Empoderamento feminino e políticas de transferência condicional de renda: uma avaliação do Programa Bolsa Família

Abstract

This dissertation investigated whether the Bolsa Família Program (PBF) was able to create an environment for strengthening the empowerment of beneficiaries through the construction and analysis of two synthetic indices, which are the economic and domestic index (ED) and the perception regarding consensus in a sexual relationship index (PCRS). Data from the National Survey of Demography and Health of Children and Women (PNDS) 2006 were used. The relationship between empowerment and the PBF is established in the literature mainly due to an institutional characteristic of the program, which is the priority payment of the benefit to women in the household. For the empirical analysis, it was defined, based on the indexes created, levels of women empowerment (starting from a low level to a very high level) and dummies that identified possible changes from one level to another. The results indicate that Bolsa Família increased by approximately 6 percentage points the probability of women increasing from the medium level to the high level of empowerment in the ED index. Such a result would be an indication, therefore, of the unexpected and positive effects of the program on the gender issue, but it is concentrated on women who already have a certain level of awareness and empowerment and, after receiving the Bolsa Família benefit, become more likely to expand such level.