Cash Transfers and Women’s Agency: Evidence from Pakistan’s BISP Program

Abstract

Pakistan’s Benazir Income Support Program is a large-scale, unconditional, government-run cash transfer program in which transfers are given to women. We study the effect of the transfers on measures of women’s agency 2 and 5 years after program rollout using a discontinuity in program eligibility to identify effects. We document important but limited improvements in women’s agency concentrated on measures related to mobility and voting. Men’s attitudes regarding gender norms shift positively in the 2-year follow-up, but those differences disappear after 5 years.