are heard in decision-making bodies, their bargaining power both at home and in local communities is boosted and their participation in economic life is amplified. Some partner countries have passed legislation to help remove constraints to women's participation in labour and credit markets and to make divorce and inheritance laws far more gender-equitable. Still, more needs to be done to end violence against women and girls and to improve women's asset ownership and access to credit together with their participation in paid employment and politics and, importantly, to improve men's contribution to childcare and domestic work. UNU wider researchers from all over the world have come together to find out what works, what could work, what is scalable and what is transferable in foreign aid. To learn more, come visit our website at wecomp.wider.unu.edu.