Conditional cash transfers and violence against women - Does the type of violence matter?

While there is scholarly consensus that cash transfer programs can reduce intimate partner violence (IPV), there is little evidence on the effect on other forms of violence against women (VAW). This study uses a regression discontinuity design to examine the effects of a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program in the Philippines on three types of VAW: (i) IPV, (ii) domestic violence excluding IPV (such as own and husband's relatives), and (iii) violence outside home. Although the study finds no significant impacts on IPV or violence outside of home, it reports a measurable decline in emotional domestic violence. Suggestive evidence indicates that the impact could be driven by an increase in household wellbeing, and women's empowerment, bargaining power, and social capital. This evidence confirms the potential of CCT programs to mitigate VAW beyond IPV, such as domestic violence. At the same time, the study suggests that CCT programs' design and context in which they operate may affect their ability to mitigate IPV.

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

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.

Women's police stations and intimate partner violence: Evidence from Brazil.

Although women's police stations have gained popularity as a measure to address intimate partner violence (IPV), there is little quantitative evaluation of their impacts on the incidence of IPV. This paper estimates the effects of women's police stations in Brazil on female homicides, a measure of the most severe form of IPV. Given that a high fraction of female deaths among women ages 15-49 years can be attributed to aggression by an intimate partner, female homicides appear the best proxy for severe IPV considering the scarcity of data on IPV in Brazil. We assemble a panel of 2074 municipalities from 2004 to 2009 and apply a difference-in-differences approach using location and timing to estimate the effect of establishing a women's police station on the municipal female homicide rate. Although we do not find a strong association on average, women's police stations appear to be highly effective among young women living in metropolitan areas. Establishing a women's police station in a metropolitan municipality is associated with a reduction in the female homicide rate by 1.23 deaths per 100,000 women ages 15-49 years (approximately a 17 percent reduction in the female homicide rate in metropolitan municipalities). The reduction in the homicide rate of women ages 15 to 24 is even higher: 5.57 deaths per 100,000 women. Better economic opportunities and less traditional social norms in metropolitan areas may explain the heterogeneous impacts of women's police stations.