Paper short abstract:

This study presents the results of an ethnographic investigation among beneficiaires of the Family Aid Program in the municipality of Campinas, São Paulo State, Brazil.

Paper long abstract:

The paper aims to present the results of an investigation among beneficiaries of the "Family Aid Program" (PBF in its Portuguese Programa Bolsa Família - used throughout this text), the Federal Government's main income transfer program, in Campinas (Brazil). The study is based on beneficiaries' perception that the "Family Allowance helps". On the basis of this classification, I shall aim to understand the meanings of the word "help" from two angles. Firstly, I examine how one meaning of "help" ties in with the fact that people receive the benefit in a region like Campinas, which clusters 19 municipalities and has an estimated population of some 2.5 million people. Secondly, it will be seen how the word "help" denotes how the family incorporates the program's money in ways pervaded by gender roles (links). I discuss how the participation of women in the PBF reflects tension between two poles. On one hand, entering the program enables undeniable gains for women and the affirmation of their authority within the domestic space. Furthermore, the study showed that meeting the conditions of the program paved the way to establishing links between beneficiaries and the State, enabling the women to play the role of intermediaries between the family and the "outside world", without the need for masculine figures to mediate. All of these gains, however, are only possible within the context of a public policy that fosters a taking for granted that the exercise of mothering is a skill exclusive to women.

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