Boundaries Beyond Bank Notes
Conditional Cash Transfers as a tool of social policy to address gender inequality
Abstract — Public policy and regulations have a critical role to play in ensuring gender equality. Yet, any engagement with such policy needs to be nuanced with an understanding that policy choices affect women and men differently because of their different positions in society. Policies shape the overall social ecosystem for gender equality by affecting opportunities for education, employment and sharing of care services through resource reallocation. It is, therefore, imperative that policies are not narrowly focused around short term outputs but consider larger distributive outcomes that create an enabling environment for gender equality. It is in this context that this paper explicates the implications of Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) as a policy instrument to promote gender equality in India. Through an in-depth qualitative analysis of one CCT programme, it describes the way in which CCTs are delivered and received. In the process, the study examines the efficacy of CCTs as a tool for social transformation with regard to gender equality.
Keywords – conditional cash transfers, gender, social policy, perception, supply-side
Research Associate
Evidence for Policy Design at IFMR New Delhi,
India
Associate Professor
Tata Institute of Social Sciences,
Hyderabad Hyderabad,
India
