Nongovernmental Organizations, Micro-Credit, and Empowerment of Women
In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Band 554, S. 150-177
ISSN: 0002-7162
Empowerment of women by means of microcredit-based income generation programs is appraised in a broader historical context. The whole picture shows how women's interests are being subsumed by & subordinated to the priorities of mainstream development in ways detrimental to the radical aspirations of nongovernmental organization (NGO) empowerment projects. A critical evaluation of current approaches used in studies on microcredit & empowement shows that the primary focus has been on the final outcomes of microenterprises, rather than the process through which they are achieved. Field research in Bangladesh demonstrates that the widely documented successes of microenterprises are a result of the activities of the institutions that are considered to be oppressive to women. In this process, NGOs contribute to further legitimization of the institutions that their microenterprises desire to transform. Adapted from the source document.