Paper
A New Gender Agenda for Microfinance?
Are women more empowered?
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2 pages
This article deals with the impact of microfinance on women's empowerment. It states that few studies have revealed some of the negative impacts:
- Increased workloads for women;
- The withdrawal of male contributions to household expenditures;
- Domestic violence and abuse.
The article raises the following concerns:
- Is targeting women simply an efficient way to development?
- Is such targeting fully justified on the grounds of enhancing gender equity?
The article suggests some of the methods for the road ahead:
- A gender approach in program design is needed;
- There must be an emphasis on enabling MFIs to understand the complexity of gender relations;
- It is necessary to engage with MFIs in a debate and language that they understand;
- There is need for developing gender-sensitive products and services;
- Market research techniques involving in-depth discussions with clients are useful for emphasizing gendered needs.
Finally the article concludes that:
- It is necessary for MFIs to address gender issues;
- Failure to address issues affects MFIs' prospects for retaining and growing with their clients and developing a range of products to appeal to them;
- One means to advance the work is to develop and disseminate market research techniques exploring the gender dimensions of income, expenditure, saving, investment and business growth;
- Dissemination would involve training to ask the right questions and understand the gender implications of the answers.
