Agency, empowerment and intra-household gender relations in Bangladesh: Does market-oriented microcredit contribute?

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to probe the influence of microcredit on the development of agency and empowerment of poor women in rural Bangladesh. The study was conducted on the clients of two leading NGOs—Grameen Bank (GB) and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC)—in Bangladesh. The qualitative findings of the ethnographic study confirmed that poor women’s involvement in microcredit programs does not contribute to the development of their agency and empowerment in a transformative sense due to structural problems in the programs and the patriarchal social structure of Bangladesh. It is true that microcredit has increased the mobility of women through group networks and organizations, but it has not added to their broader empowerment by easing their access to market transactions, unlike their male counterparts. An overwhelming majority of women do not have control over loans and credit-driven activities, although repayment responsibility rests entirely with them. In some instances, microcredit leads to spousal conflicts regarding repayments. Therefore, microcredit has not been very effective in promoting rational economic choices by women that would lead to their empowerment in the true sense of the term.

ABSTRACT IN BANGLA

KEYWORDS:

• Agency
• empowerment
• microcredit
• non-governmental organization
• Bangladesh

KEYWORDS:

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Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Md. AL-AMIN has a PhD in Sociology and Methodology of Social Research from the University of Milan, Italy. He did his Masters in Development Evaluation and Management from Antwerp University, Belgium. He did MSS and BSS: Sociology from Dhaka University, Bangladesh. His publications have appeared in Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, The Hong Kong Journal of Social Work, Asian Affairs, Multidisciplinary Journal of Gender Studies, Women for Women, Journal of Khadija Conference, Development in Practice (Taylor and Francis: forthcoming). His Research interests include Labor Studies, NGOs, Gender and development, neoliberalism, social capital and development. Email: [email protected]

Golam M. MATHBOR has a PhD in Social Policy Analysis from the University of Calgary, Canada; MSW from School of Social Work, McGill University, Canada; and MSS, BSS in Social Welfare, from Dhaka University, Bangladesh. His Publications have appeared in Journal of Social Development Issues, Journal of Studies in Languages and Cultures, Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, Oxfam Journal on Gender & Development, and Asian Social Work and Policy Review. His research interests include community participation and development, disaster relief and management, international social development, and NGO interventions via microcredit. Email: [email protected]