The Role of Microfinance Companies - Essay Example

Micro Credit Table of Contents Introduction 3 Literature Review 4 Conclusion 9 References 10 Bibliography 12 Introduction The primary purpose for review of the literature is to determine the impact of the intra households’ relations in African societies as the result of microfinance intervention. It further refers to the changing role of the men in that society. For analysis of this project, one needs to conduct primary research. As per the demand of the topic the reviews of literature should not stick to the micro credit policy. It should cover the status of women in that society, the economical status of Africa, determining the position and role of the men and finally the role of micro credit policies and the impact of this policy on African societies and it has been presented accordingly. Literature Review From the research paper of Agnes Loteta Dimandja, the economical status of Africa and the status of the women of the region and the present situation of the country in context of the human rights of the women can be concisely understood. Statistics from IMF, World Bank and other institute revealed that the poorest person on the earth lives in the Sub-Saharan Africa and probably she is a woman. As per the current situation of the Africa, where the basic human right are being violated, women are denied their dignity. It has been observed that the women in these societies came to be some of the first victims of the ongoing situation of violence and this is because of their internal wars. Women in these nations are found to beg for peace as peace is something that should exist as the necessary condition for development. This picture depicts the dominated position of the African women (Dimandja, 2004). Niara Sudarkasa has conducted a study regarding the status of the women in the indigenous African Society. As per her view, in the African Societies the female and the male have been time and again described as the complementary and separate. Usually it has been seen that, whenever any writer compare female and male in Africa, in most of the occasions, they certify men with a higher status and to be in a better situation and the women are portrayed as a saddle in home and domesticity (Sudarkasa, 1986). Wail S. Hassan has discussed about the “Man & Masculinity” in his article “Gender (and) Imperialism”. In his article, he had added the view of Judith Butler, who argued that gender assumed normative masculinity which has balanced against the femininity interpreted as deviation. This normative masculinity declares itself in colonial dissertation. During that time, as per the Frantz Fanon and Cornel, the racial discourse has symbolized the African men as the hyper masculine. Thus, masculine and feminine subject positions have been taken by the African man at once (Hassan, 2003). Janet Bujra has described the issue “AIDS Discourse and Activism in Africa” considering various social issues. One of such issues; recognises the social power of men in Africa. It will enable the researcher to understand the power positioning of men and women in the African society. Feminists of Africa have identified their dominance not only in the social relations but also have power over key economic resources and monopolisation in the political field and political positions. There are huge controversies regarding the nature of men, which pose as a monolithic category. It refers that men usually repress women. The feminists of Africa strengthen their power through gathering up and raising their voice against the men’s violence on women. Violence includes harassment towards the women, starting from domestic aggression to the attacks, who taunted to contend with men. In African society the brutalisation of women had been devastated by war and has become the charged issue (Cleaver, 2002). According to the Frances Cleaver, who is the senior lecturer at the “Bradford Centre for the International Development”, man disappear from the gender development policy. As per his view, shift of the terminology from ‘Women in Development’ to the ‘Gender and Development’ indicates the necessity of scrutinizing social relationship between the men and the women. In most of the gender policies, it is generally considered that men are the obstacles to women’s development. This paper further suggests that men should give up some of their charges over decision making process and household finances for the benefits of women. For simplifying the views of the power and gender relations, it can be assumed that focus of men can be justified as the securing benefits to the women. It further leads to the assumption that the women can be empowered only through giving up of power by men. The author had also discussed about the gender equality and the social justice. Gender concerns should be avoided for securing more effective and efficient delivery of development. In this regard, Batliwala has suggested that men and women can be released through empowerment process from the confinement of stereotyping. Another approach has been described here that is the crisis of masculinity. From the increasing proof it has been revealed that due to the changes in the social structure, economy and household composition, the crisis of the masculinity has found in many parts of the world. It further changed the assured role of men as the breadwinner and indicates more involvement of women in the labour force and increase in the number of female headed households (Cleaver, 2002). Juliet Mitchell and Gayel Rubin had defined three models for describing and distinguishing the relations. Those models are power, production and cathexis. First one is that of power relation which has indicated the dominance of men and subordination of women. It is important to mention here that the structure of Women’s Liberation is known as ‘Patriarchy’. In spite of many reversals such as women headed family and others, this structure exists. Theses reversals indicate that there will be a existing difficulties for the power that is patriarchal. A problem of legitimacy has been defined by them, which has a significant importance on politics of masculinity. The production relations have primary emphasis on the unequal wage rate. Though in many cases, it has been found that importance and existence of women has increased in the labour force or in corporate but still there exist a problem related to the proportionate wage rate of the women. Here, lies the importance of the micro credit policy intervention. Their motto of equal distribution of the wage make the women feel of proper empowerment and reduce the dominance of the men power. The third relation that indicates cathexis has no such importance with this particular study (Barrett & Whitehead, 2001). Nigel Roome, in his paper tries to argue that the microfinance initiative for the support of women and the bias against the men. The author has defined the women empowerment effect as the higher household income in the hands of women which leads to increase the health and education system for the women as well as their family members. As per his view, the women -disempowering effect refers to the supportive role of the women which they usually play for their spouse and other family members in the production of education and health. Both this effect can create friction among the role of the microfinance intervention as it excludes men from the access of subsidized finance. This paper also provides the anecdotal evidence from Africa on the conception of microfinance empowerment. Linda Mayoux had prepared reports, covering the African region, on a survey of 15 different microfinance programs. As per her findings, the women empowerment is region and household specific in that region. She further identified that empowerment of women has strongly inclined by prevailing somewhat inflexible, traditions and social norms. Thus, this study has recommended that empowerment and development results are the multilevel issues. This refers that the microfinance organisation’s aggregate outcome on development are influenced through the factors of household level. The design of these initiatives depends at the local level and the institutional factors and the social factors at the regional level. From the above mentioned anecdotal evidence, it is evident that the relationship between the issues of gender in empowerment and development around microfinance and its structures need to be discovered in greater depth (Armendriz & Roome, 2008). According to Emily Esplen, the development interventions are targeted to improve the opportunity of women’s income and employment. It has been further added that the projects mainly focus on the women and might be reinforced in the existing gender stereotypes. For example, women can be considered as careers whereas men as bread earners (Esplen, 2006). Conclusion The purpose of any microfinance company can be better described as the tests to the predictable wisdom. The women are progressively more empowered by microfinance which enables them to spread out their businesses and leads to earn high profit or return, therefore their spouse and other family members can value them better. That can be again translating into higher education and health provision, not only for the house holds but also for the wider community. This purpose is not accomplished in Africa as even before few years also women were suppressed by men and for that the feminists became vocal to get their rights. Therefore, it is expected that men will not accept the role of women as the bread earners presently but with the passing of time, social norms and traditions are expected to change and the micro credit intervention is expected to become a great success. References Armendriz, B. & Roome, N., 2008. Anecdotal Evidence from Bangladesh and Africa. Gender Empowerment in Microfinance. [Online] Available at: http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/armendariz/files/Gender%20Empowerment.pdf [Accessed July 12, 2010]. Barrett, F.J. & Whitehead, S.M., 2001. The Masculinities Reader. Wiley-Blackwell. Cleaver, F., 2002. Masculinities Matter!: Men, Gender, and Development. Zed Books. Dimandja, A. L., 2004. Situation of African Women in Context of Crisis. The Role and Place of Women in Sub-Saharan African Societies. [Online] Available at: http://www.globalaging.org/elderrights/world/2004/subsaharan.htm [Accessed July 12, 2010]. Esplen, E., 2006.Why Involve Men in Gender and Development Work?. Engaging Men in Gender Equality: Positive Strategies and Approaches. [Online] Available at: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:wXlLe6Wb1PUJ:www.humanitarianreform.org/humanitarianreform/Portals/1/cluster%2520approach%2520page/clusters%2520pages/Gender/Gender%2520Toolkit%25202/02-%2520Engaging%2520Men%2520in%2520GE.doc+men+and+masculinity+in+africa&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk [Accessed July 12, 2010]. Hassan, W. S., 2003. Gender (and) Imperialism. Man and Masculinities. [Online] Available at: http://jmm.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/5/3/309 [Accessed July 12, 2010]. Sudarkasa, N., 1986. Introduction. “The Status Of Women” In Indigenous African Societies. [Online] Available at: http://www.jstor.org/pss/3177985 [Accessed July 12, 2010]. Bibliography Connell, R.W. & Wood, Julian., 2005. Globalization and Business Masculinities. Globalization and Business Masculinities. [Online] Available at: http://grove.ufl.edu/~gender/Readings/ReadingsW7/GlobalizationBusinessMasculinities.pdf [Accessed July 12, 2010]. Heinonen, N., 2006. Introduction. Balancing the Gender Equation – Men’s important role in Achieving Gender Equality in Development Co-operation. [Online] Available at: http://www.minna.fi/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=de633340-7c5e-424d-94db-55b857ee8185&groupId=10136 [Accessed July 12, 2010]. Hulme, D., No Date. Impact Assessment Methodologies for Microfinance. Theory, Experience and Better Practice. [Online] Available at: http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/155591/finsecissues/pdf/hulme.pdf [Accessed July 12, 2010]. Read More