Cash transfers and employment choices: gendered pathways

What is it about?

This paper addresses the question: to what extent has targeted social protection supported women in creating a more level playing field in the labour market? Two cities in the south of Ecuador form the context of new empirical evidence gathered to study the Bono de Desarrollo Humano programme (Ecuador) used to explore narratives of dependence associated to the provision of conditional cash transfers in a context marked by deep-rooted gender inequalities. Drawing from feminist economics and sociology of gender, it flags the sociological and idiosyncratic factors associated with occupational sex segregation, which hinder the intended empowering effect of CCTs.

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Photo by Peter Hershey on Unsplash

Photo by Peter Hershey on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Social assistance has been received with anxiety, as many consider receiving cash will work as a disincentive for women to enter formal paid work. This article argues that this concern is misplaced. Drawing from feminist economics and sociology of gender, it questions the argument of perverse use of cash transfers. The analysis of the Ecuadoran case points at systemic aspects of segregation and suggests that social assistance has not affected the employment structure nor tackled the sources of gender inequality. The paper argues that the essentialist views of women’s capacities that underpin conditional cash transfer hinder their intended transformative impact, failing to introduce changes that would otherwise permit women to take secure full-time​ employment or extender their social rights beyond formal employment or motherhood related conditions.

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