Conditional Cash Transfers and Gender-Based Violence—Does the Type of Violence Matter ?

The relationship between intimate partner violence and cash transfer programs has beenextensively researched, with a consensus that cash transfers are most likely to reduce intimate partner violence. Thisstudy uses a regression discontinuity design to examine the effects of a conditional cash transfer program in thePhilippines on three types of gender-based violence: (i) intimate partner violence, (ii) domestic violence bynon-partners (such as husband's relatives), and (iii) violence outside home. Although the study finds nosignificant change in intimate partner violence or violence outside of home, it finds a measurable decline innon-partner domestic violence. The study also examines mediating channels through which conditional cash transfersmay affect gender-based violence, proposed in earlier literature, namely: (i) stress reduction due to higherincome, (ii) increase in women’s empowerment, (iii) increase in women's bargaining power, and (iv) strengthenedsocial networks. The findings provide suggestive evidence of changes in all four mitigating channels. This evidenceconfirms the potential of conditional cash transfer programs to mitigate gender-based violence beyond intimate partnerviolence, but indicate that depending on the context, additional interventions may be needed to address specifictypes of gender-based violence.