Microcredit and Womens Empowerment
Using a case study of Bangladesh, and based on a long term participatory observation method, this book investigates claims of the success of microcredit, as well as the critiques of it, in the context of womens empowerment. It confronts the distinction between womens increasing wealth as a consequence of the success of microcredit programmes and their apparent non-commensurate empowerment, looking at two organizations (the Grameen Bank and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) as they operate in two localities in rural Bangladesh, to discover how enrichment and empowerment are often confused.
The book goes on to establish that the well-publicized success stories of the microcredit programme are blown out of proportion and the dynamics of collective responsibility for repayment of loans by a group of women borrowers usually seen to be a tool for the success of microcredit is, in fact, no less repressive than traditional debt collectors. This book makes a contribution to development debates; challenging adherents to more closely specify those conditions under which microcredit does indeed have validity, as well as providing insights relevant to South Asian Studies and Development Studies.
Aminul Faraizi is Senior Lecturer of Sociology in the Department of Behavioural and Social Sciences at CQ University, Australia.
Taskinur Rahman is Executive Director of the Assistance for Social Organization and Development (ASOD), Bangladesh.
Jim McAllister is Honorary Research Fellow of CQ University, Australia.
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Microcredit and Womens Empowerment
A case study of Bangladesh
Aminul Faraizi, Taskinur Rahman and Jim McAllister
First published 2011
by Routledge
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2011 Aminul Faraizi, Taskinur Rahman and Jim McAllister
The right of Aminul Faraizi, Taskinur Rahman and Jim McAllister to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Faraizi, Aminul Haque.
Microcredit and womens empowerment: a case study of Bangladesh / Aminul Faraizi,
