Gender and MicroFinance

1
Gender and Micro-Finance

• A briefing for Oglethorpe University
• Lectures on Microfinance
• Astrid Pregel President Feminomics Inc.
• February 28, 2008

2
The Concept of Gender

• Sex refers to immutable biological
  characteristics of men and women
• Gender refers to the social and cultural roles
  that denote acceptable behavior and that are
  created for us by our families and culture

3
Sex vs. Gender

• SEX
• Biological determined at birth
• Universal
• same all over the world
• Immutable
• does not change with time

• GENDER
• Social
• we learn it
• Not Universal
• Regional differences
• Mutable
• Can change with time

4
Gender Stereotypes

• Stereotypes help us organize our complex world
• Life would be chaotic if we started each human
  encounter with no information
• Stereotypes, biases, schemas are largely
  unconscious, considered natural and shared by
  men and women

5
Natural Gender Roles

• Women are born to nurture
• Men are born to lead
• Women have an affinity to take care of domestic
  matters
• Men are suited to work outside the home
• Women make small music

6
Micro-finance and Gender or Women?

• It is women we will talk about today
• but
• It is understanding womens and mens gender
  roles and their limitations that are key to
  understanding poverty and the problems in
  international development assistance

7
State of the Worlds Women

• 70 of the worlds poor are women and girls
• Women produce 80 of the worlds food and own
  less than 10 of the land
• No country in the world has achieved gender
  equality (US in 23rd position) (Davos Gender Gap
  Study)

8
Women and the Economy(Remember Women stay home
and take care of the house, men earn a living
outside the home)

• Since the 70s women have taken 2 out of every 3
  jobs in the world
• Women produce 40 of the worlds measurable
  economy
• Women represent well over 50 of the informal
  economy
• Women work on average 35 more hours per week
  than men
• Womens earnings are 2/3 of mens globally
  including in the USA (where 1.3 women graduate
  for every male and the wage gap grows with
  education level)

9
Microfinance Micro Profits

• Women small business owners are a growing force
  globally
• Women own between 25 35 of firms registered
  around the world
• USA women own 43 of all firms
• Women micro-entrepreneurs dominate the informal
  economy
• Large unexploited potential globally to grow
  womens businesses

10
Poverty Parameters

• Extreme Poverty
• 1.1 billion people live on less than 1 a day
• Moderate Poverty
• 2.7 billion people live on less than 2 a day
• Middle Income
• 1. 7 billion people
• Wealthy level
• 1 billion people
• Total population 6.5 billion

11
Microfinance Parameters

• 133 million extreme and moderately poor MFI
  clients reached in 2006
• Of these 92 million are extremely poor
  (controversial)
• 79 million of extremely poor are women
• Microfinance growing at 30/year
• www.microcreditsummit2007.0rg

12
Why Mohammad Yunis Wont Lend to Men

• When a women controls her earnings the benefits
  to her family are as high as 20 times greater
  than when income is controlled by her husband
• Children studied in Kenya were 25 taller when
  their mothers controlled the income
• Childrens education participation and family
  health improves when mothers earn income
• Children studied in Ethiopia whose mothers were
  in MFI projects had half the malnutrition levels
  of a control group

13
The Two Truths

• Truth 1
• Women are central to economic growth
• Truth 2
• Women are THE key to the alleviation of
  poverty
• Truth 3
• Microfinance connects these two truths in
  promising ways

14
Microfinance a Solution to Poverty?

• 3.8 billion or nearly 2/3 of the world population
  is living in poverty

• Microfinance presently serving at the outside 150
  million poor

15
Commercialization of Microfinance

• Traditionally Microfinance has been the domain of
  the non profit world and bilateral and
  international aid agencies
• Over the past three years a growing and
  accelerating trend where commercial funds are
  being channeled into MFIs

16
Microfinance Hybrids

• Socially oriented MFIs
• Focus on the poorest
• Provide other social services
• Group lending and savings
• Interested in social as well as financial returns
• Commercially oriented MFIs
• Interested in financial returns primarily
• Some interest in serving poor
• Few are tracking data on women clients

17
Implications of Commercialization

• Pressure to produce good financial returns
• Pressure to increase the numbers of clients
  quickly
• Pressure to move to individual lending models
  instead of circles
• Pressure to move to collateral based lending
• Pressure to lend to men?

18
Commercialization Impact on Women

• Decreasing percentage of women loan officers and
  very few women in leadership roles in MFIs
• Global efforts to expand financial services for
  the poor through MFIs not focused on women and
  what they need in particular
• Women have less education, skills and time
  therefore support services provided by socially
  oriented models is critical to their success
• Lending circle provide important avenues for
  women to learn about agency and empowerment which
  disappears with commercial model

19
State of Microfinance for Women

• Robust evidence that microfinance leads to
  economic and social improvements for women
• Little evidence however that microfinance moves
  people out of poverty permanently
• Little evidence of significant social and
  cultural change resulting from microfinance

20
Practical Needs vs. Strategic Needs

• Practical Daily Needs for Women
• Food, water, safe environment
• Education for children
• Health for self and children
• Role in family decision making
• Ability to influence family spending
• Ability to feel comfortable in society

21
Practical Needs vs. Strategic Needs

• Strategic Gender Needs
• Coercive gender labor division
• Unequal access to productive resources such as
  land, capital, extension services
• Domestic violence
• Womens control over their own bodies
• Political influence and equality
• Sexual exploitation

22
Benefits of Microfinance

• Practical Needs
• Extremely poor women likely pre-occupied with
  obtaining the practical daily needs for herself
  and her family
• Micro finance appears to have a significant
  positive impact at this level

23
Benefits of MicrofinanceStrategic Gender Needs

• Strategic Needs

• Impact/ Outcomes

• Coercive division of labor
• Access to resources
• Domestic Violence
• Womens Control over their bodies
• Political influence
• Sexual exploitation

• Limited change
• No impact
• Contradictory evidence
• More robust evidence
• Some evidence but limited to local
• little evidence

24
Gender Equality A Distant Goal?

• No country in the world has achieved true parity
  between men and women
• The USA ranks 23rd in the world mainly held back
  by womens lack of political representation(66th
  place)
• Sweden in first place and still has more to
  achieve

25
Four Pillars of Swedens Gender Equality Policy

• Equal distribution of power and influence. Same
  rights and opportunities to be active citizens
  and to shape the conditions for decision making
• Economic Equality between men and women. Men and
  women shall have the same opportunities and
  conditions with regard to education and paid work
  that provide life long economic independence
• An equal distribution of unpaid care and
  household work. Women and men shall take the same
  responsibility for household work and have the
  same opportunities to give and receive care on
  equal terms
• Mens violence against women shall come to an
  end. Women and men, girls and boys shall have
  equal rights and opportunities to physical
  integrity

26
Gender and Microfinance Major Issues

• More research needed too much anecdotal evidence
• Practical daily needs must anchor longer term,
  durable gender outcomes
• Commercialization trend while exciting is also
  worrisome for women clients of MF
• Absence of women from leadership and as loan
  officers is a problem
• Connection between microfinance and small
  business needs strengthening