Cash transfers, gender equity and women's empowerment in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia

Abstract

Conditional cash transfer programmes provide extremely poor households with a cash subsidy, on condition that children attend school, and mothers and infants undergo health checks. These programmes are generally considered effective social protection mechanisms, and success in meeting children's nutrition, education, and health targets is reported. However, the impact of these programmes on women's empowerment and intra-household dynamics is under-explored. This article provides a summary of some key findings of recent research in Latin America, supported by CARE International UK. The research looked at the Juntos Programme in Peru, Bono de Desarrollo Humano in Ecuador, and Bono Juana Azurduy in Bolivia. Through qualitative and participatory research with women beneficiaries, and interviews with key informants, the study examined whether, and in what ways, conditional cash transfer programmes might promote gender equity and women's empowerment.

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Cash transfers, gender equity and women's
empowerment in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia
Maxine Molyneux Maxine Molyneux is Professor of Sociology and Director
of the Institute for the Study of the Americas & Marilyn Thomson Marilyn
Thomson is an independent consultant, a (honorary) visiting research fellow
at City University and co-director of the London-based Central America
Women's Network
Available online: 15 Jul 2011
To cite this article: Maxine Molyneux Maxine Molyneux is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute
for the Study of the Americas & Marilyn Thomson Marilyn Thomson is an independent consultant, a (honorary)
visiting research fellow at City University and co-director of the London-based Central America Women's
Network (2011): Cash transfers, gender equity and women's empowerment in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia,
Gender & Development, 19:2, 195-212
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Cash transfers, gender equity and women’s
empowerment in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia
Maxine Molyneux and Marilyn Thomson
Conditional cash transfer programmes provide extremely poor households with a cash
subsidy, on condition that children attend school, and mothers and infants undergo
health checks. These programmes are generally considered effective social protection
mechanisms, and success in meeting children’s nutrition, education, and health targets
is reported. However, the impact of these programmes on women’s empowerment and
intra-household dynamics is under-explored. This article provides a summary of some
key findings of recent research in Latin America, supported by CARE International
UK. The research looked at the Juntos Programme in Peru, Bono de Desarrollo
Humano in Ecuador, and Bono Juana Azurduy in Bolivia. Through qualitative and
participatory research with women beneficiaries, and interviews with key informants,
the study examined whether, and in what ways, conditional cash transfer programmes
might promote gender equity and women’s empowerment.
Key words: gender; social protection; empowerment; cash transfer programmes; Latin
America
Gender, poverty and social protection
Social protection initiatives are programmes adopted by governments to protect
citizens from vulnerability and extreme deprivation. Most do not address gender
issues, in spite of policies that are increasingly concerned to move beyond poverty
alleviation to tackle the sources of risk and vulnerability. Because of this blindness to
gender concerns, social protection programmes often fail to address, or only partially
address, the needs and risks of vulnerable women. Yet, with only a few years left to
meet the targets set by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) concerning
women’s empowerment and gender equality, developing countries, donors, and
development agencies need to improve the design of anti-poverty programmes to
make them more gender aware.
Gender & Development Vol. 19, No. 2, July 2011
ISSN 1355-2074 print/1364-9221 online/11/020195
/18 – Oxfam GB 2011
DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2011.592631
195
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Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes, along with micro-credit schemes, are
among the policy instruments most favoured by governments to tackle poverty. They
are generally successful in increasing children’s school attendance, and improving
nutritional and health indicators. They are innovative in giving the transfer directly to
mothers, along with the responsibility for complying with the conditions. In addition
to ensuring children’s regular attendance at school and health clinics, mothers are
required to attend talks on healthcare and nutrition.
1
Making mothers central to the CCT programmes is understood to be key to their
success, as women can generally be relied upon to fulfil their responsibilities to their
children, and to spend the money they are given in accordance with children’s needs.
CCTs bring some gains to women: as a result of receiving and managing the transfer
many report that they enjoy an increase in family and neighbourhood status, and
exercise more control over household expenditure (Escobar Latapı
´
and de la Rocha
2009). These benefits are often the basis for the claim that CCTs ‘empower’ women.
Such claims are, however, seldom examined in any depth or detail; nor is the design of
cash transfer programmes or the impact upon gender relations within the household
given much consideration in most evaluations.
In an effort to remedy this absence, CARE International UK commissioned research
on CCT programmes in three countries in the Andean region of Latin America: Peru,
Bolivia, and Ecuador. In this article we present some of the main findings of the
research which was carried out between September and October 2010.
2
These relate to
the communities where the field work was conducted, so there may be variations of
these results in other zones.
Gender policies and women’s rights
All three of the countries have seen some notable improvements in human
development indicators in recent decades, and the governments of Peru, Ecuador,
and Bolivia have all made strong commitments to gender equality. However, there are
still significant gender gaps in income, education, and health, among the poorest and
most marginalised communities that are the focus of the social protection schemes that
we analysed.
3
This is especially the case in indigenous families and communities,
where girl children have a comparatively low status from birth, and grow up with less
education, and poorer nutrition than their brothers. They are assigned less valued roles
and responsibilities in the family, generally assisting mothers with household tasks
and care. In adult life, women in indigenous communities are more vulnerable than
others to the health risks of pregnancy and childbirth: maternal mortality and
morbidity rates are highest among low income and indigenous groups. Finally, their
income and life chances are typically less than men’s of comparable socioeconomic
status (PNUD 2010; Kabeer 2011, 2).
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Peru
In recent years, the government of Peru has introduced a number of policy measures
and laws (Vargas 2010a) which aim to promote women’s equality, to eradicate
discrimination against women, and tackle family and sexual violence, access to
education, unwanted pregnancies, economic opportunities, access to credit and to land
deeds. The Equal Opportunities Plan (Gobierno de Peru
´
2006) promoted gender
mainstreaming at both national and local levels, and gave special priority to
supporting women in rural areas. However, funding for implementation of the plan
was limited, and this has made it difficult to do so effectively. Other measures being
developed which are still at a preliminary stage are to include a gender perspective in
public sector spending in accordance with agreed policy (Ley de Presupuesto del
Sector Pu
´
blico 
/ Gobierno de Peru
´
2007).
Civil society and women’s organisations, along with international non-government
organisations (NGOs), have also developed programmes on gender-sensitive budget-
ing, along with indicators for measuring progress on gender equality. Although there
has been significant progress in policies and services to address violence against
women, with, for example, a rapid expansion of free services for women victims of
domestic and sexual violence, these services are affected by insufficient financial and
human resources.
The Juntos CCT programme, which was the focus of our research, has operated in
Peru since 2005.
4
It has had limited contact with these different state programmes and
although the Minister for Women and Social Development is on the Board of Juntos
and there is an official agreement between the programme and the Ministry, this
agreement is restricted to supporting food distribution and improving participants’
access to identity documents, and does not cover issues relating to equal opportunities,
or reducing violence against women.
Bolivia
In Bolivia a new National Development Plan (Gobierno de Bolivia 2006) was
introduced under the presidency of Evo Morales. This plan stated that everyone
should be given equality of opportunity, regardless of their gender and ethnicity; and
the new political constitution that came into force in 2009 made a commitment to end
all forms of discrimination against women. The Vice-Ministry for Equal Opportunities
was created in the Ministry of Justice in 2009 as a means for the state to advance
women, and promote their rights, replacing the previous Gender and Generation
Ministry. It has responsibility for developing national plans for public policies on
women’s rights, and developing strategies to incorporate the demands of indigenous,
rural, and historically excluded groups of women into government policies and laws
(Salinas et al. 2009).
The current 2008
/2020 National Plan for Equal Opportunities includes specific
provisions on gender equity, and recognises women’s contribution to the development
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of the country (Ybarnegaray 2009). It states that women have an equal right to services,
to participate fully in decision-making, and to a life free from violence. The state and
public policy are effectively mandated to make changes in gender relations.
The Bono Juana Azurduy (BJA) is a CCT which has been operating since April 2009,
as part of the government’s effort to meet the Millennium Development Goals,
specifically to reduce maternal mortality and extreme poverty. It is one of several social
protection schemes that run concurrently to support children’s education and ensure
care for the elderly. A Social Protection Network was set up to co-ordinate between
different government departments, policies, and programmes on social protection
issues (Castro 2010). However, in developing the BJA strategy, neither the govern-
ment’s Gender Unit nor other women’s agencies were consulted. According to our
informants, this lack of consultation is the reason why women’s rights issues were
sidelined and a technical, administrative, health focus prevailed in the design and
implementation of the BJA programme (Castro 2010).
Ecuador
The new Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador, which came into effect in 2008,
declared that the state would formulate and implement policies leading to equality
between women and men (Asamblea Constituyente 2008). The main state body
responsible for developing and promoting public policies with a gender focus was,
until 2009, the National Women’s Commission (CONAMU) which was closely linked
to the President’s Office. CONAMU’s objectives were to formulate policies which
promote women’s human, sexual, and reproductive rights, and their access to justice.
The country’s second Equal Opportunities Plan (2004
/2009) included objectives of
developing gender sensitive budgets, providing technical support on gender inequal-
ity, and promoting citizens’ participation. The plan was implemented through
different sectors with the participation of women’s organisations.
However, the CONAMU was dissolved in 2009, its staff dismissed, and a
Transitional Commission (Comisio
´
n de Transicio
´
n) working toward a Gender Equality
Council put in its place. It has a small administrative office which has no relations with
the women’s movement and no political power. The development of the next phase of
the Equal Opportunities Plan (2009
/2013) was not taken forward as it is not a priority
for the government and therefore there has been little progress in working toward
women’s equal rights.
5
The CCT programme, the Bono de Desarrollo Humano (BDH), was established in
Ecuador in 1998. The CONAMU and the Secretarı
´
aTe
´
cnica del Frente Social (the
government ministry responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of the BDH
programme) agreed to work together to integrate gender issues into social policy.
Despite the commitment to mainstream gender concerns into such initiatives, these did
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not feature significantly in the original design of the BDH programme (Armas 2005)
which provides cash transfers for the poorest families and is aimed at mothers,
especially women-heads of households, the disabled and the elderly.
Following the election of Rafael Correa as president in 2007, a new focus was given
to the BDH. The cash transfers (known as bonos in Spanish) were now promoted as a
financial recognition of women’s work in the home, with the slogan, ‘The Bono 
/ your
work counts!’ The re-launch of the BDH recognised that the bono was only a small
remuneration compared to ‘the immense work carried out by mothers in the home’ in
the words of the President (Armas and Contreras 2010).
This change of focus was a response to women’s demands for their caring and
domestic work to be valued. However, this was a double edged gain, as it was
premised on women fulfilling the traditional role expected of mothers by being the
main carer and unpaid worker within their households. This had the effect of
reinforcing the gender division of labour within the home. This focus on women’s role
was dropped following the re-election of Correa in 2009, and the human development
indicators were re-emphasised (Armas and Contreras 2010).
Mainstreaming gender into CCT programmes
In our research, we were interested to find out how far official policy commitments to
women’s rights and equality were put into practice in the conception and implemen-
tation of the three social protection programmes introduced above. We consider
gender sensitive policies and programmes to be those that have incorporated the
principles of gender equality into their design. This would imply the following: that
training and resources are allocated to strengthen women’s capabilities; the social and
economic empowerment of women is explicit in the goal of the programmes; they
include family-friendly policies that acknowledge women’s role in caregiving but also
promote alternative child-care arrangements; they aim to transform gender relations
by encouraging greater equality and, where appropriate, involve men in the activities
of the programmes. Finally, participants should have voice in the programmes’ design,
implementation and evaluation (Molyneux 2008). However, our analysis of the
programmes showed little sign of these gender equality and empowerment principles
being mainstreamed into the programmes.
Fieldwork findings: how the programmes work
One of the conditions of the Juntos Programme in Peru is that mothers attend talks,
given in the health centres, on topics such as nutrition and family planning (Perova
and Vakis 2009). These are usually given on days when women receive payment,
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and cover issues such as hygiene, child health, and family relations. However, they
do not address gender issues, or give much emphasis to increasing the participation
of men in caring for family members or housework. Few men attend these
meetings, as it is assumed that mothers are primarily responsible for children’s
welfare.
The women who were interviewed in our research were interested not only in
improving their knowledge and skills in production, but also wanted to know more
about their rights and how to defend them, so that they would ‘not feel humiliated in
the community’ (interview with a woman in Acomayo, September 2010).The recently
re-designed Juntos 2 programme includes a more structured component of information
and education, through talks and leaflets aimed at changing behaviour in family
practices including child health, and nutrition, promoting a savings culture, and home
improvements such as safe drinking water (Gobierno de Peru
´
2010). The new
conditionalities require beneficiaries to undertake training in production and a new
pilot training programme on access to financial services and saving accounts that
could potentially strengthen women’s financial skills.
6
Juntos involves civil society in the management structure of the programme. The
Executive Committee of the Juntos Programme includes four representatives of civil
society who approve strategic and operational plans and the programme Monitoring
and Transparency Committee (Comite de Transparencia y Seguimiento) works on a
national, regional, and local level with the participation of civil society and the church.
The views of beneficiaries are represented by the Madres Comunitarias (women
community leaders), who are presidents of the local Programme Committees.
Altogether, 687 women leaders throughout the country are elected by the beneficiaries
and have the role of intermediaries with programme staff. The Madres Comunitarias
have an active role, providing guidance to the other mothers about their rights and
duties, and as social watchdogs in co-ordination with local programme managers
(Vargas 2010b). The Madres Comunitarias have a different profile from other women in
these communities, because they have experience as leaders, have received training,
and been involved in external activities which increased their leadership skills, their
awareness of women’s rights, and their ability to speak out and defend these rights.
Research suggests, however, that the role of these women leaders 
/ which gives them a
measure of power over other women in the community 
/ in some cases, can lead them
to be authoritarian, and to support the unofficial sanctions imposed by local
programme staff (IEP 2009).
A positive result of Juntos in some communities (IEP 2009) was the development of
links between Juntos and other public services which exist to protect women and
children against violence and abuse.
7
Significantly, these were a result of local
initiatives, rather than a requirement of the programme. For example, in Acomayo,
one of the sites of our research, awareness-raising messages by the local Juntos
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managers, who threatened to stop the cash transfers if men’s violent behaviour
continued, led to a reduction in family violence (ibid).
In Bolivia, the responsibilities of the beneficiaries of the BJA include attending
routine educational sessions and activities promoted by the health centres, such as on
maternal and child health and family planning. In general, these sessions are
exclusively for women. A few women mentioned that men had been involved in
training activities, mainly meetings on reducing conflicts in the family. This is part of
the remit of gender units in government departments. However, these units do not
co-ordinate with the BJA, and the beneficiaries are not generally targeted for these
trainings. In our research, only one example was cited of information on the protocols
and services relating to gender based violence being given to mothers who attended
the clinics. According to one beneficiary who had attended these workshops: ‘They
talk to women about vitamins and iron ... They don’t talk to them about their rights.
They should at least have a module on violence and pregnancy’ (interview with key
informant, La Paz, 29 September 2010). As the BJA is still a relatively new programme,
the impact on the beneficiaries and their families of the information received by the
women has yet to be evaluated. Hopefully different information, education, and
communications strategies will be integrated into the structure of the programme in
the future.
Unlike the CCT programmes in Peru and Bolivia, the BDH programme in Ecuador
has no training components, and there are no programme activities involving
community participation. It consists only in distributing cash transfers, through a
network of banks and co-operatives, and promoting the conditionalities for health and
education. However, the BDH does link up with other social programmes that include
training, such as the Human Development Credit (Cre
´
dito de Desarrollo Humano), a
micro-credit programme which offers beneficiaries training courses. But only the
women interviewed in Quito had participated in training courses (in sewing and
bread-making) which aimed to help beneficiaries get jobs. Some women said the
training had not helped them, as there are too many people looking for jobs in these
occupations. However, one woman said that: ‘the training taught me how to invest my
money and I was motivated to set up my own business making and selling bread’
(Focus Group, Quito, 14 September 2010).
The BDH programme has tried to improve beneficiaries’ access to information by
offering free phone calls, but consultations are limited to providing information about
how they might join the programme. The participation of women beneficiaries is
confined to complying with the conditions, and there is no mechanism for them to
participate in decision-making in the programme. None of the women we interviewed
were consulted about the functioning of the programme, and their participation in the
focus groups as part of our study was the first time anyone had asked them their views
on the programme.
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Table 1: Main characteristics of the CCT programmes
Juntos  Peru BJA  Bolivia BDH  Ecuador
Transfer is US$ 75 every two months (US$1.23
p/day)
Requirement to have identity documents
Priorities: Poor households with children under
three years; poor households where children are
not going regularly to
Conditions: children taken for regular health
and nutrition check ups; children’s regular
attendance at school. If these conditions are
not met sanctions apply
COVERAGE:
Started in 2005 Implemented in 638 districts in
14 regions reaching 460,597 homes (August
2010)
Transfers are provided for an initial period of
four years, can be extended for a further four
after review and certification
Transfer is US$250 spread over 33 months
(US$0.20 p/d)
Requirement to have identity documents and a
form with date of latest check up from the
health centre
Priorities: lower maternal and child mortality
and chronic malnutrition in boys and girls
under two years
Conditions: pregnant women attend clinics for
pre and post natal check ups and birth; health
checks for babies and infants
COVERAGE:
Started in April 2009
Initially introduced in 52 municipalities, at the
end of the first year there were 374,080
beneficiaries (May 2010)
Initially a five-year programme
Transfer is US$ 35 monthly (US$1.15 p/d)
Requirement to have identity documents to
access health services
Priorities: lowering levels of chronic malnutri-
tion and preventable illnesses in children under
five years; ensuring children go to school;
protecting the elderly and disabled
Conditions: children under six years old attend
clinics for regular health checks; children go to
school 90 per cent of school days; mothers have
smear tests and mammograms
COVERAGE:
Started in 1998
1,180,779 mothers were supported in 2010 (on-
going programme)
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The women’s movement and CCT programmes
Women’s rights organisations and NGOs could be valuable partners in improving the
design and delivery of CCT programmes, yet their role in our three country cases was
fairly limited.
In Bolivia, the BJA was designed to be an inter-sectoral project that required the
participation of women’s organisations, principally the rural women’s Federation
Bartolina Sisa (founded in 1980). In fact, as one key informant explained, ‘President
[Evo Morales] delegated to the Bartolinas the social control of the bono’ (interview, FC,
29 September 2010) and no other women’s groups or bodies were involved. A guide on
social organisation was prepared for the leaders of Bartolina Sisa, to enable them to
take forward the strategy in different municipalities and communities. However, six
months later, as a result of irregularities and difficulties in accessing payments,
especially in rural areas, the leaders of the Bartolinas put out a media statement
announcing they would withdraw from the role. As the informant in our research
speculated, this was ‘possibly because they could not exercise any real social control to
benefit women’ (interview, FC, 29 September 2010). In the research we interviewed
local members of the Bartolinas who volunteered with the programme who said they
had tried to support the beneficiaries with advice, but were not given clear guidance
about their role in the BJA programme (Castro 2010).
In Peru, the women’s organisation Movimiento Manuela Ramos has contact at a local
level with some beneficiaries of the programme who are members of their organisa-
tion, but they have little formal contact with the national programme officials. They
prepared a report on the Juntos programme (Bravo 2007), which included a gender
analysis of the programme looking specifically at the indicators for the Millennium
Development Goals. The report was presented to the ministry responsible for the
programme, but no efforts were subsequently made by Juntos to work with the
Manuelas to take forward their recommendations.
In Ecuador, local women’s organisations have not been involved in the CCT
programme. However, some of the women beneficiaries interviewed are members of
women’s organisations and reported that they have learned about their rights
through these organisations. Women who participated in our focus group discus-
sions were in agreement that: it is important to get organised, to have more strength,
to learn more, and to be better connected. However, they also highlighted that it is
difficult for some women to participate in the life and activities of women’s
organisations, either because they cannot read, or because they do not have the time
to go to meetings, due to responsibilities at home (Focus Group, Quito, 14 September
2010).
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The impact of CCTs: the view from below
In this section we present some of the findings regarding the perceived effects of CCT
programmes on women beneficiaries, and we consider the significance of the changes
that have emerged from the programmes.
An issue highlighted by key informants in Peru is that participation in Juntos has
led to greater support for both girls and boys to attend school and, in the words of one
mother ‘now they go better dressed, cleaner and have eaten’ (Focus Group, Acomayo,
September 2010). Previously there were frequent absences because children, especially
girls, were needed to work in the fields and care for the household’s livestock. Among
the results of an impact assessment of education (Perova and Vakis 2009) it is
interesting to note that the children of beneficiaries who had been in the programme
for as long as one to two years were more likely to continue going to school, and attend
regularly, and that this effect was greater for girls than boys.
The increased control and stimulation of the school was appreciated by the women:
in the interviews, they referred frequently to having improved interaction with the
teachers, and said they visit the school more often to ask about their children’s
progress. This was confirmed by one of the authorities in Acomayo who said: ‘they
have learned that education is a right and a duty’ (interview, Acomayo, September
2010).
The women interviewed gave special value to girls’ education, and reasoned that
this was because of their own situation, and their sense of feeling ‘backward’, being
humiliated because they could not speak Spanish well, and feeling they had
insufficient knowledge to be able to defend themselves from mistreatment. One
beneficiary interviewed said:
I’m badly treated because I don’t understand Spanish, it makes me feel bad, I can’t speak with
others and I can’t help my children with their homework, this makes me sad. (G, Coporaque,
September 2010)
Indeed, the women considered that education was important in order to avoid being
badly treated, to get good paid jobs and to have fewer children. They emphasised that
girls and boys have the same right to study. As one woman, explained:
I don’t want our daughters to be badly treated like I was, I want them to study ... in my
ignorance I have failed at family planning and they did what they wanted to me at the health
post ... she will know better because she has studied and will not fail. (M, Acomayo,
September 2010)
In Ecuador, the majority of women interviewed had completed primary education, but
few had finished secondary school. The programme was seen to have had no impact
on the level of mothers’ education or even, seemingly, on their awareness of their own
right to education. However, like the women in Peru, those who had least education
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considered that a lack of formal education had affected them, because they could not
get jobs, and could not help their children with their homework. One woman, in a
focus group summed this up: ‘Without an education we can only wash clothes, we
cannot work in an office or have a career’ (Esmeraldas, September 2010).
In Bolivia, the conditionalities with which women had to comply to receive the bono
were seen as controlling women’s reproductive choices and some of the key
informants considered that the BJA violates women’s sexual and reproductive rights.
For example, the programme tries to impose birth spacing by not allowing women to
claim a second cash transfer if they become pregnant again within two years of a
previous birth. When women have an abortion or miscarriage they are not allowed to
apply for a transfer for another three years, they are told this is for medical reasons but
informants considered it was unfairly penalising these women.
In Peru and Bolivia, women complained of frequent mistreatment and long waiting
times at the health centres, which is especially problematic for those who have to walk
for several hours to get to the services. There were also tensions with respect to the
requirement that women should give birth in the health centre. Although having a
hospital birth is not an official condition of the programme in Bolivia, in practice,
women can be temporarily suspended if they have a home birth.
There are ‘waiting houses’, which allow women from distant communities to stay
close to the health centre until they go into labour. But these are not always accepted
because it means that women have to leave their families and daily chores such as
looking after the animals. The programme does include some measures to follow
customs and cultural practices in hospital births. For instance, women are permitted to
give birth in a standing position, traditional medicinal herbs may be used, and the
presence of a close relative during the birth is allowed (Castro 2010). However, this
respect for some cultural practices did little to offset women’s sense of a lack of
understanding between them and the hospital staff. Our research indicated that the
lack of trust and fear of mistreatment means that some indigenous women prefer to
give birth at home, where they also have access to traditional birthing assistants
(Castro 2010).
In Ecuador, there is an increased demand for health services because of the
programme’s condition that women must have a smear test. This additional demand
has led to long waiting times. According to the interviews only a few women were
happy with the service they had received in the health centres (Armas and Contreras
2010).
To sum up, in all the study areas, our findings show that beneficiaries in the CCT
programmes faced difficulties in accessing health and financial services and that the
relation between the women and providers was problematic. There were examples in
all countries of racial discrimination and mistreatment of women beneficiaries on the
part of staff in the health centres. Despite decades of legal reform to address
indigenous rights, there appeared to be a surprising lack in many of these CCT
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programmes of respectful and dignified treatment of women, particularly in regard to
indigenous women and little evidence that culturally-appropriate information was
provided especially in relation to women’s health.
Empowerment: two steps forward, one step back?
As noted earlier, no significant elements were built into programme design with the
aim of supporting women’s empowerment or gender equality, despite the commit-
ments to these goals in public policies. Nevertheless, our research indicated that there
were some gains that were valued by programme beneficiaries. Whether these gains
can be considered ‘empowering’ depends upon how the term is defined. Empower-
ment can be seen as a gradual process, during which women become capable of
making more informed choices, and acquire new skills which enable them to turn
these choices into action. These CCT programmes deliver little to women in the form of
giving them new skills and extending their ability to make informed choices, nor do
they take much account of their particular needs and vulnerabilities. However, they do
appear to bring some small but significant changes to the ways that women perceive
themselves and their responsibilities within the home. It is, however, an open question
whether these changes can be sustained when they leave the programme.
It is important to note that none of the beneficiaries who participated in the focus
groups in rural or urban areas were familiar with the concept of empowerment. For
some indigenous women, this notion contrasts with their understandings of gender
roles and social dynamics, which stress the importance of the good of the group 
/ be it
the household or the community 
/ and focus on relationships between members of the
group rather than on the concerns of women as individuals. Within Andean
cosmology the idea of complementarity of family roles based on sex retains
significance in some regions and communities (Prieto et al. 2010, 205).
In the course of the discussions, the women adapted the concept of empowerment
to their own reality. For instance, in the Peruvian groups, typical views among the
majority of women participating in the focus groups was that empowerment meant:
being able to make their own decisions, being proud of themselves and being able to speak out,
and women not allowing themselves to be marginalised or treated badly. In Bolivia, some of
the women recognised that women were exercising limited aspects of empowerment
in relation to decision-making and acquiring knowledge. Similarly, women in Ecuador
developed their own definition of empowerment, which a focus group in Quito
summarised this as: being positive, believing one is valuable, fighting to be someone, being
independent and self-sufficient (Focus Groups in all three countries took place between
20 September and 8 October 2010).
These definitions reflect the daily reality of the beneficiaries of these programmes,
as lived within their specific cultural contexts. So, for example, indigenous women
considered it more relevant to talk about the meaning of empowerment in relation to
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their role as mothers; in contrast, the Afro-descendant women in Ecuador considered
that their ability to recognise and affirm their own worth, and take part equally in
family and community decision-making were more relevant. For the latter, being
independent is the result of standing up for themselves and a personal achievement in
the face of unequal power relations within the home. Although many women
considered the bono to be a factor in women’s empowerment, they saw it as falling
short of helping them to achieve empowerment, if it is understood in these ways, as,
it was principally designed to support their children and household rather than
addressing women’s needs.
In the course of the research, we did identify a number of ways in which
participation in the CCT programmes supported women’s sense of empowerment in
their own lives. One of the positive effects was that the tasks required of women for
them to take advantage of the programme (for example, applying for and obtaining the
bono, going to the bank, and gaining access to financial services) had helped to
strengthen their self-esteem. The funds are generally paid directly to the women, and
many women said this had increased their decision-making powers in the home,
putting them in a stronger negotiating position with their husbands on day-to-day
matters, such as what to spend their money on. Nevertheless, the programmes did not
help women address the unequal gender division of labour at home, since 
/ as
discussed earlier 
/ the conditions attached to receiving the money generally increase
women’s work, and do not encourage men’s involvement in child care.
An element of the programme in all three countries is that in order to obtain the
cash transfer, women must hold an identity document. However, indigenous and poor
rural women often have no official documentation, and children are not registered at
birth. The programmes provide assistance to obtain such documentation, which is an
important contribution to women’s inclusion and citizenship and supports their access
to rights. But this requirement also excludes some women and children, especially
living in more distant communities from gaining access to these same rights. The
requirements of the programme that women should attend meetings and travel into
town to collect their benefits themselves, means increased freedom for some women,
despite adding to the list of tasks and obligations to be fitted into their working day.
This is especially so for those living in isolated communities, as they are able to gain
new information and knowledge, by going to talks and networking with other women.
Women’s economic empowerment appears, therefore, to be marginally enhanced,
but in general the funds from the CCT programmes mainly support their basic welfare
needs. The CCT programmes provide some support to the local economy, and some of
this goes into women’s hands. In Ecuador, for example, local markets were being held
on the bono payment day, since traders had understood the need to entice women to
spend their cash immediately. In terms of the impact on women recipients’ working
lives, there were reports that the bono was a disincentive to some women to look for
work in the labour market, and some beneficiaries were withdrawing from traditional
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reciprocal exchanges of work and support with others in their community. There were
a few cases of women who used the funds to develop a small enterprise, such as
investing in livestock or seeds or gaining micro-credit to start up a small business.
Some also saved the money for their children’s future needs. As the women pointed
out, much more could be done to provide training in setting up micro enterprises,
marketing and managing finances.
Despite positive perceptions of the impact of these programmes on women’s
circumstances, there were also some unintended negative effects. The women
themselves voiced the greatest criticisms, in regard to their relationship with service
providers and their treatment in the banks and clinics. Language barriers for
indigenous women were a source of discrimination and a common problem
identified by respondents was stigma, evident in the lack of respect shown to
beneficiaries by officials because they are poor and from indigenous/black
communities. New stereotypes are being generated, with accusations of beneficiaries
being lazy or having more children in order to extend the transfer, which all impact
negatively on women’s self image. We had reports of women’s homes being
checked, their clothes scrutinised, and being threatened with having the bono taken
away if they appeared to improve their standard of living, or did not meet the
conditions. Our research suggested that these issues were not tackled by programme
managers, nor were there mechanisms in place for complaints to be registered.
8
There were also cases where the bonos created divisions in some communities, as a
result of a lack of consistency, clarity. and understanding about the programme’s
rules of inclusion.
All three governments have recognised the importance of upholding the cultural
rights of communities, and the need to tackle racism, and therefore require programme
officials to ensure that indigenous communities are treated with due respect. In Peru
and Bolivia, state health services were criticised by our respondents for failing to
promote any awareness of rights, for the lack of respectful intercultural relations,
appropriate forms of information delivery, and proper treatment of women. Com-
plaints were also made about the lack of culturally-appropriate and accessible health
information.
We are badly treated at the health post. They don’t want to attend to us and they make us wait
all day. (H, woman in Acomayo)
Conclusion
Our research found that existing polices and legislation to support commitments to
gender equity and empowerment principles are not mainstreamed in CCT
programmes. The women whose views we canvassed face a range of gender-
specific vulnerabilities including precarious employment and income generating
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opportunities, domestic violence, and a series of reproductive health related risks that
need to be tackled. These cash transfer programmes were not designed to improve
women’s lives, being directed towards enhancing children’s life chances. Yet such
‘micro-targeting’ not only leaves the needs of vulnerable women unaddressed, but also
deprives their children, who would otherwise benefit from improvements in their
mothers’ health and education and from greater gender equality. These programmes
assume that children’s needs are best met by their mothers, but give little thought to
the possibly adverse consequences of reinforcing women’s caring role at the expense of
developing their capacity and resilience to survive poverty.
Poverty relief programmes such as these continue to work with norms and
assumptions that may carry increased risks for women in poor communities. As
women’s roles in the economy have changed and diversified, and as household
survival has come to depend increasingly on the incomes women can generate, the
consequences of strengthening their role in the care economy may be to restrict their
ability to escape from poverty. The beneficiaries’ accounts of their experiences of the
programmes showed a striking absence of any objectives in regard to their own
development that were unrelated to their motherhood role. Even though women
strongly identify with their role as mothers and they appreciated that having control
over the transfers was important for their children’s welfare, they did not see
the programmes as changing their own lives significantly. This is not surprising, given
the low level of income represented by the bonos, but it was also due to programme
design which lacked elements that might allow women the opportunity for self-
development.
These CCT programmes have the potential, if redesigned, to assist women by
addressing their needs and increasing their capacity for economic and personal
advancement. They could also do more to support and encourage women’s enhanced
voice and participation in their communities. But this opportunity has so far largely been
missed. The research identified some areas where these programmes could be adapted,
if women’s needs and concerns are heard and responded to. By attending to these needs,
CCT programmes would not only be more effective in tackling poverty, but would
also help governments to advance their goals of achieving greater gender and race
equality.
Maxine Molyneux is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute for the Study of the
Americas, at the University of London, Malet Street, London WCIE 7HU, UK. Email:
Americas@sas.ac.uk
Marilyn Thomson is an independent consultant, a (honorary) visiting research fellow at City
University and co-director of the London-based Central America Women’s Network. Postal
address: c/o One World Action, 74-77 Bradley Court, White Lion Street, London N1 9PF, UK.
Email: Marilynthomson@blueyonder.co.uk
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Acknowledgement
The CARE International UK research report CCT Programmes and Women’s
Empowerment in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador is an overview of the field research
carried out as part of this collaborative study, which has been written up in detail in
three separate country reports. The field research was carried out by Rosana Vargas
in Peru, Maria Dolores Castro in Bolivia, and Amparo Armas and Jacqueline Contreras
in Ecuador. Many thanks to them and to CARE International staff in the region for
their support in the research process and for commenting on the report and especially
to Gaia Gozzo in London for her insightful comments and input. The overview
research report is available from CARE International UK.
Notes
1 For further reading on Latin American CCTs see: ‘Conditional cash transfers and
women’s empowerment: annotated bibliography’ by M. Molyneux and C. Tabbush
available on line at http://americas.sas.ac.uk/about-us/staff/maxine.molyneux.html
(last accessed 16 June 2011).
2 In the study 159 women participated in focus group discussions and surveys (Bolivia 56,
Ecuador 52, and Peru 51); 39 in-depth interviews were carried out with women
beneficiaries (Ecuador 12, Bolivia 15, and Peru 12) and a total of 82 (Bolivia 56, Ecuador
14, and Peru 12) interviews were carried out with key informants such as decision-
makers, community leaders, health promoters, and men in the community. Interviewing
and focus groups took place from 14 September to 8 October 2010.
3 The latest Human Development Report on the LAC region (PNUD 2010), which tracks
gaps on reproductive health, empowerment, and workforce participation shows that
gender discrimination is well above the world average mainly due to the high rates of
child birth among adolescents and low participation of women in the wage economy.
4 The conditionalities of the programme focus on child welfare, specifically: registration
for birth certificates and identity documents; preventative health checks for children
under five years and pregnant women (vaccinations, child development and nutritional
supplements, pre-and post natal checks); educational talks on nutrition and reproduc-
tive health (family planning) and the registration and school attendance of children
aged 6
/14 years.
5 Correspondence with FU and MM, CARE Ecuador Office, April 2011.
6 This new pilot is being developed in 24 districts currently, as a partnership of Juntos,
Ministry of Agriculture, Prime Minister?sOffice, National Bank, IEP, and CARE Peru,
and which is hoping to reach 450,000 women over the next two years. Correspondence
with JG, CARE Peru (March 2011).
7 The health clinics and Juntos refer the cases of family violence that come to their
attention to organisations such as the Defensorı
´
a Municipal del Nin
˜
o y el Adolescente
(DEMUNA), the Ombudsman for children and youth.
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8 This was a common finding in all the country programmes, which we discussed at the
CARE workshop with the local researchers held in Lima, Peru 24
/25 October 2010.
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