  Gender norms may constrain the ability of women to develop their
entrepreneurial skills, particularly in rural areas. By bringing
entrepreneurial training to women rather than requiring extended time away from
home, mobile technology could open doors that would otherwise be closed. We
randomly selected Nepali women to be trained as veterinary service providers
known as community animal health workers. Half of the selected candidates were
randomly assigned to a traditional training course requiring 35 consecutive
days away from home, and half were assigned to a hybrid distance learning
course requiring two shorter stays plus a table-based curriculum to be
completed at home. Distance learning strongly increases women's ability to
complete training as compared to traditional training. Distance learning has a
larger effect than traditional training on boosting the number of livestock
responsibilities women carry out at home, while also raising aspirations. Both
training types increase women's control over income. Our results indicate that
if anything, distance learning produced more effective community animal health
workers.
