Microfinance and gender inequality: cross-country evidence

Zhang, Quanda; Posso, Alberto

doi:10.1080/13504851.2017.1287851

Cited by 28 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Second, crowdlenders may prefer lending to women due to the empowerment effect of microloans. Providing women access to financial services may allow them to engage in income-generating activities to increase their earnings and eventually strengthen their decision-making power within the household and society (Zhang & Posso, 2017).…”

Section: Hypotheses Development: Gender and Crowdfundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Business or Basic Needs? The Impact of Loan Purpose on Social Crowdfunding Platforms

2020

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Crowdfunding has created new opportunities for poor microentrepreneurs. One crucial question is the impact that the purpose of a loan-either business investment or basic necessities-may have on the success of a campaign. Investigating a prosocial crowdfunding platform, we find that loans taken out to meet basic needs are funded faster than business-related loans, especially for small amounts, which can be explained by the prosocial motivation of microlenders. Moreover, female microborrowers are funded faster than men, especially for basic needs loans. Our results therefore suggest an ethical blind spot, since prosocially motivated crowdlenders may unintentionally end up producing adverse effects, replicating gender role by supporting women to a lesser extent when they apply for business loans. This finding expands prosocial motivational theory in ethical finance.

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Section: Hypotheses Development: Gender and Crowdfundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Business or Basic Needs? The Impact of Loan Purpose on Social Crowdfunding Platforms

2020

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“…Some other research has shown that scaling up microfinance programs helps mitigate the credit risk of institutions offering microloans under adverse economic conditions (Morduch, 1999). The cultural dimension of masculinity-femininity is also relevant and has been analyzed in order to establish the relationship between microfinance and gender inequality (Zhang & Posso, 2017). According to studies carried out by the United Nations Development Programs (UNDP) (Note 1) and the World Bank (Note 2), microfinance is seen as extremely crucial for empowering women.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Success’ Conditions of Microfinance to Fostering Sustainable Development

Lassoued¹

2020

IJEF

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With a loan portfolio estimated at $124.1 billion in 2018, 139.9 million borrowers benefited from microfinance services, compared to just 98 million in 2009 (World Bank Group, 2018). Despite a low quality portfolio and high borrowers' costs, the portfolio in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) shows a remarkable increase of 20% but with a decrease of 6.6 points (Microfinance Barometer, 2019). Most of empirical studies have focused on the issue of microfinance, and research conducted on the effectiveness of microcredit is surprisingly scarce or even non-existent in the MENA region. In addition, microcredit could lead to sustainable development in the region via an income effect. The main objective of this paper is to determine the impact of microcredit on sustainable development for 10 selected MENA countries over the period 1990-2018. Empirical results paradoxically show a negative effect of microcredit on sustainable development. Although, the limitations of data, the present paper also contributes to the existing literature by advising conditions for the success of microcredit aiming for a better promotion of sustainable development.

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“…In this sense, the concept of empowerment is highlighted in the logic of microcredit provisions for women, since this reflects women's capacity to undertake new economic activities (Al-Shami et al, 2017;Bahta, Strydom, & Donkor, 2017;Bezboruah & Pillai, 2017;Tahir, Kauser, Bury, & Bhatti, 2018;Zhang & Posso, 2017 Empowerment can be understood as a changing process through which individuals increase their ability to exercise their choice and freedom, which contributes positively to their well-being (Ganle, Afriyie, & Segbefia, 2015). In other words, empowerment means having broadened choices in life, gaining more control over it, and generally reaching the capacity to live it as one wishes to live (Mahmud, Shah, & Becker, 2012;Tahir et al, 2018).…”

Section: The Role Of Women In Microcreditmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The fact is that in recent years a great emphasis has been put on microfinance, hoping that poverty might be reduced and women's empowerment might be promoted. Thus, microfinance programs have focused on millions of women living in developing countries, helping them to have access to microcredit services (Bezboruah & Pillai, 2017;Haile, Bock, & Folmer, 2012;Wahidi, 2017;Zhang & Posso, 2017).…”

Section: The Role Of Women In Microcreditmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Brazil, in the third quarter of 2015, women represented 62.13% of the clients assisted by the National Program of Guided Productive Microcredit (Ministério do Trabalho e Previdência Social, 2015). It is noteworthy that microfinance practitioners and policymakers target women to help them earn income, gain financial independence and strengthen their decision-making power within the household and society (Zhang & Posso, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microcredit and Gender: Are There Differences in the Credit Conditions?

Salgado

Aires

2018

BAR, Braz. Adm. Rev.

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By means of a distinguished approach of credit granting, microcredit programs stand out as a socioeconomic alternative for social insertion and fighting against poverty. In this context, a factor that has gained prominence in literature is the female participation in these programs. Therefore, knowing that the literature indicates that there is a lower level of default among women, and considering that gender influence over the financing value has been disproportionate, the aim of this research was to evaluate the relationship between gender and the amounts which were granted in microcredit operations. In order to achieve this, a multiple linear regression technique was used on a sample of 4,454 microcredit clients of a bank with branches located in Paraíba, Brazil. Primary data collection was carried out together with the branch managers by consulting their system. Data were randomly chosen, and refer to the period from January to December 2016. Results show that women obtain a higher credit value than men, which is the opposite of what was found in literature.

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Microfinance and gender inequality: cross-country evidence

Cited by 28 publications

References 18 publications

Business or Basic Needs? The Impact of Loan Purpose on Social Crowdfunding Platforms

Business or Basic Needs? The Impact of Loan Purpose on Social Crowdfunding Platforms

Success’ Conditions of Microfinance to Fostering Sustainable Development

Microcredit and Gender: Are There Differences in the Credit Conditions?

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