arbiter
JournalsAccount

Cash-in Empowerment: Evaluating Cash Transfer Schemes for Women across Indian States

Chandrika Singh

Economic and Political Weekly2026https://doi.org/10.71279/epw.v60i52.43643article
ABDC B
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Unconditional cash transfer (UCT) schemes have been launched by various state governments but their impact on women’s empowerment is vigorously debated. In this article, the cash transfer amount is assessed as a proportion of earnings of female workers and as a proportion of monthly per capita expenditure. We find that CTs constitute a significant proportion of monthly earnings of female self-employed workers as well as casual workers. CTs also account for a significant proportion of spending by bottom 50% of the population across states. Hence, CTs have a significant impact on income poverty for poor women in the short run. However, as a standalone measure CTs impact on empowerment of women is uncertain. While CTs may strengthen women’s bargaining power at the workplace but they may also reduce her participation in paid work. At the same time, CTs do not address the factors that impact women’s empowerment such as gendered division of work, high burden of unpaid domestic and care work, and prevalent social norms and institutions.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.71279/epw.v60i52.43643

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{chandrika2026,
  title        = {{Cash-in Empowerment: Evaluating Cash Transfer Schemes for Women across Indian States}},
  author       = {Chandrika Singh},
  journal      = {Economic and Political Weekly},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.71279/epw.v60i52.43643},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

Cash-in Empowerment: Evaluating Cash Transfer Schemes for Women across Indian States

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.