Melisa Handl is an Argentine lawyer and a PhD student in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa (Canada). Her research interests include gender, development, qualitative research, and international human rights. She also completed a MA in International Affairs at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (Canada). Melisa is currently investigating whether conditional cash transfers are contributing to greater gender equality in the context of Argentina, and intends to connect a top-down approach to international human rights with the experiences of actual beneficiary women on the ground.