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Decent Work and Economic Growth- Gender Equality
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- Bangladesh
- Brief created: 2022
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Conflicts over credit: Re-evaluating the empowerment potential of loans to women in rural Bangladesh
Brief about:
Journal Article (2001)
Written by:
This paper explores the reasons why recent evaluations of the empowerment potential of credit programs for rural women in Bangladesh have arrived at very conflicting conclusions.
Microfinance has become a widely used instrument/approach to addressing simultaneously the poverty of households and the exclusion of these households from opportunities to improve their lives. People also hope that targeting these services to women will empower them. The point of this research was to ask the questions: “Does it do that?” To what extent doesn’t it do that? How far does it go?” This article looks at the strength and the limits of microfinance.
There are two main findings:
First, that microfinance has an effect at the individual level, but that it is not a very politicizing process. It doesn’t empower women to take collective action or engage in protest, rather, it improves the boundary of power within their household, and maybe their status within their community.
What this means is that providing people access with credit does not alter the structures that prevent them from responding to different kinds of opportunities. For instance, handing microfinance to women does not necessarily address the segmented nature of labor markets. One dimensional interventions can only take you so far, and multi-stranded approaches are needed.
Second, when doing this research, I did not know what I was going to find. I did not go in with preconceptions, and instead of asking questions like “Do you have great bargaining power?” or “Has violence stopped?”, I asked them “What difference has access to microfinance made in your lives?”. This way, I was able to capture much more open ended and less predictable sets of changes.
This means that it is important to be sensitive to how subordinate groups themselves define positive change in their lives, and also that we need to pay attention to the perspective we take when making evaluations about empowerment. If we make these evaluations with a prior understanding of them, we may not capture the different ways in which people’s lives change as a result.
Key findings
- Microfinance has an effect at the individual level, but that it is not a very empowering
- It is important to be sensitive to how subordinate groups themselves define positive change in their lives, and also that we need to pay attention to the perspective we take when making evaluations about empowerment.
Proposed action
- Design your evaluation methodologies in ways that take account of other people's perspectives
Don't rely on a single input to change peoples' lives.
- Make sure you're not excluding men
Lending money to only women will create tensions between genders, making it difficult for women to really benefit from micro-credit lending systems.
- In India, Self-Help Group Model
savings led rather than credit led. This allows for people to be trained in livelihood, new skills, learning about their own rights, access to banks, knowledge that gives people a sense of self-confidence and empowerment to tackle constraints.
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Acknowledgements
Thank you to iDE Global
These insights were made available thanks to the support of iDE Global, who are committed to the dissemination of knowledge for all.
Special thanks to Christina Takayama for preparation assistance
We would like to extend a special thank you to Christina Takayama, for their invaluable contribution in assisting the preparation of this research summary.
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Conflicts over credit: Re-evaluating the empowerment potential of loans to women in rural Bangladesh
Cite this brief: Kabeer, Nalia. 'Conflicts over credit: Re-evaluating the empowerment potential of loans to women in rural Bangladesh'. Acume. https://www.acume.org/r/conflicts-over-credit-re-evaluating-the-empowerment-potential-of-loans-to-women-in-rural-bangladesh/
Brief created by: Professor Nalia Kabeer | Year brief made: 2022
Original research:
- Kabeer, N., ‘Conflicts over credit: Re-evaluating the empowerment potential of loans to women in rural Bangladesh’ 29(1) (pp. 63–84) https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(00)00081-4. – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305750X00000814#aep-keywords-id5
Research brief:
This paper explores the reasons why recent evaluations of the empowerment potential of credit programs for rural women in Bangladesh have arrived at very conflicting conclusions.
Microfinance has become a widely used instrument/approach to addressing simultaneously the poverty of households and the exclusion of these households from opportunities to improve their lives. People also hope that targeting these services to women will empower them. The point of this research was to ask the questions: “Does it do that?” To what extent doesn’t it do that? How far does it go?” This article looks at the strength and the limits of microfinance.
There are two main findings:
First, that microfinance has an effect at the individual level, but that it is not a very politicizing process. It doesn’t empower women to take collective action or engage in protest, rather, it improves the boundary of power within their household, and maybe their status within their community.
What this means is that providing people access with credit does not alter the structures that prevent them from responding to different kinds of opportunities. For instance, handing microfinance to women does not necessarily address the segmented nature of labor markets. One dimensional interventions can only take you so far, and multi-stranded approaches are needed.
Second, when doing this research, I did not know what I was going to find. I did not go in with preconceptions, and instead of asking questions like “Do you have great bargaining power?” or “Has violence stopped?”, I asked them “What difference has access to microfinance made in your lives?”. This way, I was able to capture much more open ended and less predictable sets of changes.
This means that it is important to be sensitive to how subordinate groups themselves define positive change in their lives, and also that we need to pay attention to the perspective we take when making evaluations about empowerment. If we make these evaluations with a prior understanding of them, we may not capture the different ways in which people’s lives change as a result.
Findings:
Microfinance has an effect at the individual level, but that it is not a very empowering
It is important to be sensitive to how subordinate groups themselves define positive change in their lives, and also that we need to pay attention to the perspective we take when making evaluations about empowerment.
Advice:
Design your evaluation methodologies in ways that take account of other people’s perspectives
- Don’t rely on a single input to change peoples’ lives.
Make sure you’re not excluding men
- Lending money to only women will create tensions between genders, making it difficult for women to really benefit from micro-credit lending systems.
In India, Self-Help Group Model
- savings led rather than credit led. This allows for people to be trained in livelihood, new skills, learning about their own rights, access to banks, knowledge that gives people a sense of self-confidence and empowerment to tackle constraints.