o “Joy, Not Sorrow”: Men’s Perspectives on Gender, Violence, and Cash Transfers Targeted To Women in Ghana
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This document summarizes a study on men's perceptions of gender, violence, and cash transfers targeted to women in Ghana. The study examines the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) 1000 program, which provides bi-monthly cash payments to extremely poor women. Focus group discussions were held with 35 male partners of LEAP recipients. The discussions found that poverty is a main driver of violence and the cash transfers helped relieve gender role strain by improving mental wellbeing and meeting basic needs. However, the transfers alone did not change underlying gender norms. Cash-plus strategies that engage communities may be needed to transform norms.
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o “Joy, Not Sorrow”: Men’s Perspectives on Gender, Violence, and Cash Transfers Targeted To Women in Ghana
- 1. ”Joynotsorrow”: Men’sperceptionsofgender, violence, andcashtransfers targetedtowomeninGhana Aborigo,Raymond Audrey Pereira, Akalpa Akaligaung, RayAborigo, Amber Peterman, Tia Palermo, Clare Barrington
- 2. Road map Background Cash transfers and IPV Research question Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) 1000 Methods Results Implications
- 3. Background Large increase in government-implemented cash transfer programs impact a broad range of economic, social and health outcomes Transfers targeted to women have historically been motivated by instrumental rather than intrinsic reasons • Primary caretakers of children • Perceived time to dedicate to program activities • Cash transfer programs are not gender-transformative • Doing so requires a relational approach • Deeper understanding of intra-household dynamics, community norms and gender relations.
- 4. Cash and IPV Pathways Buller et al 2018
- 5. Cash and IPV Pathways Buller et al 2018
- 6. Cash and IPV Pathways Buller et al 2018
- 7. Research question How do male partners of participating women react to their receipt of cash transfers?
- 8. Livelihood EmpowermentAgainst Poverty (LEAP) 1000 program Extension of Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) program Target: extremely poor families with pregnant women or infants Bi-monthly payments of GH₵ 64-106 + National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) premium waiver given to women IPV impacts (2015-17) – Reports of decrease in IPV
- 9. Summary findings from IDIs 1. Poverty is the main determinant of physical IPV 2. Cash transfers do not change gender norms or reduce gender role-strain in a context of ongoing economic insecurity 3. Local norms, shame and fear deterred disclosure of IPV
- 10. Methods: FocusGroup Discussions Sample: Male partners (N=35) of LEAP 1000 women participants Two rural districts of Northern Ghana 35 men total; 5 – 11 per group Average age of 45 years; 7/35 had any formal education Semi-structured guide included: community challenges and resources household challenges men’s and women’s responsibilities control over income how men and women show each other respect IPV and community intervention in cases of conflict general impact of LEAP 1000 on households
- 11. Data analysis FGD moderators and observers compiled detailed fieldnotes Authors expanded on these fieldnotes after reviewing the translated transcripts, adding additional detail, expanding on themes, and identifying salient quotes Codebook included descriptive, deductive and inductive codes based on emergent themes (Gibbs, 2018) Codes were iteratively added and merged, ensuring consistency, using DeDoose Structured code summaries were used to systematically identify common themes Interpretation and re-contextualizing through process of writing the results
- 12. A context of poverty and gender role strain Men identified poverty as the primary cause of household problems Men’s inability to provide, and the lack of financial support leads to relational challenges with partners Poverty-related stress takes a direct toll on men’s emotional wellbeing and mental health “Poverty can cause a man and his wife to fight.” (36 years)
- 13. Gender role strain relief LEAP 1000 cash for household expenses Cash for basic needs and investments decreased men’s stress and improved mental wellbeing The transfer also helped improve men’s self-esteem and identity Assets are seen as household property “Now we are able to buy animals to rear and take care of basic needs.That’s how the money has helped the men.When somebody comes around and sees the animals, they’ll definitely say it’s yours and not the woman’s because you are the head of the household and that massages your ego as a man.” (26 years)
- 14. Protecting men’s reputation Women used or lent the cash to support their husbands in times of need Men said they felt respected when women did so No publicizing need to borrow to fulfill their roles “One evening a call came that my aunt is dead. So I first told my wife and she said they collected the money yesterday. I was able to pay for the funeral cost and everything without anybody noticing.” (75 years)
- 15. Women’s financial autonomy and IPV No perceived threat from women’s economic empowerment Indifferent about who received the money Men expected to be informed about and consulted regarding transfer money expenditure “That money is supposed to bring joy to the family and not troubles or quarrels... Joy, not sorrow.” (36 years)
- 16. Implications Potential for violence if men are excluded in cash transfer programming Couple disputes around use of the transfer could increase IPV – education and sensitization Cash alone may not automatically increase women’s agency - Assets belong to households Potential for cash-plus strategies to transform existing norms – community allies Implications
- 17. Thank You!
- 18. Bastagli, F., Hagen-Zanker, J., Harman, L., Barca,V., Sturge,G. and Schmidt,T., 2019.The impact of cash transfers: a review of the evidence from low-and middle-income countries. Journal of Social Policy, 48(3), pp.569-594. Beegle, K., Honorati, M. and Monsalve, E., 2018. Reaching the poor and vulnerable in Africa through social safety nets. Realizing the full potential of social safety nets inAfrica, pp.49-86. Buller, A.M., Peterman, A., Ranganathan, M., Bleile, A., Hidrobo, M. and Heise, L., 2018. A mixed-method review of cash transfers and intimate partner violence in low-and middle-income countries.The World Bank Research Observer, 33(2), pp.218-258. Gibbs, G. 2018. Chapter 4 “Thematic coding and categorizing”. In AnalyzingQualitative Data.Thousand Oaks: Sage. (p. 53-74). Molyneux, M., 2006. Mothers at the service of the new poverty agenda: progresa/oportunidades, Mexico's conditional transfer programme. Social Policy & Administration, 40(4), pp.425-449. Peterman, A., Kumar, N., Pereira, A. andGilligan, D.O., 2019.Toward gender equality: A critical assessment of evidence on social safety nets inAfrica. IFPRI book chapters, pp.140-148. safe.unc.edu For violence support References Acknowledgments This research received support from NIH’s Population Research Infrastructure Program awarded to the Carolina Population Center (P2C HD050924) and the Population Research Training grant (T32 HD007168) at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute on Aging (P30 AG066615). Funding for the current study, which followed up this impact evaluation cohort, was also generously provided by an Anonymous donor, received via the International Food Policy Research Institute. We are grateful to members of the Cash Transfer and IPV Research Collaborative for input to the study design and results at various stages. We are grateful for the support of the Government of Ghana for the implementation of the LEAP 1000 programme, in particular William Niyuni, Mawutor Ablo and Richard Adjetey from the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. In addition, the Transfer Project and the UNICEF Ghana team were instrumental to the success of this study and in particular: Jennifer Yablonski, Christiana Gbedemah and Vincent Van Halsema. We would like to acknowledge the field team of the Navrongo Health Research Center (NHRC) who conducted the data collection for this study to the highest standards. We thank Ana Paula Richter and Esther Chung for helpful feedback during data analysis. Icons by Freepik and Futuer from Flaticon. We thank all the men who took part in the study for sharing their stories and lives with the research team.
Editor's Notes
- Good afternoon! My name is Audrey Pereira I’m a second year PhD student in Public Policy Before I being, as the title suggests, this presentation focuses on interpersonal violence issues, which may be distressing or cause anxiety for some, so I encourage you to engage or disengage as needed for your safety and wellbeing. Just like TK’s presentation, this study is part of the transfer project, and we focus on men’s perceptions of cash transfers targeted to women in Ghana
- I’ll begin with a quick background on cash transfers and gender more broadly And go over the pathways through which cash affects IPV, a brief introduction to Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty or LEAP 1000 program Our methods, results, and the implications of this work
- Cash transfer programs are increasingly being implemented by governments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as core policy instruments to reduce poverty and improve wellbeing outcomes for vulnerable populations And there are impacts on a broad range of economic, social and health outcomes A big question in the literature is who should receive the cash transfer? Women have been historically targeted for instrumental reasons because they’re the main caretakers of children, they’re in charge of food budgets, or because of perceptions that they have more time to dedicate to program activities The intrinsic value, in terms of agency and dignity, is now recognized as also being important When studies have looked at outcomes, they tend to analyze it by gender, for example, what are the impacts of the cash tranfers on men’s and women’s LFP? But there are only a few studies that look at gender gaps within the HH. Relational views are important for gender equality outcomes, and intimate partner violence or IPV is one of them
- There are three hypothesized pathways of cash to IPV impact. The first is through improving economic security and emotional wellbeing. This is a direct impact of the cash on HH consumption and savings, which in turn decreases poverty-related stress and improves wellbeing, and is hypothesized to decrease IPV
- The second pathway focuses on intrahousehold conflict More cash spent on meeting daily needs and improvements in emotional wellbeing lead to decreased conflict in the relationship. This is largely from women not having to ask their husband for money. But if cash is spent on temptation goods, or spouses disagree on how to the spend the money, then there is potential for increased conflict in the relationship and increased IPV.
- The third pathway is through women’s empowerment Cash given to women increases their financial autonomy and enhances their self confidence and agency and can lead to shifts in relationship power. If the partner’s reaction is accepting, this can lead to decreased IPV But if the partner feels threatened, he may perpetrate more violence as a way of maintaining the power status quo in the relationship. Most research focuses only on women’s perspectives of IPV, and from this framework, we can see why studying men’s perceptions of cash to women is equally important.
- Which is what we do Our research question is “how do make partners of participating women react to their receipt of cash transfers?
- Ghana’s Livelihoods Empowerment Against Poverty or LEAP program is the flagship social protection program that provides cash transfers to ultra poor households In 2015, LEAP 1000 pilot was launched in to include anew category: pregnant women and infants – the 1000 refers to the first 1000 days of life Between 2015 and 2017 there was a quantitative impact evaluation – and they found that the cash transfer led to a decrease in women’s experience of intimate partner violence So in 2019, a qualitative study was conducted to understand these decreases in IPV. This GHc is here to indicate that the cash transfer continued even after the impact evaluation In the qual study, women beneficiaries who reported decreases in IPV in the impact evaluation were purposively selected And there were 4 focus groups conducted with husbands or male partners of beneficiary women – not the same ones who were part of the IDIs The women’s IDIs were analyzed and recently published, And in 2021, over the summer we began analyzing the men’s FGDs, starting with expanding on fieldnotes – and this is where I came into the project, and this is the data we will be using for this study
- We use data from the Livelihoods Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) 1000 program. LEAP is the government’s national anti-poverty program In 2015, LEAP 1000 was launched to include a new category: pregnant women and women with infants – with the goal of improving health and wellbeing during the first 1000 days of life. The cash transfer was about 64-106 Ghanaian cedis and a national health insurance scheme waiver that was given to women every other month This is about $15-$26, or 16% of baseline HH consumption on average The impact evaluation of this program between 2015-17 found no protecting impacts on women’s overall experience of IPV, but did find decreases in frequency of emotional and/or physical IPV in the past 12 months – so nothing on the extensive margin, but some impacts on the intensive margin
- We conducted four focus group discussions with male partners of women who participated in LEAP 1000 Our sample included 35 men in total, about 5 to 11 per group and the groups were homogenous. All men were farmers and were married. Average age was 45 years, and only 7 seven men had any education. The semi-structured field guide was designed to ease men into talking about intimate relationships – it started with questions on community and household challenges, and asked about men’s and women’s responsibilities, and then asked about marital relationships, IPV and the impact of the cash transfer
- Data analysis began during data collection as FGD moderators and observers compiled detailed fieldnotes. We then expended on these fieldnotes after thoroughly reviewing the transcripts Our codebook included deductive and inductive codes that were descriptive and analytical And we iteratively added and merged codes After coding, we developed structured code summaries to systematically identify common themes And the interpreted the results through the process of writing them up and many meetings
- So what did we find? Our first major theme is on the context. Men identified poverty as the primary cause of problems, and said that poverty constrained them from fulfilling their responsibilities. This poverty related stress negatively affected men’s emotional and mental wellbeing And men spoke about how the stress and their inability to fulfill their roles, which they viewed as inequitable, could negatively affect their relationships with their wives. They said their wives would get upset or angry with them for not “taking care of the household”, which would sometimes end up in arguments and insults with the potential for more severe conflict.
- The second major finding was on gender role strain relief. This illustrative quote captures it quite well: Men said that women used the cash to meet household needs – this included buying food, paying for school fees and uniforms and medical expenses – which men are responsible for in this context – so this decreased the strain on men to provide for their households. The cash transfer also helped with longer-term economic security because extra cash was invested usually in poultry or small livestock – this would serve as a safety net in the lean season or if the household experienced a major shock The decrease in gender role strain improved men’s wellbeing
- Our third major finding is on protecting men’s reputation Men stated that women used or lent cash to their husbands in times of need, This was specifically related to major household shocks such as funerals, which men are expected to pay for *Read quote* Men said they felt respected when women stepped in to pay for these costs, especially because they didn’t have to borrow from someone else in the community and risk explaining why they were unable to fulfill their roles
- The last major finding is around women’s financial autonomy and the direct impact on IPV In terms of financial autonomy, there was no consensus on who retained control over the cash transfer. Men expected to be informed about and consulted regarding money expenditure. And this was a wide range – some men said this money is for her – she gets to decide what to do with it, and other men said you can’t leave a woman to make these decisions – she can go out and drink and come home and insult you on top of it. There was one FGD participant who spoke about how his wife did not tell him when she received the transfer and did not consult him, and that he felt very disrespected because of this. But overall, men viewed the cash transfer as largely positive
- In my last few minutes, I will leave you with three key takeways from this work The first is around the need for clear definitions of financial autonomy in research and programming Financial autonomy usually considers sole or joint decision making, the extent of joint decision-making, and whether one can make a decision if they wanted to, which signals agency. But what about keeping one’s spouse informed? In this context, there is strong normative pressure on women to use the cash transfer money on their households and keep their husbands informed. So what happens if they do not inform their husbands? And does this interact with conforming to norms? The second implication reiterates the importance of multiple perspectives. One man stated how he felt disrespected by his wife who hadn’t informed him about the cash transfer. And It’s specifically in these households where cash can lead to increased conflict and IPV. Our findings also suggest that cash programs alone may not automatically increase women’s agency, because they work within existing normative frameworks where the man has control over cash and asset inflow into the household. These results highlight the potential for cash-plus strategies to transform existing norms, and the importance of intentionality in programs and policies.