Silenced gender inequalities: Technocratic constraints to women’s agency in Chile

TABBUSH, CONSTANZA

Toronto, Canada

Congreso; International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association; 2010

Latin American Studies Association

This paper analyses from a gender perspective Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) policies in Chile. The objective is to assess the terms and conditions of women’s inclusion as ‘conduits of policy’ (Molyneux, 2007) in this country setting. Findings indicate that Chile’s continuity in anti-poverty strategies locates women as accountable for family well-being in a multidimensional and psychological vision of poverty. It constitutes a radical example of extending women’s individual responsibilities in managing household poverty (Chant, 2008, 2006) with no collective component. The heaviness of being (Brickell and Chant, 2010) identified poetically denunciates the intensification of the exploitations of women’s labour camouflaged by the name of women’s empowerment in poverty alleviation. As a perverse outcome, the welfare state ends up making women responsible for fixing gender inequalities of which they are themselves primary victims.