Targeting Women Versus Addressing Gender in Microcredit: Lessons From Honduras

Abstract

Microcredit, the practice of extending small loans to women who work in the informal economy, aims to help women achieve financial empowerment and independence. The research on microcredit, however, has tended to ignore how the context of women’s household relations can complicate this goal. This report of an ethnographic study of women’s participation in microcredit in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, indicates that male partners’ behaviors can both facilitate and limit women’s use of loans and repayment strategies. The article concludes with a discussion of how relational and family dynamics may be considered in the design of future economic development programs, such as savings initiatives.

Men’s Perceptions of Women’s Participation in Development Initiatives in Rural Bangladesh

“…A few older/middle-aged men (all married) also view WPD from this logical point of view. Vonderlack-Navarro (2010) revealed similar rational masculine patterns in Honduras, where some men have facilitated female participation in development initiatives.…”

“…These findings are in line with those of Haque & Kusakabe (2005) ; Islam and Karim (2011–2012) ; Schuler et al (1998) ; and Yount et al (2016) , which describe married Bangladeshi men’s masculine identities as patriarchal and dominating. Another study conducted in Honduras ( Vonderlack-Navarro, 2010 ) depicted similar masculine traits whereby men hindered female participation in development. However, the present study further identifies that men can oppose women’s professional development/freedom when they are afraid of losing male authority.…”

“…Without taking masculine issues into account, women’s participation in development initiatives may not always guarantee their empowerment, health, and welfare in a male-dominated society. Although most socioeconomic development initiatives predominantly emphasize the income and primary health-care needs of women, a few studies have identified that married men play important roles in shaping WPD, as they can hinder (or encourage) their wives’ income-earning activities ( Karim & Law, 2013 ; Vonderlack-Navarro, 2010 ). Indeed, the adverse gendered implications of these development initiatives may be related to how men view WPD.…”

The Black Social Economy: Perseverance of Banker Ladies in the Slums

“…In culturally diverse environments as the Caribbean region, one cannot assume identity politics such as race, class and gender do not configure into how resources are managed and distributed. In fact, in this study I found that gender is a more palatable topic for discussion and one can locate, with relative ease, solid research on the social, political and economic intersections between women and credit (Armendáriz and Roome 2008, Maclean 2010, Rankin 2001, Vonderlack-Navarro 2010. However, analyses of multiple identities -class, race, gender -that operate within the social economy are rare.…”

Women's Self-determination in Cooperative Tourism Microenterprises

“…In reality, empowerment is often dependent on household dynamics, with husbands having the ability to facilitate or limit women's strategies for use of financial resources (Vonderlack-Navarro, 2010). In San Juan La Laguna, many women are widows having lost their husbands to either natural causes or the 30-year Guatemalan civil war that ended in 1996 (Green, 1995).…”