Walking the talk: Cash transfers and gender dynamics

This report looks at the impacts of cash transfers on gender dynamics both within households and communities. It was commissioned because concerns that while cash transfers are expected to benefit women and contribute towards their empowerment, there was little evidence being collected to see whether this was in fact happening. The research included a literature review, programme evaluations from NGOs and three country studies: Indonesia (rapid onset, earthquake), Kenya (rapid onset, food price spikes) and Zimbabwe (protracted crisis). In all three contexts women were the primary beneficiaries of the cash. The study found that overall, there were many positive benefits for women, however, the impact of the cash transfers on women depended on the setting. Positive effects included increased self esteem and confidence to handle money and an acceptance by men that women are capable of handling money. On the whole, intra-household relations improved and there were indications that some of these improvements may last beyond the length of the programme. However, there were also clear challenges. Both the community implications of how the cash transfers were implemented and the effect of the cash transfers on traditional coping strategies were a significant worry for some beneficiaries. Community relations did not necessarily improve, and in some cases worsened, as a result of the programmes. The cash transfers also tended to reinforce rather than challenge women's traditional household and social roles. Cash transfers were perceived as helping women to simply perform their roles ‘better', The document makes recommendations for a series of actors. The learning from this report will inform future gender sensitive cash transfer programmes.