The risks and incentives of disciplinary neoliberal feminism: the case of microfinance

ABSTRACT

This article develops an analysis of the concept of disciplinary neo-liberal feminism through a focus on gendered poverty alleviation strategies and illustrates the value of this through a discussion of microfinance. By locating this study within an analysis of the expansion of global capital accumulation, the article argues that the liberal frameworks of female empowerment and entrepreneurialism that are central to these programs and to feminism in this form, mask their underlying political, social and economic objectives. In contrast, a Marxist Feminist approach more adequately explains the interplay of class and gender that underpins poverty alleviation strategies. This article argues that in the context of financial crisis and reduced social provision, women living in poverty in the Global South were identified as targets for the expansion of global finance. Their integration into global financial networks via microfinance and other pro-poor strategies has facilitated the expansion of markets for credit while at the same time disciplining market participation through the twin forces of risk and incentive. Disciplinary neo-liberal feminism has underpinned this incorporation of women into global capital accumulation creating profound effects for households and families, with microfinance programs representing important sites of contestation for the politics of class and gender.

KEYWORDS:

• Disciplinary neo-liberal feminism
• risk
• incentive
• microfinance
• social reproduction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Sophia Price is the Head of Politics and International Relations at Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK. Her research focuses on feminist political economy, gendered pro-poor development strategies, UK aid policy and the external relations of the European Union with Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) Group of States