Case study 2: Gender & Poverty
Microfinance and gender empowerment? BRAC in Bangladesh
Nabeela Ahmed 2011. Bangladesh
Credit: Nabeela Ahmed, 2010. Northern Bangladesh
BRAC and Grameen Bank were established in the 1970s and pioneered programmes of microfinance which have since taken off around the globe, popularised by the World Bank.
Based on the rationale that women can become politically, economically and social empowered through access to low-interest credit, income generation schemes and social conditionalities.
Microfinance was seen as a ‘magic bullet’ for gender and development, and also for solving poverty (Kabeer, 2005). Women were directly made ‘agents of change’ and generated global narratives of empowerment through access to health and education for children, and improved livelihoods and accumulation of assets.
As of 2012, the World Bank reported that it had helped to implemented 53 million microfinance enterprises (Yeboah et al., 2015)
However, critics (Fernando, 2006) argue that it represents a neoliberal agenda and ultimately serves globalisation and liberalising financial sector in the Global South, rather than targeting contextual and historical factors behind gender inequality.
Microfinance programmes can be seen as ‘liberal feminist’ neoliberal approaches that ultimately perpetuate coloniality and existing systems of capital, patriarchy and gender oppression (Aruzza et al, 2019)
While many studies show the potential for microfinance to be effective, implementation practices have strayed from the initial aims and evidence from institutions such as BRAC shows that microfinance interest rates can increase due to squeezed margins, debt among vulnerable women can increase, repayment tactics can be violent and intimidating and patriarchal household attitudes remain entrenched (Uddin, 2015).
Microfinance in Bangladesh highlights intersections of neoliberal development and local patriarchy in continuous patterns of gender inequality – at best, a continuation of norms and overall outcomes and at worst, further debt, vulnerability and discrimination against women.
QUESTION 3:
Analyze the case study of Bangladish and explain how we can apply the framework of intersectionality in the development issues represented in the case and how far does intersectionality help us in addressing the such issues. (300 word essay)
Be sure to include an opening, introductory paragraph in which you state your thesis. Then use the body of your essay to provide evidence from the chapters to support that thesis. End by writing a clear conclusion to your essay.
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