Beyond targeting women: Intrahousehold contexts and the effectiveness of food vouchers

Many transfer programs target women based on evidence that mothers are more likely than fathers to allocate resources toward child welfare. However, findings on gendered impacts remain mixed-likely because parental knowledge, preferences, and household decision-making roles differ across contexts. In this study, we experimentally vary the intrahousehold informational context itself through a randomized controlled trial in rural Ethiopia. Specifically, employing a factorial design, we cross-randomize two key dimensions: (1) which parent receives nutrition behavior change communication (BCC) - neither, mother only, or both; and (2) which parent receives a household food voucher - mother or father. We find that, pooled across settings in which fathers do not receive BCC, vouchers assigned to mothers generate larger improvements in child-feeding practices than vouchers assigned to fathers. The largest effects occur when mothers receive both BCC and the voucher. This maternal advantage attenuates and is no longer detectable when fathers also receive BCC. We provide suggestive evidence that when mothers have both a knowledge advantage and control over resources, they are better able to mobilize greater intrahousehold support. These findings highlight the importance of accounting for intrahousehold contexts, not just recipient gender, when designing nutrition interventions.