Microcredit: Beyond the hype

Transcription

1 Microcredit: Beyond the hype Anis Chowdhury Director Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division UN-ESCAP

2 A quick assessment Impact on poverty reduction doubtful or modest Borrowers labour underpriced overestimates returns to capital Most MFIs subsidized; raises issue of social opportunity cost

3 However Important for contingencies Opportunity of learning-by-doing Helps self-esteem Curtailed power of money lenders

4 Empowerment of women Link is not automatic (Goetz & Sen Gupta 1996; Kabeer 1998; Mayoux 1998; Rozario 2007; Karim 2012/2013). Depends on: Who controls decision making regarding the use of credit? Who manages enterprises supported by credit, and whose paid or unpaid labour is used? Who controls purchasing of inputs for these enterprises and marketing of products? Who keeps, decides on uses any income generated?

5 Education + workload Little systemic study/research on the impact on: Drop out rates, including why; when girls drop out Labour demands for both girls and boys How this relates to male, female and joint control over loan use and income Increases in women s workloads.

6 Dowry May be rising due to women s increased access to credit

7 Women s mobility Claim that women are increasingly coming out as a result of credit programmes. Ignores contextual factors, such as extreme poverty and landlessness, or even other opportunities such as in garment industry

8 Violence against women Research (e.g., Goetz and Sen Gupta 1996, Kabeer 1998, Khan et al. 1998, Husain 1998) paints an inconsistent picture at best. two studies show an increase in violence for women who have access to credit two studies suggest that it may be reducing as economic prosperity in the household improves.

9 Jury is still out Raises crucial issues about how gender relations are, in fact, transformed (Armendariz and Roome (2011). Are the programs really a means of correcting women s historic lack of access to credit? Or are they simply an efficient means of getting credit into the household since women are more likely than men to be available in the home, attend meetings, be manageable by field staff and take repayment more seriously, even if they do not invest or control the loan themselves?

10 Complex factors Adverse consequences are evidence of the complex, multidimensional nature of gender relations and of how gains in one dimension may catalyze challenges in others. E.g., In giving women access to one market credit we expose them to engagement in other markets: to buy inputs for production; to market the resulting outputs. These markets also have gendered dimensions: women may find it difficult to move out of low-return activities because they lack the confidence and skills to manage a larger business, or the physical space to keep assets; or simply because they meet barriers to entering into higher-stake pursuits.

11 Deep rooted structure factors Cultural biases and stereotyping Social practices Therefore, a great deal of work still remains if we are to transform gender relations and make economies work for more women, more of the time. Empowerment is not an end-state and its context is constantly changing.

12 References Armendariz, Beatriz and Nigiel Roome (2011). Gender empowerment in micronance. MPRA Paper No Chowdhury, Anis (2009). Microfinance: A critical assessment. UN-DESA Working paper Goetz, A.M. and R. Sen Gupta (1996). Who takes the credit? Gender, power, and control over loan use in rural credit programmes in Bangladesh, World Development, 24(1), Kabeer, N. 1998, Money can t buy me love? : Re-evaluating gender, credit and empowerment in rural Bangladesh, IDS Discussion Paper, 363. Karim, Laila (2012/13). The Hidden Ways Microfinance Hurts Women. Brandeis Magazine Mayoux, L. 1998, Participatory learning for women s empowerment in microfinance programmes: Negotiating complexity, conflict and change, IDS Bulletin, 29(4), Mayoux, L. 1999, Questioning virtuous spirals: Microfinance and women s empowerment in Africa, Journal of International Development, 11(7), Rozario, Santi (2007). The dark side of micro-credit Development Bulletin, no. 57