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Who Takes the Credit? Gender, Power, and Control Over Loan Use in Rural Credit Programs in Bangladesh
Abstract
Special credit institutions in Bangladesh have dramatically increased the credit available to poor rural women since the mid-1980s. Though this is intended to contribute to women's empowerment, few evaluations of loan use investigate whether women actually control this credit. Most often, women's continued high demand for loans and their manifestly high propensity to repay is taken as a proxy indicator for control and empowerment. This paper challenges this assumption by exploring variations in the degree to which women borrowers control their loans directly; reporting on recent research which finds a significant proportion of women's loans to be controlled by male relatives. The paper finds that a preoccupation with “credit performance” — measured primarily in terms of high repayment rates — affects the incentives of fieldworkers dispensing and recovering credit, in ways which may outweigh concerns to ensure that women develop meaningful control over their investment activities.
... Researchers have debated the effects of microloans on women's empowerment and have used a variety of indicators to test their claims. Historically, researchers used women's control over loan use as a determinant of their empowerment (Goetz and Gupta 1996;Khan 1999). More recently, researchers have turned to examining women's participation in decision-making (Holvoet 2005;Pitt, Khandker, and Cartwright 2006) or shifts in gender relations (Karim 2014). ...
... These different indicators, however, have not generated consensus on the impacts of microloan participation on women's empowerment. Early in this debate, Goetz and Gupta (1996) argued that while 'women's high demand for loans and regular repayment rates are commonly taken as a proxy indicator for empowerment, understood as women's capacity to control loan use effectively' (47), their research revealed that male relatives mainly controlled the loans. Some scholars have argued that little has changed in in patriarchal families with respect to women's control (or lack of control) of the loans (Karim 2008;Pitt, Khandker, and Cartwright 2006;Rahman 2001;Zulfiqar 2017). ...
... Others have examined women's experiences of economic coercion in Bangladesh, but with limited attention to microfinance (Dore et al. 2022;Miedema et al. 2021). Early on, Goetz and Gupta (1996) noted the preoccupation with high repayment rates may have incentivized fieldworkers to condone and even to encourage a patriarchal distribution of responsibility and loan control. Karim (2008), for example, identified the instrumental appropriation of women's honour and shame as a tactic to leverage timely repayment. ...
... Women, in their study, were passive rather than active participants, surrendering their loans to men in exchange for the right to have more to spend for themselves and for their children's clothing and health. Certainly credit, it is often pointed out, offers an overabundance of welfare gains for the low-income households where women increase their home based livelihood functions and also utilize it for improving health, nutrition and education of household members (Rahman et al., 2008; FAO/BIDS; Goetz and Gupta, 1996). In addition, although time, health and gen-eral well-being have been noted as being compromised by Gobezie, G. (2010), it would be worthwhile to verify from other sources how these same indicators are being optimized by poor women, to improve well-being of their households. ...
... Some other scholars have raised other pertinent questions about the true credibility of microcredit programs in empowering women. It might be valid to observe that findings on early impact and second generation impacts of microcredit as these results may vary, as pointed out by Goetz and Gupta (1996). At the same time, there is also a strong argument that unless the duration of program participation is of considerable length, say for at least two to three years, impacts, especially the beneficial impacts are difficult to perceive (Schelur, 1997). ...
... Both positive and negative evaluations of microcredit have used households as a unit, where gender inequality is a pervasive phenomenon (R I Rahman et al., 2008;FAO/BIDS;Goetz and Gupta, 1996). Within the household, collaboration, disagreement and conflict that arises, impinges significantly upon the development of the female member and consequently her right to establish her autonomy and independence. ...
INTRODUCTION Women frequently suffer various forms of social exclusions and remain more isolated from opportunities toward advancement than men. Hence, the goal of any development project is to improve the condition of people's lives. However, it has been observed that socially determined disparity, conventional power relations between men and women, and mostly, the dominant patriarchic nature of society repeatedly disregards women's rights and therefore affect their roles, quality and behavior within all levels of society. A UNESCO (2005, pg. 1) report claims that "if poverty is to be seen as a denial of human rights, it should be recognized that women amongst the poor, bear doubly from the denial of their human rights-first in terms of gender inequality, and second in terms of poverty". Thus, there remains serious concerns over whether development programs fail to promote the status of men and women in the same ways. Asian Development Perspectives ADP ORIGINAL ARTICLE Asian Development Perspectives 2018;9(1):35-50 pISSN 2635-4659, eISSN 2636-4683 https://doi. In a country like Bangladesh, poverty alleviation is one of the prime concerns of any development plan, where equality and considerable equity needs to be ensured. Women make up nearly half of the population of the country, but they, especially from the poverty-stricken groups, are more vulnerable in terms of denial of fundamental human rights. Microfinance, as a development program, primarily targets the poorer female clients. From a development perspective, it could be anticipated that provision of financial resources and effective utilization of those resources along with group-based activities can strengthen women's economic roles. In due course, it is also anticipated that it may empower women and reduce inequality. This paper attempts to assess the effectiveness of one special microcredit program (PRIME) in promoting women's life living in a poverty-stricken area of rural Bangladesh. Taking into consideration the existing complex and conflicting results from the other studies , a total of 54 items have been gathered to address ten empowerment indicators. In order to generate an aggregate index for women empowerment, a popular Item Response Theory (IRT) model namely, the Rasch test for dichotomous responses has been used, which was previously undertaken by a revealing study conducted by Pitt, Khandker and Cartwright (2006). Results remain steady with the view that there is a significant positive association between microcredit and women empowerment.
... The credit availability for women must be seen as a positive step toward challenging gendered terms of access to productive resources and opportunities (Goetz & Gupta, 1996). Regarding women's access and control over loans, Goetz and Gupta (1996) found that women usually retain their control over the use of loans by investing in traditional women's work activities, such as livestock and homestead cultivation. ...
... The credit availability for women must be seen as a positive step toward challenging gendered terms of access to productive resources and opportunities (Goetz & Gupta, 1996). Regarding women's access and control over loans, Goetz and Gupta (1996) found that women usually retain their control over the use of loans by investing in traditional women's work activities, such as livestock and homestead cultivation. Livestock (cow rearing, milk, and eggs), homestead cultivation, and paddy husking are areas where women have significant control over the production process, with the exception of marketing. ...
... Livestock (cow rearing, milk, and eggs), homestead cultivation, and paddy husking are areas where women have significant control over the production process, with the exception of marketing. But at one end of the five-point index of "managerial control" (Goetz & Gupta, 1996), women were described as having "no control" over loan use: these were women who either had no knowledge of how their loans were used or else had not provided any labor into the activities funded by the loan as concluded in other studies (Ali & Hatta, 2012;Kabeer, 2001;Murshid, 2018). ...
Recent research on gendered access to credit shows that while women borrowers bear the liability of rural credit programs, the proceeds are often directly invested by their male partners. This paper examines loan access and flood adaptation-related investment activities among char female borrowers. Primary data from a survey of female respondents in 129 households and qualitative data from 6 key informant interviews, 3 focus group discussions, and 18 in-depth interviews reveal that women have limited control over loan investment activities. Men's financial control undermines positive social externalities of women's adaptive capacity from loan use, and loans exacerbate households' gender-related tensions. Although loans foster women's capacity for collective action and flood adaptation, the nexus of gender and microcredit access between partners determines women's access to and use of credit. Further research should investigate how institutions can increase equitable access to loans to improve both men and women's adaptive capacity to natural hazards.
... Además, se reconoce la capacidad estratégica del Empoderamiento de la Mujer a través de diversos programas que han demostrado efectos positivos en áreas como el acceso a créditos y microcréditos en comunidades rurales (Banerjee et al., 2015;Goetz & Gupta, 1996), la educación (Barrios et al., 2020), la nutrición materno-infantil (Malapit et al., 2019), la salud, la sexualidad y la violencia de género (Dhak, 2014;Ismayilova et al., 2018) la agricultura (Agarwal, 2020), entre otros. ...
... Además, el análisis comparativo entre décadas deja ver un crecimiento cuatro veces mayor en la productividad científica en la tercera década (TPWE-7A=2,310 TP), respecto de la segunda década (556 TP). Esto indica una atención creciente a la participación de las mujeres en diversos campos en todo el mundo (Goetz & Gupta, 1996;Kabeer, 1999;Duflo, 2012 Fuente: Elaboración propia a partir de SCOPUS 2021. ...
El Empoderamiento de la Mujer (WfEM) es esencial para lograr la igualdad de género y el desarrollo sostenible. El objetivo de este estudio es presentar un panorama general sobre el WfEM mediante el análisis bibliométrico. Se utiliza el método del análisis de desempeño e indicadores como el h-index, la productividad y la citas. Posteriormente, se aplica el método del mapeo científico utilizando el software Vosviewer® para mostrar la imagen del campo del WfEM con las técnicas de citas conjuntas y la co-ocurrencia de palabras claves. Este estudio utiliza la base de datos SCOPUS. Las unidades de análisis fueron artículos y autores. Los resultados muestran que los autores más influyentes en el campo son Naila Kabeer, Agnes R. Quisumbing, Kathryn Yount, Sidney Ruth Schuler y Syed Mesbahuddin Hashemi. El WfEM es un campo de proyección mundial, con gran número de áreas emergentes debido a la visibilidad de participación de las mujeres, dominios, enfoques teóricos y capacidad estratégica de desarrollo. El género, la igualdad de género, país-India, microfinanzas y desarrollo son temas que mantienen una estrecha relación con el WfEM. Sin embargo, el concepto presenta desafíos en su análisis y medición, además del riesgo de perder sus bases políticas, emancipadoras y de justicia social.
... Men are considered as risk takers and are tend to move the money in more risky business. Also, there are possibilities that men will spoil the money in anti-social activities of gambling/ tobacco/ and drinking [30]. This does not mean that all micro finance provided to women are used by them because study by Goetz and Gupta [30] have clearly exhibited that large number of loan taken by women is invested by their male counterparts and the liability of repayment is still on the shoulder of women. ...
... Also, there are possibilities that men will spoil the money in anti-social activities of gambling/ tobacco/ and drinking [30]. This does not mean that all micro finance provided to women are used by them because study by Goetz and Gupta [30] have clearly exhibited that large number of loan taken by women is invested by their male counterparts and the liability of repayment is still on the shoulder of women. ...
Empowerment of women is a major issue in most developing countries of the world including India. Despite of many efforts undertaken to reduce poverty and inculcate development target has not been achieved yet and one thing where we are lacking is giving empowerment to women. Micro finance institutions have mushroomed and have become a vital tool both in poverty eradication and women empowerment. This study is based on relationship between micro finance institution and women empowerment in India. Qualitative method that involves primary data collection with the help of in-depth interview with women have been used to infer valuable results.
... In India, many programs have had negative as well as positive impacts on women, such as costs related to heavier work load and control and misuse of their loans by men (Mayoux, 1997). In a study from Bangladesh, Goetz and Sen Gupta (1996) demonstrate that a significant number of female clients of rural MFIs do not control the use of their own loans once they have gained access to MFIs (see Table 9). ...
... For more information visit our website: www.iadb.org/pub PART IV IMPACT OF MICROFINANCE Source: Goetz and Sen Gupta, 1996. Although negative impacts of borrowing have been observed, it would be wrong to conclude that these impacts are due to the loans. ...
Microfinance and Poverty probes a set of assumptions that have arisen about microfinance and poverty reduction and that have become the conventional wisdom, although they have not been proven. These assumptions are examined through a review and analysis of theoretical and applied literature on microfinance and poverty. The view of microcredit that emerges is more complicated, but the policies that grow out of this revised view may ultimately prove more effective.
... Morduch (2021) soutiennent que les femmes présentent de « meilleurs risques » parce qu'elles sont plus conservatrices ou prudentes dans leurs stratégies d'investissement. Les femmes sont également plus facilement influencées par la pression des pairs et les interventions des agents de crédit, ce qui en fait des paris plus fiables pour les banques inquiètes du remboursement (Goetz et Gupta, 1996 ;Rahman, 2001). C'est d'ailleurs ce problème lié au remboursement des (Goetz et Gupta, 1996 ;Kabeer, 2001 ;Mayoux, 2001 ;Rahman, 2001). ...
... Les femmes sont également plus facilement influencées par la pression des pairs et les interventions des agents de crédit, ce qui en fait des paris plus fiables pour les banques inquiètes du remboursement (Goetz et Gupta, 1996 ;Rahman, 2001). C'est d'ailleurs ce problème lié au remboursement des (Goetz et Gupta, 1996 ;Kabeer, 2001 ;Mayoux, 2001 ;Rahman, 2001). Dès lors, si ce sont les hommes qui utilisent les prêts, les arguments précédents ne tiennent pas. ...
... SHGs' participation in the FFV procurement program led to a few outcomes that may hinder or at least not advance some aspects of women's empowerment. This supports previous studies which found polarizing effects of microcredit on women's empowerment (e.g., Garikipati, 2008;Goetz & Gupta, 1996;Kabeer et al., 2019). First, we found that in the program, male relatives of SHG members were largely responsible for activities in the middle of the value chain that generally accrue more income (Yi et al., 2021). ...
... For example, Kabeer et al. (2019) found that men benefitted more than women from SHGs' expanded financial access and livelihood interventions due to men's greater mobility and access to resources. However, similar to Goetz & Gupta (1996) and discussed in Kabeer (1998), we caution against assumptions that male control over this part of the value chain in the program portends a loss of women's power. Second, the program increased women's working hours at the expense of rest and leisure hours, highlighting the potential "dark side" of social capital (Nichols, 2021). ...
To alleviate impacts of novel coronavirus lockdowns on food security and agri-food value chains, governments implemented various policy responses, yet there is limited evidence as to their effectiveness to build resilience in food systems and improve food security. One of these programs was implemented by self-help groups (SHGs) in Odisha, India, linking fresh fruit and vegetable (FFV) producers to consumers. This study integrates the concept of resilience into the six-dimensional food security framework (food availability, access, utilization, and stability, agency, and sustainability) and applies the framework to examine whether a FFV procurement program affected all six dimensions of food security and helped build resilience in food systems. Based on qualitative data from semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions, the results show that by enabling SHGs to fulfill the role of value chain actors prohibited from operating during the lockdown, the program had positive effects on availability, accessibility, utilization, and stability, with mixed effects on agency and sustainability. Applying the six-dimensional food security framework allowed us to show that despite some tradeoffs both across and within the dimensions for various actors, overall the program was able to build more resilient food systems. Activating preexisting organizations to reestablish fractured value chains can provide a model to replicate in times of crisis, such as pandemics and extreme climate events, when both rural and urban value chain actors can operate only at limited capacity and the public sector is overwhelmed. To accelerate the transformation of food systems towards healthier diets and greater resilience to shocks and crises, we recommend strengthening existing and establishing new organizations to help respond to crises and future shocks. A multifaceted approach will help ensure that the most vulnerable will not be left behind.
... In some cases, wellintentioned interventions could even hurt and disempower women. For instance, a woman who gets a loan that is then taken and squandered by a household man is still responsible for repayment, but now may have less control over how she uses her time as she scrambles to find ways to earn back the money (Goetz & Gupta, 1996). Hence, there are no guarantees that these common interventions will reach, benefit, or empower women. ...
... While not in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is still relevant to note that some of this literature documents improvements in (1) consumption for households where the wife is provided with the opportunity to take out an MFI loan (Pitt & Khandker, 1998), and (2) women's empowerment, as measured by their participation in household decision making (Pitt et al., 2006;Hashemi et al., 1996). On the other hand, Goetz and Gupta (1996) note that women often report having little control over how loans are actually used by their household, but still feel a high social pressure to repay. In this sense, loans could make women worse off. ...
Gender gaps in adoption of high-quality seeds of improved varieties persist in Sub-Saharan Africa, despite the implementation of various seed promotion interventions aimed at increasing adoption among all farmers. This paper reviews existing literature on common seed promotion interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa (including subsidies, financial services, quality certification schemes, and agricultural extension) and asks to what extent these interventions serve women farmers as much as men farmers. In addition, we consider the evidence on the effectiveness of gender-intentional design features that may enable seed promotion interventions to better serve women. We find mixed evidence that common seed promotion interventions reach, benefit, and empower women, with contextual factors and program design features driving differences in effectiveness. In some cases interventions are more effective for women when combined with gender-intentional program features, such as: explicit targeting of and resource provision to women (or joint targeting to couples); a focus on domains where it is more culturally acceptable for women to make decisions; and provision of information by women experts or through other modalities. We conclude that more work is needed to develop and test interventions that can close gender gaps in seed adoption.
... Finally, we evaluated the measurement invariance of the two-factor ECS-20 short-form based on women's participation in microfinance programs. This group variable was chosen, given evidence that participation in microfinance programs may result in economic coercion in the household in LMIC settings [35][36][37]. Further, evaluation of women's microfinance participation on economic coercion using the ECS-36 has been published elsewhere [38]. We applied multiple group CFA for binary variables [39]. ...
... Microfinance programs designed to empower women economically may inadvertently increase women's risk of economic coercion, and other forms of IPV, although the evidence is mixed [35,[40][41][42]. The lack of validated scales to measure economic coercion has hampered the ability to monitor and to evaluate the impact of women's greater economic opportunities on women's risk of economic coercion. ...
The Economic Coercion Scale 36 (ECS-36) is a validated scale measuring women’s exposure to economic coercion for low-income countries. A valid short form is needed to facilitate parsimonious measurement of economic coercion in general surveys or program evaluations. We used data from a probability sample of 930 married women 15–49 years in Matlab, Bangladesh. We selected 21 items from the ECS-36 based on theory, content coverage, and item and dimensional information. We evaluated external validity with measures of non-economic intimate partner violence and depressive symptoms. We tested measurement invariance of the short-form scale across participants and non-participants of microfinance programs. A final, 20-item scale captured husband’s interference with wife’s (1) acquisition of economic resources and (2) use or maintenance of economic resources. IRT results of the ECS-20 demonstrated precision over the higher range of the economic coercion trait. Tests of external validity confirmed expected correlations of the ECS-20 with measures of IPV and depressive symptoms. The ECS-20 was measurement invariant across groups of women who did and did not participate in microfinance programs. The ECS-20, a valid short-form of the ECS-36, is suitable for general surveys and monitoring potential adverse impacts of microfinance programs targeting women.
... In previous economic studies, women empowerment has been looked in various aspects. Economic empowerment along with decision-making ability, owner of assets, and access to household incomes are the prominent indicators used in the literature related to women's empowerment (Goetz and Gupta 1996;Kabeer 2001;Mahmud et al. 2012). There are ample of literature deal with a wide array of indicators of empowerment, but limited studies choose multidimensional approach to aggregate indicator for indices. ...
Women’s empowerment is a major concern in the developing world and an integral part of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Women’s empowerment can be significantly affected, both positive and negative, by other household member’s decision to migrate. This study explores the consequences of migration for left-behind women in Bangladesh. This study examines the way that women’s bargaining power within household is affected, whether positive or negatively, by the migration of other household members. To test this hypothesis, this study presents empirical model that analyses women’s empowerment in rural Bangladesh with data from 2011–12 and 2015. I adopt multidimensional measures of empowerment encompassing violence, mobility restrictions, production activities, income, and leadership. The study finds significant evidence that migration of a member decreases some constraints of mobility, and decision-making for production activities. The results infer that migration leads to improvements in bargaining power of left-behind women. My findings are also robust to various specifications and hold when empowerment is measured in various ways.
... Access to microcredit increases their responsibilities and workloads which may divert traditional household activities to Income Generating Activity (IGA) (Malik and Luqman, 2005). It may cause serious pressure on women because of the tight loan repayment schedules (Goetz and Gupta, 1996). It reduces the difference between male and female children among the households and changes the parental preferences for a male child which is a different approach of women empowerment (Basher, 2007). ...
The concept of Microcredit, an innovative tool in anti-poverty mission, was born in Bangladesh. Reaching the poorest of the poor is the underlying secret of its success. The most significant impact of microcredit programme is on poverty reduction, while it has also some spillover effects on other socioeconomic variables, education is one of these. Using a wide range of cross-sectional data of 1998/99 this study examines the impact of microcredit on schooling decisions by households in Bangladesh. A Poisson regression model has been used for this purpose. The study explores a significant positive effect of microcredit programme on households' schooling decisions controlling for some other variables.
... Por otra parte, el ahorro es comúnmente considerado como un elemento para impulsar el desarrollo y reducir los niveles de riesgo de la actividad económica (Fry, 1988;King y Levine, 1993;Levine, 1994), así como impulsor del desarrollo social y político (Mayoux, 1997;Goetz y Sen Gupta, 1996;Schuler y Hashemi, 1994;Hashemi et al., 1996). En este sentido, el ahorro es visto como un instrumento que permite incrementar los niveles de bienestar de la población (Gokhale, 2000). ...
Hasta hace poco tiempo el estudio sobre las microfinanzas se limitó al análisis de la provisión de microcréditos.
Para investigadores como Vogel (1984) y Robinson (2001), el ahorro fue la parte olvidada de las finanzas rurales. Lo anterior, entre otras cosas, se debió a que por muchos años fue comúnmente aceptada la idea de que los pobres no podían ahorrar
(Robinson, 1994). Sin embargo, en la actualidad, el sector académico ha comenzado a reconocer que los pobres pueden ahorrar e incluso, algunos autores sostienen que el ahorro es la principal demanda de servicios financieros que tienen los pobres (Coetzee, 1997; Rutherford, 2000). Por ejemplo, Galway et al. (1991) señala que los pobres prefieren, en una relación de cuatro a uno, el servicio financiero de un depósito a un crédito. Asimismo, Johnston y Morduch (2007) encuentran que el número de ahorradores de una de las instituciones microfinancieras más representativas del mundo (el Banco Rakyat de Indonesia – bri) siempre es mayor al número de prestatarios, independientemente del nivel de ingreso de sus clientes.
... Mayoux (1997), Goetz and Sen Gupta (1996), Schuler and Hashemi (1994) and Hashemi et al (1995) also assessed impacts using noneconomic/social indicator variables such as educational status, access to health services, nutritional levels, contraceptive use, etc. These social indicators became popular in the early 1980s and have recently been extended into the socio political arena in an attempt to assess whether microfinance can promote empowerment. ...
Cassava processing plays significant roles in reducing the poverty levels of women through job provision and increase in income levels. Available evidence shows that little research has been done particularly on assessing the impact of microfinance on gari processing focusing on a single approach. Cognizant of the various methodologies of impact assessment, this particular study used eight indicators to assess the impact of microfinance on households engaged in gari processing. Data were obtained from a random sample of 124 household respondents and 4 microfinance institutions. Empirical findings indicate that microfinance increases income levels of participants and thus their ability to acquire productive assets, save, expand and diversify production. The implication is that they have improved on their basic needs. However, participants indicate high interest rates on loans, lack of grace period on loans collected, lack of access to market information and poor processing equipment as the major setbacks. It is recommended that interest rates on loans should be reviewed so that more people con have access to loans to help them expand their production levels so as to escape the vicious cycle of poverty.
... Nevertheless, microfinance's capacity to facilitate gender empowerment is strongly debated. For example, Goetz and Gupta (1996) reported that 21.7% of women borrowers have no control of the loans they take in Bangladesh, while another 17% have very limited opportunities to handle borrowed money. Because of these reasons, even if women were to have access to loans use, it does not necessarily empower them. ...
The issue of women empowerment is a significant focus in developing countries as it has a high potential for poverty reduction and overall development. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) have emerged as potential instruments for addressing both poverty and women's empowerment. This study investigated the connection between microfinance and women's empowerment in rural Nepal. Through a survey among 150 women clients of MFIs in Rautahat district, the study analyzed how social empowerment of women changes after participation is microfinance programs. Employing hypotheses testing with statistical tests like the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and One-sample t-test, the study found compelling evidence of a positive influence of microfinance on women's empowerment. After participation in microfinance programs, women's status was found significantly increased in terms of ownership in assets, decision-making autonomy, freedom of mobility and social recognition. These findings suggest that microfinance can be a valuable tool for empowering women in developing countries, potentially leading to improved social well-being, and increased participation in community decision-making. However, further research is needed to understand the long-term sustainability of these impacts and address potential challenges such as debt burden and social stigma associated with borrowing.
... These credits bolster diverse economic activities in villages, spanning agriculture, poultry, fishing, knitting, and small-scale transportation (Bose and Mannan, 2015;Bose et al., 2016). While these pursuits might be modest in scope, they assume pivotal importance in the rural economy due to their extensive reliance by the majority of the population (Goetz and Gupta, 1996;Cons and Paprocki, 2010). Nonetheless, it is widely acknowledged that exclusively pursuing these conventional activities will not effectively alleviate poverty on a significant scale (Pearlman, 2012). ...
... Importantly, there are very few instances of the 'hypothesized "spillovers" in social and political spheres' (Cheema, 2017, p. 7). Microfinance, in particular, has been called into question, with researchers highlighting deep problems: On the one hand, women were targeted because they were more likely to repay; on the other, women already structurally disadvantaged relative to male dominated families and communities were often made more physically and economically vulnerable through microfinance (Goetz & Gupta, 1996;Johnston, 2020;Rankin, 2001). ...
... On the other hand, targeting might go wrong, excluding from the scheme some sub-groups and applying it to one sub-group only. This can negatively affect loan takers, who might unintentionally lose resource control (Goetz & Gupta, 1996). ...
Albania's commitment to safeguard and protect Roma minority rights, and integrate this community in society is expressed in its regular broad-based efforts and continuous policy dialogue to adopt its domestic legislation to find durable solutions to expand social coexistence. Its valuable contribution to shape diversity at local and national level combined with the fight against discrimination has fostered the development of national strategies on Roma minority inclusion and encouraged the implementation of various action plans to deconstruct prejudicial structures and stereotypes. Jointly sharing responsibility with various Roma and non-Roma civil society organizations through a cooperation model, the Albanian government has supported socio-economic empowerment of the Roma minority and promoted its equal access to education, health care, housing and employment. In line with the European Union enlargement process, Albania adopted Poznan Declaration setting clear goals to achieve full integration of this community.
Despite various efforts made to reduce the gap between the Roma and the Albanian population, limited progress has been achieved in the social inclusion of the Roma minority. In general, the institutional capacity to coordinate Roma-related policies is weak. Low socio-economic standards of this community including the lack of digital skills to unlock individual opportunities, segregation in schools, low health insurance coverage and poor access to technology hinder the acceleration of its inclusion (European Commission, 2022, pp. 36–37). This chapter will be mainly focused on education of Roma children in Albania highlighting some of the challenges they face and indicating some positive models to address them at local level.
Key words: Roma, Education, Albania. Income-generating activities, Micro-loan programme, Poverty
... Some studies vehemently claimed a positive relationship between women's empowerment and microcredit programs (Hashemi et al., 1996;Zaman, 1999;Pitt et al., 2003;Osmani, 2007). However, several studies argued that microcredit programs do not impact women's empowerment (Ackerly, 1995;Goetz and Gupta, 1996;Garikipati, 2008). This study's objective is not to argue whether the microcredit program is beneficial or otherwise. ...
Purpose
This study aims to propose a model to elevate the financial empowerment of Muslim women by rejuvenating the practice of Mahr in society and facilitating the affordability of men to pay that Mahr amount.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach of this study is to offer a model through the interest-free savings-based finance concept. The model comprises four stages; each stage of the model is mathematically formulated and graphically explained to ensure clarity and coherence. To further investigate the issue, the authors use a convenient sampling method to ask a small sample size of respondents (women) from different countries about their financial contribution and empowerment in the family.
Findings
This model enables women to turn their exclusive financial right into a source of earning without borrowing from any source or paying interest on the principal amount. Besides, it encourages accelerating men’s obligation to pay the Mahr to the women immediately during the marriage ceremony by facilitating men’s affordability. Almost 45% of respondents state that a woman’s financial contribution exalts her decision-making power and strengthens her financial position in the family.
Social implications
The authors attempt to revitalize Mahr practice in Muslim society to accelerate the process of receiving a woman’s exclusive financial right and empower a family as a whole through the Mahr model.
Originality/value
Considering the model’s uniqueness, the developed and proposed Mahr model in this research is novel; to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other study has been conducted and developed such a model using the Mahr concept.
Full-text: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JIABR-11-2022-0298/full/html
... Whilst micro-enterprises are very often the source of innovation, they are also especially vulnerable to competition from counterparts who introduce new products or services, or improve their production processes, lacking the resources to respond rapidly (Goetz, 2010). Competition (markets) and information related factors are said to be major challenges. ...
... Agrics extension officers support farming practices and instruct farmers on the application of products. In the case of farmers with debt, Agrics members visit them to provide advice and encourage repayment rather than adopting strict enforcement methods such as asset seizure (Goetz & Gupta, 1996;Rahman, 1999Rahman, , 2004. ...
The advent of microcredit programmes in sub-Saharan Africa provides opportunities for rural households to acquire agricultural inputs and consumer goods. This study analysed gender differences in investment behaviour and repayment performance using a unique dataset-the complete client database (21,386 clients) of a microcredit programme operating in Western Kenya. Products purchased via the microcredit programme include seeds, fertilisers, post-harvesting technologies (drying sheets, storage bags, and pesticides), chicken feed packages, and different solar panel products. A machine learning-based basket analysis identified combinations of products purchased by male and female clients. Our results showed that female farmers usually made smaller investments, had higher repayment rates, and purchased more post-harvesting technologies than male farmers. In addition, female farmers used their loans to purchase less expensive products, whereas male farmers usually purchased more fertiliser and expensive solar panel products. The basket analysis revealed that female farmers purchased multiple products simultaneously more often than male farmers did. Finally, households without mobile phones had low repayment capabilities. Collectively, our findings show that microcredit programmes serving smallholder farmers can capitalise on their business data to learn about their clients' gendered investment preferences and repayment behaviour.
... On the other hand, they also perceive higher social pressure from them (Goetz & Gupta, 1996;Rahman, 1999). ...
Financial inclusion is an important driver of economic growth, but gender gaps persist in financial activity, especially in low‐income countries. This study analyses the impact of text messages that make salient neighbours' savings behaviour on account usage and savings behaviour of low‐income men and women in Senegal. We performed a randomized field experiment in which 2056 clients of a local financial institution were assigned to one of three experimental conditions. We found gender differences in how these text messages impact savings and account usage. Account usage, account activity and average savings balances of female clients who received weekly savings reminders making their neighbours' savings behaviour salient increased compared to those who received generic savings reminders and those who received no savings reminders. The treatment had no impact on male clients. These results suggest that content‐specific text message reminders can create benefits for both the supply and demand side of financial services for women in low‐income countries, thereby increasing financial inclusion.
... The financial stability of families would have a favorable or negative impact on the decision to grant complete independence to the female members of a home. In a society like India, the male breadwinner tends to grow more dominant by making larger contributions, [35] which may restrict the women's ability to choose for themselves independently by Goetz, A. M. et al. [58]. Financial empowerment is promoted by financial literacy, which also advances the larger goals of equality and female empowerment [59], which are crucial for ending poverty & encouraging sustainable economic growth. ...
The multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method often entails a number of steps, such as identifying the decision problem, defining the criteria, calculating the weighting of the criteria, assessing the alternatives against the criteria, and finally choosing the best alternative based on the overall evaluation. In this paper, the essential factor for sports, politics, journalism or media, and technological empowerment of women in India are found by MCDM techniques, which may also be utilized to examine the key factors influencing women's empowerment. The uses the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) MCDM methodologies are taken to discover the optimal criteria for empowerment. The decision-making for finding the factors is done by taking multi experts' opinions. First, determined the best criteria among the six criterion's, such as Family Support (C1), Financial Support (C2), Cultural and Religious Barrier (C3), Child Marriage (C4), Nutrition (C5), and Shame and concealment (C6). The weights are calculated by the AHP method. According to the importance of the criteria, select a significant alternative for empowering women in many fields. Also take six possibilities into consideration, which are Empowerment in Sports (A1), Empowerment in Politics (A2), Empowerment in Administrative Service (A3), Empowerment of Journalism or Media (A4), Empowerment for Social Work (A5) and Empowerment of Technological (A6) and they are ranked by TOPSIS method. To verify the validity and robustness of our result, sensitivity analysis is performed by removing some criteria to make sure the procedure is reliable and a comparative study using a fuzzy environment.
Purpose
With reference to the global financial crisis and lessons learned, advocacy for distributing suitable financial products by financial intermediaries remain key if consumers, especially the illiterate in underdeveloped financial markets, are to be absorbed into the formal financial system. Financial intermediaries such as microfinance banks should provide suitable financial products, with full disclosure of information and customer protection relating to distribution of all financial products within the financial market to prevent financial vulnerability. The main purpose of this study is to establish the mediating role of financial product suitability in the relationship between access to microfinance products and survival of women micro-agribusinesses in rural Uganda.
Design/methodology/approach
SmartPLS with bootstrap based on 5,000 samples was used to test for the mediating role of financial product suitability in the relationship between access to microfinance products and survival of women micro-agribusinesses in rural Uganda.
Findings
The results revealed that financial product suitability improves access to microfinance products by 29 percentage points to promote survival of women micro-agribusinesses in rural Uganda. In reality, delivering suitable financial products that suit the economic condition of poor women micro-agribusiness borrowers, can allow them to use these products to generate income to meet timely repayment obligations and business demands.
Research limitations/implications
The current study selected samples from only women micro-agribusinesses operating in rural Uganda, with a specific focus on the northern region. Thus, studies involving samples selected from other rural developing countries may be necessary in future. Additionally, while the findings are significant, the data were collected from only women microenterprises who are clients of microfinance banks. Future studies focusing on women microenterprises who are clients of other financial institutions may offer insightful comparative data.
Practical implications
The findings from this study offer strategies for managers of microfinance banks to invent and design financial products that suit the economic status and condition of different microcredit clients, especially the women micro-agribusinesses. This can help them to solve the problem of defaults in loan repayment and delinquency common while lending to the rural poor. In fact, microfinance banks should adopt a customized loan pricing model that can promote the operational sustainability and commercial viability of women micro-agribusinesses in the current situation of mission adrift.
Originality/value
The current study uses the suitability rule and economic theory to elucidate the importance of microfinance product suitability to increase microfinance inclusion of women micro-agribusinesses in rural areas in developing countries. The novelty in this paper is in combining the suitability rule and economic theory with microfinance theory to promote access to microcredit by the women micro-agribusinesses in rural Uganda under the situation of mission adrift. This is limited in the existing microfinance literature and theory, especially in developing countries like Uganda.
Based on qualitative research on marital problems in Dhaka, this article uses the term ‘intimate extractions’ as a lens to explain the relationship between escalating levels of demand dowry and neoliberal development in Bangladesh. Evidence from across Bangladesh shows that demands for cash made by husbands, accompanied by threats of violence or divorce, are on the rise. Building on gendered theories of contemporary capitalist development and feminist analysis of microcredit, the article argues that demand dowry should be understood within the current context of rapid economic development in Bangladesh. High levels of precarity, lack of state welfare and the need for cash for businesses, labour migration, education and healthcare mean that people from all social classes are in perpetual need of money. Marriage problems and the practice of demand dowry present opportunities for husbands to extract money from wives and their families. Embedded in the intimate relationship of marriage, demand dowry can therefore be understood as a ‘conversion’, a process in which intimate relationships are converted into projects of capital accumulation, thus becoming an ‘intimate extraction’.
This study explores the multidimensional nature of empowerment by focusing on the household dynamics and the mobility of the members of the Kudumbashree neighbourhood groups in the Thrissur district of Kerala. The study examines if the self-confidence and assertive abilities that women develop as part of their membership translate to a shift in power dynamics and agency within households. To capture the nuances, a qualitative design was chosen for the study. 30 in-depth, semi-structured interviews and 3 focus group discussions were conducted. Participants were recruited through purposive, maximum variation sampling, and the data was analysed using thematic analysis. The active engagement in the neighbourhood groups does not translate to autonomous decision-making within the households. Despite having access to loans, women make decisions regarding loans in consultation with their husbands. Participants from lower income categories as well as nuclear families are more active compared to the others. Due to their active engagement, only the presidents and secretaries of the groups reported a change in mobility because of their membership. It was found that there are slight changes in family dynamics due to membership. However, women’s contribution to family income does not translate to their increased agency within the family. The effect of the membership is also not uniform. The study identifies and recommends ways in which Kudumbashree can be effectively utilised as a platform for women’s empowerment in addition to the financial aid that it provides to its members. Keywords: Agency, decision-making, family dynamics, neighbourhood groups
Women living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa struggle for health equity while also facing the constraints of economic hardship and patriarchy. In this article, we describe the experiences of women who participated in economic empowerment groups for women living with HIV in Wakiso district, Uganda. Fifty women engaged in economic empowerment groups and ten social worker and community health worker key informants enrolled in the study. Taking a phenomenological approach, we used field notes, qualitative interviews, and focus groups with participants and key informants to describe the experiences of the women who joined the groups. We present the findings including enhanced management of HIV and increased property and business ownership due to economic empowerment group participation. We discuss the findings through an economic empowerment framework and offer implications for social work interventions and research.
The growth in size and significance of NGOs and particularly of Grameen Bank and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) in Bangladesh challenges the idealtypical relationship between the state, donors and NGOs. Such an ideal envisions a clear demarcation of roles in which NGOs compete with other NGOs for resources from the state and/or donors and one in which NGO activities and programmes are regulated or held accountable by their respective funding sources. The emergence of large multitasking NGOs in a relatively small and weak state such as Bangladesh belies this ideal. Grameen and BRAC compete with government ministries for donor funding; statal institutions designed to regulate the activities of such NGOs are functionally ineffective; and international donors face insuperable hurdles in assessing accountability.
In study identified the influence of behavioral and demographic factors on use of investment loans by farmers. It has been shown that these features are coupled with each other and have a significant impact on credit decisions of farmers.
To unearth the influence of climate finance (CF) on women-hunger alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the study used unbalanced panel data for 43 SSA countries for the period 2006–2018. Data was analysed using system-GMM to deal with the endogeneity problem inherent in the model, among other panel regression estimators. Also, the sensitivity of the estimates was carried out using panel fixed effect quantile regression. The findings showed that CF and its components have a significant effect on women-hunger alleviation in SSA, apart from FDI. Further, control of corruption also showed a significant women-hunger alleviation impact. For the climate variables, areas in SSA with higher temperature are more likely to experience worsened women-hunger. Based on the findings, the study recommends that SSA countries need to strengthen their fight against corruption. More so, donors should extend CF as financial aid or support to government budget, due to their potential of alleviating women-hunger.
Plain English Summary
European Microfinance Institutions that more tightly pursue social objectives are also more likely to be financially sustainable but are penalized by regulatory restrictions on interest rates.
The microfinance sector underwent a significant global expansion in recent years, creating chances for underprivileged and vulnerable groups, particularly women entrepreneurs, to start their businesses. The balance between social and financial sustainability is one of the most hotly debated themes in a growing number of studies, although there is little empirical evidence on the European microfinance sector. In this paper, we provide one of the first pieces of evidence of this relationship in the European context. Our findings have important implications for researchers, policymakers, and society as a whole. The research reveals that European Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) that more tightly pursue social objectives are also more likely to be financially sustainable. Furthermore, smaller MFIs appear to achieve a double bottom line more easily, especially targeting higher shares of women borrowers. The critical aspect of European MFIs appears to be their greater reliance on subsidies, as well as a regulation that is ill-suited to the microfinance sector, especially regarding interest rate caps. Thus, a more structured regulatory framework focused on social sustainability variables could improve microfinance effectiveness in the coming years.
Purpose
This paper examines the influence of financial leverage on the financial sustainability of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and the moderating role of the percentage of female borrowers (PFB).
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a global sample of 646 MFIs drawn from the World Bank Mix Market and panel data for 2010–2018. The study employs ordinary least squares (OLS) and the one-step system generalized method of moments (SGMM) as regression estimation methods.
Findings
The findings of this study reveal that financial leverage and the PFB have a negative and significant effect on financial sustainability. The findings further show that the interaction between financial leverage and the PFB positively affects the financial sustainability of MFIs.
Practical implications
The findings inform MFIs' managers on the adverse effect of financial leverage and the PFB in their quest for financial sustainability. The findings also demonstrate that MFIs can leverage female borrowers to reverse the adverse effect of financial leverage on financial sustainability of MFIs.
Originality/value
Previous studies examined the direct effect of financial leverage and reported incongruent results. Because female borrowers are at the epicenter of MFI lending, this study fills the gap in the literature by examining whether the proportion of female borrowers moderates the relationship between financial leverage and MFIs' financial sustainability using a global dataset.
This study investigated about the influence of social structure on participation of women in public credit programs in Tanzania, using the analytical cross-sectional design. The study had the population of 1,156,714 women residing in Arusha and Simiyu to represent an income-rich but food-scarce zone and Mbeya and Katavi to represent an income-poor but food-abundant zone. The study employed a multi-stage sampling technique to select some female respondents. Two city/ district councils were selected from each region based on their performance in disbursing PO-RALGA loans, considering factors the number of women accessing credit and the volume of credit offered to women. Sixteen wards were finally picked to participate. Out of 415 women respondents, 287 were beneficiaries of the PO-RALGA Credit Program while 128 were non-participants. Data was collected through a questionnaire. The study employed the logistic regression model for data analysis. Evidence from the findings indicates that social structure variables, in terms of age, patriarchal system, education, daily family income and location, have positive impact on women's participation in PCP. Conversely, variable like marital status and family size appeared to have a negative influence in women's participation to PCP. Patriarchal social structure variable has contradicting findings which needs further studies. To promote women's participation in PCP, policymakers should develop programs that take into account social structure variables, demographic variables, and family variables. By increasing women's access to soft loans, the country will be well-positioned to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal number five before the year 2030. This can become possible when the government adopts transformative policies and appropriate actions to ensure that women have equitable access to public credit loans.
The number of agricultural People is ignorant, impoverished, and trapped in a cycle of poverty and insufficiency. Despite the fact that microcredit encouraged entrepreneurship and revenue generation, many developing countries' patriarchal systems had no impact on individual household decisions or mobility. As per the Indian government, entrepreneurship is defined as engagement in the quality and employment of a business enterprise. In India, both public and private enterprise coexist. The importance and usefulness of microcredit entrepreneurs is now widely recognized, and they can be cultivated through well-designed programmes. A micro-credit entrepreneur is often associated with the production of pickles, masala powder, and other home items. Outside and inside the home, women make excellent personal managers. In Vellore District, micro-credit is proving to be a powerful tool for poverty eradication. Microcredit has emerged as one of the new development paradigms for reducing poverty through social and economic empowerment of the disadvantaged, with a particular focus on women. Prof. Muhammad Yunus explains how microcredit may assist women in reaching their full potential by stating that women have plans for themselves, their children, and their homes. Microcredit entrepreneurship had a moderate impact on household income and asset valuation, but it had a substantial impact on financial repercussions. A range of external and internal pressures have hampered empowerment in developing countries group or family members as well as individual characteristics. The research will be conducted in areas of Tamil Nadu's Vellore District that offer a wide range of income and employment opportunities. From the research area, 80 micro-credit entrepreneurs were chosen at random. The researcher met with each of the 80 respondents one-on-one to obtain the primary data needed for this study.
Women’s empowerment is indispensable for sustainable development. Microcredit initiatives are seen as critical in that adventure, enabling women to achieve economic, political, and psychological boosts that are otherwise absent for the destitute poor. However, microcredit is not a panacea that can cure all odds women face in a patriarchal society like ours. There are literature documenting positive effects of microcredit on the living and being of millions of poor women in the developing countries like Bangladesh. Microcredit enables destitute women to access financial services, facilitates employment-generating activities, boosts self-esteem, increases mobility, raises awareness, improves socio-political position, and helps form social and institutional capital. But such benefits are not sustainable and will not bring lasting effect until long-term challenges are addressed with due caution. This is because women’s empowerment is a multidimensional phenomenon that requires a collective action for development. Microcredit programs have been subject to scrutiny and face harsh criticisms in recent time. There are often reports and anecdotes that are contradictory to the conventional claims of poverty alleviation of women empowerment. These controversies often led scholars to debate and divide across certain lines. Considering this ongoing debate, this paper critically explores the effect of microcredit on women’s empowerment in the context of Bangladesh.
Women's economic empowerment is a technique meant to give them more authority over decisions, increase their income, and own assets. Since empowering women is essential to achieving the goals of development and reducing poverty, numerous attempts have been made to address this issue. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) have emerged as key tools over the past few decades to not only address poverty, but also to empower women in particular. It is believed that by employing microfinance, which has been shown to be one of the most effective approaches, women may gain some kind of personal empowerment. The primary objective of this research is to analyse how microfinance affects women's economic empowerment. Microfinance significantly boosts women's independent revenues, their levels of asset ownership, and their savings, which all contribute to their economic empowerment. The research also demonstrated that microfinance helps promote the growth of women's entrepreneurship and accessibility to business opportunities.
This feminist research explores how superstition is used by in‐law's family to subordinate women business‐owners in a highly patriarchal developing context. Whereas the exploration of gender subordination regarding women's entrepreneurship is almost exclusively confined to developed nations, little is known regarding the way women are subjugated in managing their small businesses in a patriarchal developing nation. This research generates data by conducting a case study on a woman's business in Bangladesh. This study yields unique insights by unfolding a specific form of superstition that attempts to restrain a woman from continuing her small business. The paper reveals that the male relative caused a severe adverse impact on the personal life and business of the woman by employing superstition. With particular reference to superstition, this feminist study substantially extends the theoretical understanding of gender subordination within the context of small businesses of women in a highly patriarchal developing nation. The research strongly suggests policymakers to consider familial issues of women business‐owners in designing programmes to empower them effectively.
Chapter 2: DEVELOPMENT, NEOLIBERAL
DEVELOPMENT AND MICROFINANCE: AN
APPRAISAL
Mohammad Jasim Uddin
The role of microfinance in alleviating poverty and empowering
women at the grassroots level has played an important role in creating
a positive image of Bangladesh in the global stage. Microfinance, as a
development strategy, has gained an almost mythical reputation
among development agencies, researchers and practitioners, making
it one of the hottest poverty alleviation tools worldwide. In spite of all
the enthusiasm surrounding microfinance's role in ushering in the
empowerment of women and alleviating poverty, a number of
criticismshave alsodevelopedrevolving aroundthe commercialization
of MFIs. There is an intellectual debate going on between advocates of
microfinance who see it as a win-win approach and a growing group
of intellectuals criticizing its connection to neoliberalism. There is
empirical evidence that MFI gradually turns into a lucrative
commercial business and undergoes a silent moral drift and diffusion
at the local level. Using Bangladesh as a context, I intend to explore
some of these issues and concerns. Following an introduction, which
includes a historiographic note on the changing paradigms of
development, this chapter intends to provide a brief history of the
development of microfinance over the last few decades and describe
how microfinance relates to the modern capitalist world system and
neoliberalist frameworks.
The main objective of this study is to investigate women empowerment in nongovernmental organizations’ profile in Bangladesh. It discusses the scope of the women empowerment concept of the four big nongovernmental organizations in Bangladesh such as Grameen Bank, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, Proshika and Association for Social Advancement. This paper is based on the literature and studies that highlight the women empowerment issue of these four NGOs. Results showed that two NGOs such as Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee and Proshika consider their women empowerment issue comparatively from a broader view that includes a number of programmes. On the other hand, the rest of the two nongovernmental organizations initiated the women empowerment activities comparatively from a narrower perspective. The overall findings indicate that the concept of women empowerment in all four nongovernmental organizations is concerned as a global concept where contextual perspective in of women empowerment is less considered. In this connection, this paper argues that due to the low level of focus on the contextual perspective, the contribution of nongovernmental organizations to the women empowerment in Bangladesh is not up to the mark in consideration to the duration they are working towards women empowerment. The findings of the paper would be an important guideline to the policy makers, managers of nongovernmental organizations and development practitioners. NU Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences & Business Studies Vol. 7 & 8, No.2 & 1, July 2021 - December 2022 p. 111-126
The micro credit fund is a mechanism for mobilizing financial resources and granting small loans in order to launch sustainable income-generating activities and strengthen women's participation in the rural development process. This descriptive and survey research, aimed to identify achievements and barriers ahead the micro credit funds of rural women in 2019 in Golestan province. The statistical population of the study was 913 members of 19 rural women micro credit funds in Golestan province. Using Krejcie and Morgan table and stratified random sampling, 226 of them were selected as research samples. Data gathered through a researcher made questionnaire and its face validity was confirmed by experts. The reliability analysis was calculated with Cronbach alpha coefficient and it was 0.91 for achievements section and 0.84 for barriers section. The research findings showed that 9 achievements consist of social, occupation, group production work, entrepreneurial, self reliance, control on financial resources, responsibility acceptance, family stable and gender equity, explain about 61% cumulative variance of the funds' achievements and 10 barriers consist of participation barrier, barrier the loss of governmental support, mistrust barrier, individual barrier, cultural-economical barrier, dependence barrier and lack of independence, family poverty barrier, lack of control barrier, cover barrier and hazards, explain 63.6 % cumulative variance of barriers ahead the funds. This study recommended the focus of the fund's activities on achieving all the goals in a balanced way, with an emphasis on educating members and providing the necessary intellectual and practical contexts to promote members' participation in decision-making.
It is utmost essential to jot down the theoretical background covering the issues of financial inclusion and the nature of linkage between microfinance and women empowerment. The chapter deals with the journey of financial inclusion in our country and beyond in a lucid manner. A fine detailing has been incorporated here about the different instruments, institutions, policies, committees, models of MFIs inside our country and also extend the coverage by mentioning the outreach of inclusiveness in different countries round the globe.
The study was initiated at Department of Economics/Agri-Economics PMAS, University of Arid Agriculture Rawalpindi, Pakistan during 2009, to assess the role of NRSP in income enhancement of rural women in rural areas of District Poonch. The major objective of the study was to analyze the effects of credit and saving program of NRSP on the socioeconomic conditions of women in the study area. A primary survey has been conducted to capture the realistic experience and observations from the beneficiaries of NRSP. Multistage simple random technique was used to select 60 respondents from 12 Women Organizations (WOs) formed by NRSP in program area. These WOs were purposively selected because these WOs contains comparatively majority of beneficiaries who got credit and trainings since long ago. The results of the study showed that majority of the respondents (66.6%) were literate and belongs to age group of 20-40 years (58.3%). The results further depict that majority (48.3%) of respondents obtained loan for livestock production and 35.5% for small business enterprises. As a result of economic interventions of NRSP, production of major crops in research area has positively changes (Wheat from 1490kg to 1604kg, maize from 3894kg to 4026kg) and income of respondents also changed from Rs. 9433 to Rs. 11821. The paper recommends that the amount of credit should at least be double and the easy and convenient interest rate. Repayment period should be doubled so that maximum benefits could be achieved from the NRSP's interventions.
There is widespread recognition among scholars, international aid providers and evaluators of the need to take into account the unintended outcomes of international development efforts. Practitioners have also signed on to charters that promise they will do their utmost best to ‘do no harm’. This article focusses on the often overlooked unintended gender effects. A rigorous literature review was conducted to reveal some of the most prominent unintended consequences as documented in primary research in development studies. Five prevalent unintended gender effects were identified: (1) household dynamics, (2) anti‐foreign backfire, (3) overburdening of women, (4) human trafficking and sexual exploitation and (5) hype. While not all of the unintended gender effects are negative, most of the reported unintended effects jeopardise the intended outcomes of the interventions. This research provides both a call and a tool to analyse more systematically the unintended gender effects of international development efforts.
This article argues that systematic comparative analyses of women's strategies and coping mechanisms lead to a more culturally and temporally grounded understanding of patriarchal systems than the unqualified, abstract notion of patriarchy encountered in contemporary feminist theory. Women strategize within a set of concrete constraints, which I identify as patriarchal bargains. Different forms of patriarchy present women with distinct “rules of the game” and call for different strategies to maximize security and optimize life options with varying potential for active or passive resistance in the face of oppression. Two systems of male dominance are contrasted: the sub-Saharan African pattern, in which the insecurities of polygyny are matched with areas of relative autonomy for women, and classic patriarchy, which is characteristic of South and East Asia as well as the Muslim Middle East. The article ends with an analysis of the conditions leading to the breakdown and transformation of patriarchal bargains and their implications for women's consciousness and struggles.
The ways in which variations in the household life cycle affect economic mobility are examined for rural Bangladesh. Evidence is drawn primarily from data collected between 1976 and 1978 in a single village in Mymensingh District. In the current social and environmental setting, the course of a household life cycle determines the supply of household labor, conditions the resilience of households during periods of economic crisis, and influences the vulnerability of surviving members to economic decline following a patriarch's death. The implications of the relationships between household life cycles and economic mobility for parental reproductive strategies, for the welfare of different household constituents, and for the process of economic class formation are discussed.
Women's roles in rural Bangladesh and in the economies of developing countries in general have been poorly documented and researched. This article provides an analysis of women's work using a unique set of data, including detailed information on time allocation, collected in a village in Bangladesh. Women's work is analyzed in the context of the powerful system of male dominance (patriarchy) that operates in the society. Patriarchy is grounded in control of material resources and supported by elements of the kinship, political, and religious systems. Important consequences of the patriarchal system are that women are placed at risk of abrupt declines in economic status; under the pressure of increasing poverty the proportion of women who must fend for themselves is increasing; and women face a labor market that is highly restricted both spatially and functionally, resulting in relatively low wages and high rates of unemployment. The paper documents the division of labor by sex, seasonal variations in labor utilization, and the structure of the female labor market. Implications for fertility behavior, population policy, and employment policy are considered.
An attempt is made to explore the dominant themes in the literature on women in Bangladesh and to identify some major shortcomings in terms of three sets of factors: an underdeveloped information base; the institutional constraints and ideology of Western experts who have contributed to the literature on women in Bangladesh; and the class membership and ideological leanings of indigenous participants.-from Authors
The Grameen Bank's success in lending to microenterprises, and particularly women, using solidarity groups, is well known. Attempts have been made to replicate the model outside Bangladesh, and much of this work taking place in rural African and Asian projects has been written about before. This article describes urban solidarity-group lending in Latin America, and evaluates the success of such attempts in terms of project efficiency and of benefits to the borrowers. The evidence is that a number of long-standing micro-lending projects have achieved reasonable efficiency levels, even though evidence of changes brought about by the loans in the borrowers' enterprises is difficult to come by, and suggests quite modest improvements.
The aim of this paper is to review and evaluate policies directed at rural women in the Third World, as reflected in WID research and policy documents. This review covers the assumptions behind the advocacy of direct assistance to rural women, the goals that are sought in providing such assistance and the means advocated to achieve them. An attempt is made to show how the agenda of mainstream WID research and policy formulation has closely followed, reflected and responded to changing international priorities in matters of development assistance in a manner that leaves crucial redistributive and political issues tangentially addressed and unresolved.
The paper assesses the viability of income-generating projects in Bangladesh by analyzing the institutional context within which these projects are being implemented. By analyzing the perceptions of these projects among three key institutional actors — the government of Bangladesh, nongovernmental organizations and the international donors — the paper identifies a paradox: that despite strongly contending perceptions about the viability of these projects and about one another's roles in the design and implementation of them, the institutional actors continue to work together in implementing more of the same type of project. The paper concludes that this paradoxical outcome of both tripartite cooperation and conflict can be better explained by varying and converging institutional interests than by the theory of comparative advantage.
This chapter examines the complex interactions between religion and culture in constructing definitions of national identity in Bangladesh and in shaping the political projects of recent regimes. It also attempts to throw light on certain features which differentiate current Islamisation processes in Bangladesh from those in Pakistan and Iran described elsewhere in this volume. In all three countries, official Islamisation programmes were begun in the latter half of the 1970s. In both Iran and Pakistan, however, these programmes went further than in Bangladesh and, despite clear differences in the political forces behind them, had important features in common. Of particular significance was the central place accorded by both to the position of women. Islamic norms of behaviour were enforced more strictly for women through a variety of religious laws as well as the state’s pronouncements on female apparel and conduct in the public sphere.
The effectiveness of a credit programme at empowering women depends on the success with which it defines for itself and its workers ways to challenge, while working within, the constraints on women's empowerment that may exist in the borrower's country. Support for this argument is found in the case of rural Bangladesh. Statistical evidence demonstrates the importance of a borrower's involvement in the labour, selling and accounting for the activity funded by her loan for increasing the likelihood that credit leads to empowerment. For organizations that choose to make women's empowerment their guiding goal, borrower involvement in the loan-funded activity is an understandable and measurable goal that has demonstrated impact on women's empowerment. -Author
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