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A conditional cash transfer and Women's empowerment: Does Bolsa Familia Influence intimate partner violence?

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  • Litwin, Ashley
  • Perova, Elizaveta
  • Reynolds, Sarah Anne

Abstract

We apply mixed methods to explore how a conditional cash transfer (CCT) may influence intimate partner violence (IPV). Qualitative interviews with female beneficiaries of Bolsa Familia, Brazil's CCT program, and service providers suggest positive, negative, and null associations between CCTs and IPV are all plausible. These associations result from a combination of economic and psychological motivations. We also use quantitative methods to examine if the expansion of Bolsa Familia between 2004 and 2009 affects the female homicide rate and marital separations. Using municipal level data in a difference-in-differences analysis, we find null associations between Bolsa Familia and female homicides. When we examine the impact on marriages and separations, indicative of a change in the reservation utility of women within the household, we find no impact on marriages but Bolsa Familia is associated with an increase in separations, and, to a greater extent, separations of couples with children. These results suggest Bolsa Familia impacts women's agency within the family, but not to the extent that it reduces the most extreme form of IPV.

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  • Litwin, Ashley & Perova, Elizaveta & Reynolds, Sarah Anne, 2019. "A conditional cash transfer and Women's empowerment: Does Bolsa Familia Influence intimate partner violence?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:238:y:2019:i:c:13
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112462
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Arzu Kibris & Phillip Nelson, 2023. "Female income generation and intimate partner violence: Evidence from a representative survey in Turkey," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(6), pages 963-978, August.
    2. Ambler, Kate & Jones, Kelly M. & O’Sullivan, Michael, 2021. "Increasing Women's Empowerment: Implications for Family Welfare," IZA Discussion Papers 14861, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Shreya Biswas & Upasak Das, 2021. "Whats the worth of a promise? Evaluating the indirect effects of a program to reduce early marriage in India," Papers 2104.12215, arXiv.org.
    4. Camilo, Karen & Zuluaga, Blanca, 2022. "The effects of conditional cash transfers on schooling and child labor of nonbeneficiary siblings," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    5. Prachi Pundir & Ashrita Saran & Howard White & Ramya Subrahmanian & Jill Adona, 2020. "Interventions for reducing violence against children in low‐ and middle‐income countries: An evidence and gap map," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(4), December.
    6. Barrington, Clare & Peterman, Amber & Akaligaung, Akalpa J. & Palermo, Tia & de Milliano, Marlous & Aborigo, Raymond A., 2022. "‘Poverty can break a home’: Exploring mechanisms linking cash plus programming and intimate partner violence in Ghana," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    7. Giannina Vaccaro & Tania Paredes, 2022. "COVID-19 and Gender Differences in the Labor Market: Evidence from the Peruvian Economy," Documentos de Trabajo / Working Papers 2022-515, Departamento de Economía - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

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