Financial institutions and women’s access to credit: Implications on women’s empowerment, collectives and natural resource management
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53037/na.v9i1.95Keywords:
climate change, Dhankuta, financial institutions, micro finance, well-being, women’s solidarityAbstract
Social and gender norms influence, if not shape, women’s economic sufficiency and empowerment. Ignoring social and gender norms have resulted in conflict in households and communities, often leading to changes in the intra-household and community dynamics. This has led to negative implications, especially for women, the poor and the marginalised. Importantly, this has resulted in the failure of well-intended efforts towards sustainable management of natural resources, women’s economic empowerment and in addressing the adverse impacts of changing climatic conditions. Financial institutions, despite their good intent, have played an integral role in perpetuating such consequences. The paper highlights that women’s easy access to financial institutions at the local level have had adverse impacts on their time, well-being, solidarity and the sustainable management of natural resources. It explores the uneasy negotiations at households, and between financial institutions and women’s groups for loan repayments, how women and men use financial services, and their impacts on the notion of women’s solidarity and sufficiency. The study takes the support of examples of impacts on women’s condition and position from women-led financial circuits, gathered from secondary literature and empirical evidence from Nibuwa-Tankhuwa Watershed Management Plan in Dhankuta, Nepal. It highlights lessons on whether these institutions can synergise the adaptation measures of the local communities, suggesting areas of opportunity for gender mainstreaming within institutions to increase women’s positions through women-led financial circuits.
References
Ackerley, B.A. (1995) ‘Testing the tools of development; credit programs, loan involvement and women’s empowerment’. IDS Bulletin 26, pp. 56–68.
Adhikari, D.B. and Shrestha, J. (2013) ‘Economic impact of microfinance in Nepal: A case study of the Manamaiju Village Development Committee, Kathmandu’, Economic Journal of Development Issues, 15(1), pp. 36-49.
Ahmad, Q.K. (2007) Socio-economic and indebtedness-related impact of micro-credit in Bangladesh. Dhaka: University Press Ltd.
Al-Amin, M. and Mamun, H.A.R. (2022) ‘Exploring the impact of microfinance on socio-economic development: Empirical evidence from Balunnaghar Village’, International Journal of Social Science and Human Research ISSN (print), pp. 2644-0679.
Alam, J., Moir, R. and Ibn Boamah, M. (2021), ‘Gender and micro-credit: who repays? Evidence from a Canadian individual-lending approach’, Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 33(3), pp. 249-267.
Ali, I. and Hatta, Z.A. (2012) ‘Women’s empowerment or disempowerment through microfinance: Evidence from Bangladesh’, Asian Social Work and Policy Review, 6(2), pp. 111-121.
Amin, R., Becker, S. and Bayes, A. (1998) ‘NGO promoted microcredit programs and women’s empowerment in rural Bangladesh: Quantitative and qualitative Evidence’, The Journal of Developing Areas, 32, pp. 221–36.
Anderson S., Baland J.M. and Moene K.O. (2009) ‘Enforcement in informal saving groups’, Journal of Development Economics, 90(1), pp. 14–23.
Armendáriz, B. and Roome, N. (2008) ‘Gender empowerment in microfinance’, in Sundaresan, S. (ed.) Microfinance: Emerging Trends and Challenges, New York: Edward Elgar Publishing, Ltd, pp. 108–21.
Banerjee, S.B. and Jackson, L. (2017) ‘Microfinance and the business of poverty reduction: Critical perspectives from rural Bangladesh’, Human relations, 70(1), pp. 63-91.
Bhandari, N. (2022) Impact of Nagbeli Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha limited on women empowerment in Budhabare Municipality. Dissertation. Central Department of Management. Available at: https://elibrary.tucl.edu.np/bitstream/123456789/17083/1/All%20thesis%281%29.pdf
Bhoj, S., Bardhan, D. and Kumar, A. (2013) ‘Determinants and implications of rural women’s participation in microfinance programme: An analysis of dairy self-help groups in Uttarakhand State of India’, Livestock Research for Rural Development, 25(10), pp. 1-11.
Brickell, K. et al. (2020) ‘Compounding crises of social reproduction: Microfinance, over-indebtedness and the COVID-19 pandemic’, World Development, 136. doi:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105087
Brody, C. et al. (2015) ‘Economic Self—Help group programs for improving women’s empowerment: A systematic review’, Campbell Systematic Reviews 11(1): pp. 1–182. doi: https://doi.org/10.4073/csr.2015.19
Chang, H. (2010) ‘Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark: How development has disappeared from today’s development discourse’, in Khan, S.R. and Christensen, J. (eds.) Towards new developmentalism: Market as means rather than master. London: Routledge, pp. 47–58.
Chapagain, B.K. (2015) Men’s overseas migration and women’s mobility and decision-making in rural Nepalese families. PhD thesis. Australian National University. Available at: https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/14935/1/Chapagain%20B%20K%20Thesis%202015.pdf
Charusheela, S. and Danby, C. (2006) ‘A through time framework for producer households’, Review of Political Economy, 18, pp. 29–48.
Chen, YZ. and Tanaka, H. (2014) ‘Women’s Empowerment’, in: Michalos, A.C. (ed.) Encyclopedia of quality of life and well-being research. Cham: Springer International Publishing, doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_3252
Chowdhury, F.Y. (2017) ‘Economic assessment of microfinance in women empowerment in Bangladesh and some unsolved judgments’, Asian Business Review, 7(3), pp. 95–102.
Datta, S. and Sahu, T.N. (2022) ‘How far is microfinance relevant for empowering rural women? An empirical investigation’, Journal of Economic Issues, 56(1), pp. 97-112.
Deininger, K. and Liu, Y. (2009). Economic and social impacts of self-help groups in India. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, (4884).
Desai, R.M. and Joshi, S. (2014) ‘Collective action and community development: Evidence from self-help groups in rural India’, The World Bank Economic Review, 28(3), pp. 492-524. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lht024
Deshpande, A. and Khanna, S. (2021) ‘Can weak ties create social capital? Evidence from felf-help groups in rural India’, World Development, 146.
Dhungana, B.R. (2017) ‘Micro-finance intervention and women empowerment in Nepal, Proceeding Conference Paper’ Knowledge Transfer and Transformation: Global and Local Business for Competitiveness and Social Justice, Kathmandu, pp. 336-349.
Dhungana, B.R. Chapagain, R. and Ashta, A. (2023) ‘Alternative strategies of for-profit, not-for-profit and state-owned Nepalese microfinance institutions for poverty alleviation and women empowerment’, Cogent Economics & Finance, 11(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2023.2233778
Faraizi, A., Rahman, T. and McAllister, J. (2014). Microcredit and women’s empowerment: A case study of Bangladesh. London: Routledge.
Garikipati, S. (2008) ‘The impact of lending to women on household vulnerability and women’s empowerment: Evidence from India’, World Development, 36(12), pp. 2620-2642.
Geleta, E.B. (2016) ‘Microfinance and women’s empowerment: An ethnographic inquiry’. Development in Practice, 26(1), pp. 91-101.
Giulia Daelli, M. (2018) ‘Microfinance and women’s empowerment in Nepal,’ University of Padova , Human Rights Centre “Antonio Papisca”. Available at: https://unipd-centrodirittiumani.it/en/schede/Microfinance-and-womens-empowerment-in-Nepal/414
