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Microfinance and Gender: Issues, Challenges and the Road Ahead

Author

Listed:
  • Supriya Garikipati
  • Isabelle Guérin
  • Susan S.J. Johnson
  • Ariane Szafarz

Abstract

This special collection examines the claim that microfinance promotes gender equality. The focus is on three areas of the debate: first, the question of how successful microfinance has been in empowering women; second, whether and how negative gender discrimination operates within the sector; third, how power relations within and beyond the household shape the context and outcomes of microfinance initiatives. The papers in this collection demonstrate the divergence of circumstances and emphasise the need to go beyond the past searches for a simple narrative regarding the impact of microfinance. Rather, as the sector evolves and is incorporated into the mainstream financial system, the challenge ahead for researchers is to marshal the evidence on gendered dynamics to ensure that the gains made are built on through deeper understanding of why impact outcomes and processes differ and use this to inform new initiatives to further gender equality.

Suggested Citation

  • Supriya Garikipati & Isabelle Guérin & Susan S.J. Johnson & Ariane Szafarz, 2016. "Microfinance and Gender: Issues, Challenges and the Road Ahead," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/239876, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/239876
    Note: SCOPUS: ar.j
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Huis, Marloes & Lensink, Robert & Vu, Nhung & Hansen, Nina, 2019. "Impacts of the Gender and Entrepreneurship Together Ahead (GET Ahead) training on empowerment of female microfinance borrowers in Northern Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 46-61.
    3. Sibel Kusimba, 2018. "“It is easy for women to ask!†: Gender and digital finance in Kenya," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 247-260, June.
    4. Touseef Ahmed Khan & Fahem Ahmed Khan & Qristin Violinda & Ilyas Aasir & Sun Jian, 2020. "Microfinance Facility for Rural Women Entrepreneurs in Pakistan: An Empirical Analysis," Agriculture, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 10(3), pages 1-17, February.
    5. Marek Hudon & Marc Labie & Ariane Szafarz, 2019. "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… How microfinance evolved and how research followed," Working Papers CEB 19-013, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    6. Emilio M. Santandreu & Joaquín López Pascual & Salvador Cruz Rambaud, 2020. "Determinants of Repayment among Male and Female Microcredit Clients in the USA. An Approach Based on Managers’ Perceptions," Sustainability, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 12(5), pages 1-17, February.
    7. Isabelle Guérin & Christophe Nordman & Elena Reboul, 2019. "The gender of debt and the financialisation of development. Insights from rural southern India," Working Papers CEB 19-016, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    8. Carolina Laureti, 2017. "Why do Poor People Co-hold Debt and Liquid Savings?," Working Papers CEB 17-007, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. Anastasia Cozarenco & Ariane Szafarz, 2020. "Financial Inclusion in High-Income Countries: Gender Gap or Poverty Trap ?," Working Papers CEB WP 20-006, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    10. Guérin, Isabelle & Nordman, Christophe Jalil & Reboul, Elena, 2020. "The Gender of Debt and Credit: Insights from Rural Tamil Nadu," IZA Discussion Papers 13891, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • B54 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Feminist Economics
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

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