Microfinance and Women’s Empowerment in Bangladesh: Unpacking the Untold Narratives

134 Pages·2019·3.068 MB·English

by  Faraha Nawaz

Microfinance and
Women’s Empowerment
in Bangladesh
Unpacking the Untold
Narratives
Faraha Nawaz
Microfinance and Women’s Empowerment
in Bangladesh
Faraha Nawaz
Microfinance
and Women’s
Empowerment
in Bangladesh
Unpacking the Untold Narratives
Faraha Nawaz
Department of Public Administration
University of Rajshahi
Rajshahi, Bangladesh
ISBN 978-3-030-13538-6 ISBN 978-3-030-13539-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13539-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019932123
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P
reface
Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.
It is also characterized by extreme poverty and inequality. Gender dis-
crimination and disempowerment of women are among the root causes
of this situation. Neither the government nor the market has been able
to reverse this and meet the welfare needs of the majority of the popu-
lation. When NGOs began operating, one of their prime methodologies
was to empower impoverished women by offering them collateral-free
loans called ‘microfinance’. However, the role of microfinance in this
area has been a matter of intense debate and controversy. Research on
microfinance reveals a paradox, for it has both positive and negative
impacts on poverty and women’s empowerment. Such debate and para-
dox in the literature inspired me to conduct an in-depth study of women
borrowers to explore and understand whether microfinance has had a
favourable impact on their economic, socio-cultural, political and psy-
chological empowerment.
The study suggests that microfinance brings positive changes to
the poverty level amongst participating households. When poverty is
reduced, women are better able to meet their practical gender needs;
however, they are not empowered unless they are also able to meet their
strategic gender needs, including the transformation of gender power
relations from the household to state arenas. To explore how and to
what extent microfinance empowers women, I have identified different
types of women borrowers, from disempowered housewives to more
independent market-orientated working women. The study reveals that
v
vi PREFACE
within these five different groups, the women belonging to groups 1 and
2, who are in receipt of credit money and involved in independent busi-
ness or who work as co-workers in their husband’s business (having full
control in both respects), are in a better position to transform gender
power relations. However, although they showed better results in terms
of all empowerment indicators at both the household and community
levels, very few were involved in local politics.
I also explored why the women of groups 1 and 2 outperformed
those in the other groups. The study shows that it was the ability of
these two particular groups to utilize the social capital generated by
their membership of microfinance programs that made the difference.
When I examined other aspects of their lives, some common factors
were revealed that assisted them to utilize the financial and social cap-
ital aspects of microfinance more effectively. These included their age,
marital status, financial literacy, access to television and their husbands’
level of education. Although these factors were pre-existing, it was not
until they were combined with microfinance that they had a positive
effect. Prior to that, the women were still financially dependent on their
husbands.
In short, the book demonstrates that although microfinance empow-
ers women, it cannot bring empowerment to all women equally at all
levels. Therefore, the book argues that in order to bring about higher
levels of empowerment, microfinance programs must be combined with
other services such as financial literacy, socio-economic training, educa-
tion, health care, social mobilization and legal support.
Rajshahi, Bangladesh Faraha Nawaz
a
cknowledgements
Although my book on women’s empowerment was carried out to meet
an academic purpose, it was also highly influenced by a personal inter-
est as a child who was born and raised in a culture that neglects women
on a daily basis. I grew up in a country characterized by classic patriar-
chy, poverty and inequality. It was, therefore, relevant for me to under-
take my field research on microfinance and women’s empowerment in
Bangladesh, being the country, I am most familiar with. I carried out
my interviews and focus group discussions in a language (bangla) rather
than English as it was understood clearly by the participants involved.
It also imparted a level of trust with the women and this enabled me to
gain useful insights and more accurate data through my direct interac-
tions with them.
Writing a book is, of course, a very challenging journey. It is my
moral obligation to express my sincere gratitude to the people who
have assisted me along the way. Firstly, my heartfelt gratitude goes to
Dr. Noore Alam Siddiquee, Dr. Janet McIntyre and Dr. Helen McLaren
for their continuous support that has been so instrumental in enabling
me to reach my desired goal. I am also indebted to Dr. Samiul Islam
from University of UAE who has assisted me in the acquisition of inno-
vative techniques that contributed to the quality of my book. He also
generously provided me with numerous resources that have supported
and enriched my research. I am privileged to have the four international
professors’ cordial academic support that have been a tremendous help
vii
viii ACkNOWLEDGEMENTS
as I worked through all the critical issues, to complete my work from the
very beginning to the end. Without their cooperation I would have been
unable to write this book to its current standard.
I am very much indebted to my Australian friends, Sue Miers, John
Mugabushaka, Tony Miers and Dr. Sandra Lindemann for their out-
standing co-operation, suggestions and encouragement for writing this
book. I am also obliged to Flinders University of South Australia for
providing me with a field trip grant to conduct my field work for this
book. I am indebted to the microfinance clients, their family members
and community leaders who sacrificed their valuable time for me during
my field study. I am truly grateful to beloved parents and my husband
for their constant inspiration, encouragement, suggestions and emotional
support which are very important for producing a high-quality book.
A special thanks to my little daughter Fiona whose smile gave me the
courage and confidence to complete this challenging journey. Above all,
I offer the flowers of gratitude through prayer to the Almighty ‘ALLAH’
for paving each stone on my way to success.
Finally, let me conclude by articulating that I have tried my very best
to produce a precise, resourceful, exceptional and informative book and
I accept full responsibility for any mistakes that I may have inadvertently
made.
c
ontents
1 Prologue 1
2 Microfinance: It’s Globalization Story 23
3 The Paradox of Microfinance and Women’s Empowerment 37
4 Impact of Microfinance on Women’s Economic
Empowerment 55
5 From Individual to Community Empowerment 71
6 Microfinance and Women’s Socio Cultural and Political
Empowerment 85
7 Lessons from New Narratives 107
Index 123
ix
l f
ist of igures
Fig. 1.1 The ladder of empowerment (Source Adapted from
Rocha [1997: 34]) 9
Fig. 1.2 Area office of ACD in Charghat Upazila
(Source Field research) 16
Fig. 1.3 Group leaders’ house where women come for weekly
instalments (Source Field work) 18
Fig. 4.1 Operating dry food business with credit money
(Source Field research) 59
Fig. 4.2 Operating a poultry farm with credit money
(Source Field research) 60
Fig. 4.3 Operating shops in local market (Source Field research) 61
Fig. 4.4 The woman operating grocery shop in the village market
(Source Field research) 62
Fig. 4.5 Operating dairy farm with credit money (Source Field research) 64
Fig. 4.6 Vegetable gardening (Source Field research) 66
Fig. 4.7 Cooking dry food (Source Field research) 67
Fig. 5.1 The woman operating grocery shop in the village market
(Source Field research) 73
Fig. 5.2 This woman operates her towel weaving business
(Source Field research) 75
Fig. 6.1 Operating a food restaurant (Source Field research) 88
Fig. 6.2 Operating handicraft business (Source Field research) 89
Fig. 6.3 Operating tailoring business (Source Field research) 90
Fig. 6.4 The lady is an active member of Union Parishad
(Source Field research) 102
xi