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Can Empowerment be Enhanced by Putting Cash in the Hands of Poor Women? Learning from Pakistan’s BISP Program

Author

Listed:
  • Tehmeena Iqbal

    (Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science& Technology)

  • Shujaat Farooq

    (Additional Director General (Monitoring & Evaluation) Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP))

  • Ihtsham Ul Haq Padda

    (Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science& Technology)

Abstract

The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is the large-scale public sector program in Pakistan that targets the poor women by providing unconditional cash transfers. In this paper, we have analyzed the impact of BISP’s cash transfers on women’s empowerment after two, five, and eight years of intervention. Women’s empowerment is defined by four dimensions including women’s mobility, decision-making, political voice, and spousal violence. The impact is measured by using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design for cross-sectional data and a difference-in-difference approach for panel data. The results reveal that after two years of intervention, there was no significant impact on women’s empowerment; however, after 5 and 8 years, there was a substantial impact, especially on women’s mobility, their involvement in decision-making, and voting behavior. The biometric payment also helped women to go outside home and control on cash herself. Despite the positive impact on women’s mobility and political voice, a mild impact is found on women’s bargaining power and gender norms i.e., involving women in decision-making by their husbands and violence against women.

Suggested Citation

  • Tehmeena Iqbal & Shujaat Farooq & Ihtsham Ul Haq Padda, 2021. "Can Empowerment be Enhanced by Putting Cash in the Hands of Poor Women? Learning from Pakistan’s BISP Program," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(3), pages 760-792, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:eurjdr:v:33:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1057_s41287-020-00320-w
    DOI: 10.1057/s41287-020-00320-w
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cash transfers; Women empowerment; Regression discontinuity design; Difference-in-difference;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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