I examine the effect of government transfers on intrahousehold resource allocation using panel data on household expenditures. I pay particular attention to child benefits, where the recipient of the funds differs from the target beneficiary. I find that the marginal propensity to spend on food is three times as high from child benefits money as it is from earned household income. Child benefits money improves both child and adult protein intakes in ways in which equivalent increases in other household income do not. I present evidence that the reason why government transfers are disproportionately spent on food in Russia is that women control this income source. Women appear to have systematically different resource allocation priorities from men.