Has Profitability challenged Patriarchy?
Microfinance Programme and Gender Relations
within the Household in Rwanda
A Research Paper presented by:
Yvette Nyinawumuntu
(Rwanda)
In partial fulfilment of the requirements for obtaining the degree of
MASTERS OF ARTS IN DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
Specialization:
Women, Gender and Development
(WGD)
Members of the Examining Committee:
Dr Kurian Rachel
Dr Amrita Chhachhi
The Hague, The Netherlands
December 2012
ii
Contents
Acknowledgement
vi
List of Acronyms
vii
Abstract
viii
Chapter 1 Introduction
1
1.1
Background to the Problem
1
1.2
Overview of COOPEDU MFI
4
1.3
Problem Statement
6
1.4
Objective of the study
6
1.5
Research questions:
6
1.5.1
The main question
6
1.5.2
Sub-questions
6
1.6
Relevance and Justification of the study
7
1.7
Methodology
7
1.7.1
Sample Population and Choice of respondents
8
1.7.2
The source of data and Data collection technique
9
1.7.3
Limitations of the study
9
1.8
The Structure of the paper
9
Chapter 2 Conceptual and Theoretical framework
11
2.1
Introduction
11
2.2
Women’s Empowerment
11
2.3
Women’s Economic Empowerment
12
2.4
Household structure and gender needs
13
2.4.1
Household structure
13
2.4.2
Gender needs
13
2.5
Microfinance Programme (MFP)
2.6
Theoretical links between Microfinance and women’s empowerment
plus analytical framework
16
2.6.1
2.6.2
15
Microfinance and Women’s Empowerment: Mayoux’s
Theoretical Framework
16
Analytical framework
19
Chapter 3 Microfinance and women’s negotiating between
profitability and patriarchy within the household
23
3.1
Introduction
23
3.2
Women and access to credit
23
iii
3.3
Shift from patriarchal relations to equitable gender relations within
the household: Outcome from Profitability
25
3.4
Profitability and women’s agency towards patriarchy tension within
the household
28
3.5.
Conclusion of the chapter
32
Chapter 4 Tensions between profitability and maintained patriarchal
relations within household
34
4.1. Introduction
34
4.2
Presentations of the cases and analysis
34
4.3
Conclusion of the chapter
40
Chapter 5 Conclusion and Policy Recommendations
41
References
43
Appendix
45
Interview guide
45
iv
Dedication
I dedicate this work to My Almighty God. May the Glory be to Him.
v
Acknowledgement
If there had not been combined efforts from different people and
institutions, this Masters’ Thesis would not have been written. I
seize this opportunity to express my highest gratitude to all of
them.
Let me first thank the ISS for having provided me with admission
and imparted to me the knowledge, the Netherlands Fellowship
Programme for having granted me with the scholarship.
Particular thanks to Dr Kurian Rachel and Dr Amrita Chhachhi for
having accepted to supervise me in this research. My research supervisor Dr. Rachel Kurian has done too much for me than I expected from her; I thank her for the critical insights, unwavering
guidance and patience throughout the research process. Dr. Amrita
Chhachhi, my second reader for her valuable comments which enabled me to focus and enlarge my perception of my research topic.
To the members of faculty for their significant contributions to my
comprehension of relevant concepts and schools of thought that
proved to be the firm foundation of my study.
My particular acknowledgements to all my family members, close
friends and colleagues find here the expression of my deepest gratitude.
May God bless all of you
vi
List of Acronyms
BNR
Banque Nationale du Rwanda (National Bank of Rwanda)
CGAP
Consultative Group to Assist the Poor
COOPEDU
Cooperative d’Epargne et de Credit Duterimbere
(Cooperative of Savings and Credits Duterimbere)
EDPRS
Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy
EICV3
Troisieme Enquête Intégrale sur les Conditions de Vie des
ménages (The Third Integrated Household Living
Conditions Survey)
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
ISS
Institute of Social Studies
MFI
Microfinance Institutions
MFP
Microfinance Programme
MIGEPROF
Ministry of Gender and Promotion of Families
MINAGRI
Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources
MINECOFIN
Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning
NISR
National Institute of Statistics Rwanda
NGO
Non-Profit Organization
PRSP
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
RNMFP
Rwanda National Microfinance Policy
ROSCAS
Rotating Savings and Credit Association
RWF
Rwandan Franc
UNDP
United Nations Development Programme
UNIFEM
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the
Empowerment of Women
USAID
United States Agency for International Development
USD
United States Dollar
vii
Abstract
The Government of Rwanda has been since 1990s promoting Microfinance Programme (MFP) as a tool for Poverty Alleviation and
Women’s economic and Social Empowerment. This research paper
analyses whether profitability in such enterprises has resulted into
more equitable gender power relations within the household. Using
qualitative data, the paper explores the ways in which women, in
spite of increased incomes have still to counter existing patriarchal
norms and practices in society and in the household. The success
and failures in the negotiations for equality between husbands and
wives show that while microfinance is an important tool for moving out of poverty, it is in itself not sufficient to bring about women’s social empowerment. A more multi- focussed approach challenging patriarchy in society is necessary for this purpose.
Relevance to Development Studies
The promotion of Gender Equality and the Empowerment of
Women is the third of eight Millennium Development Goals for
2015. In order to achieve this goal, different strategies have been
put in place, and Microfinance Programmes is one such measure
that has been adopted by Governments and Development Practitioners with the aim of poverty reduction and women’s empowerment. Academically, many researchers in development studies have
carried out studies in this area. For this reason, this research seeks
to contribute to that knowledge by looking for the practicability of
Microfinance programmes in challenging and changing the existing
gender relations based on patriarchal norms and values.
Keywords
Profitability, Patriarchy, Microfinance, Women, Empowerment,
Rwanda
.
viii
Chapter 1
Introduction
Microfinance Programmes have existed in Europe since the 1800s,
their main objective being to assist the poor, especially the rural
poor, in breaking away from their dependence on money lenders
and to improve their welfare by providing small loans with interest
for short periods (Global Envision 2006 in Ali and Hatta 2012:112).
In the 1970s, the first programme in Bangladesh started in the form
of solidarity groups lending money with the main aim of providing
credit to be used by the very poor, especially women, for incomegenerating activities (Global Envision 2006). Since the 1990s, the
Microfinance programme has become a key strategy in the alleviation of poverty and women’s empowerment with often mixed results with regard to reconciling these objectives (Mayoux 1999,
2002, 2005).
While Microfinance Programmes in Rwanda were initiated in
the 1970s, they assumed greater significance from the mid-1990s
onwards as the country dealt with the trauma and other problems
of the genocide of 1994. The loss of lives, mainly of men, together
with the increasing problems of poverty and social justice, resulted
in women being particularly vulnerable and in need of economic,
social and political empowerment. As from 1997, and often with
the support of national and international NGOs, Microfinance programmes began to play an important role in the process of offering
material assistance to the population alongside financial assistance
in the form of microcredit. Currently, Rwanda is home to 96 licensed MFIs1 with the main objective of poverty alleviation and the
empowerment of women (National Bank of Rwanda 2008, 2009).
1.1 Background to the Problem
Rwanda is a small, landlocked and resource–poor country of 26,338
square kilometres, located in Central Africa. In 2011 its total population was 10.718.379 million of whom 53% were female and 47%
were male (EICV32 2012). In 2010, the Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) per capita was USD 540 and 45% of the population lived
MFIs: Microfinance Institutions
EICV3: The third Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey
2010/2011 for Rwanda
1
2
1
below poverty line (Ibid.). Furthermore, Rwanda is a Republic that
is governed by a multiparty presidential system (Izabiliza 2006) and
the family is the natural foundation of Rwandan society, and is protected by the State (The Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda
2003).
Historically, Rwanda passed through difficult times of war
and the Genocide of the Tutsi in 1994, resulting in extreme poverty
as the country’s economy was completely destroyed and the majority of the population (60%) of whom were now women lived below
the poverty line (Republic of Rwanda 2007b:3). That had an overwhelming social and economic effect on the country and affected
the household.
Traditionally, Rwandan society was patriarchal in nature with
a social structure that emphasised male authority and female subordination (Izabiliza 2006:5). The socially constructed gender roles
were economically and politically structured in such a way that
women were disadvantaged in all areas compared to men. One of
the main causes of this was the immediate shift made by colonial
rule from subsistence to a monetary economy based on paid employment and a formal education system. This weakened women’s
bargaining position on matters related to their access to and control
over resources as well as the degree of their level of participation in
the development process (Izabiliza Loc. cit.).
The Rwandan household included from the beginning the
nuclear family composed of husband, wife, children and relatives
from the extended family. According to article 26 of the Rwandan
Constitution (2003), the family is protected by the State and a monogamous marriage between a man and a woman is the only one
recognized by the law. The parties to the marriage have equal rights
and duties. Moreover, the conjugal contract according to Law No
22/99 of 12/11/1999 of Matrimonial regime relates to the agreement between spouses on the management of their property, allows
the spouses to choose between three options: either the Community of Property Regime based on joint ownership of all household
property (Ibid. Article 4); or the Limited Community of Acquests
Regime, by which they can decide to manage separately the property acquired before marriage (Ibid. Article 7); or the Separation of
Property Regime where the spouses can decide to manage their
property totally separately (Ibid. Article 11).
Unfortunately, the consequences of the 1994 genocide have
led to changes in the country’s demographic and household structure to the point that today, women form the majority of the popu2
lation and some households are headed by women and orphans.
Nowadays, 28% of households have been counted as being permanently headed by women, and 47% of them live under the poverty
line, totalling 45% of all households (EICV3 2012:10). That was
and still is a big challenge to women who are supposed to fulfil the
existing family care responsibilities including taking care of orphans
alone, as well as assuming duties traditionally carried out in patriarchal Rwandan society by men (Izabiliza 2006:1).
In May 2003, Rwanda adopted one of the world’s most progressive constitutions in terms of its commitment to equal rights
for all, gender equality and the representation of women. It required
a quota of 30% of women in decision-making institutions. Rwanda
has far exceeded that quota, to the point that nowadays, 33.3% of
the Cabinet are women, 56.3% in Parliament, and 34.4% in the
Senate; Rwanda has now become the country in the world with the
highest female representation in decision-making institutions (Republic of Rwanda 2011).
Within the framework of fighting against the feminization of
poverty and bringing about gender equality, measures taken in this
line include the ‘Genderisation’ of the State Budget, the elaboration
of a National Gender policy, and the implementation of a National
Programme for the fight against poverty, taking into account the
specific needs of the woman (Republic of Rwanda 2005:10).
Moreover, in order to facilitate women’s participation economically, the Government of Rwanda has put several different
strategies in place in terms of policies, laws, and financial support to
enable women’s active participation in economic activities. These
strategies include the promulgation of the law No 22/99 in 1999 on
matrimonial regimes, donation, liberties and successions3; a vote for
the land organic law in 2005 in order to facilitate equal access to
land between men and women; the Labour law of 2009. Also,
mechanisms enabling women to have access to credit facilities and
savings were initiated such as the creation of the Bank for Women
and the establishment of the Women Guarantee Fund for those
who were novices in the area of business, facilitating their access to
bank credits and small credits with Microfinance Institutions (Republic of Rwanda 2010).
Law on Matrimonial regimes, donation, liberties, and succession (1999) is a
key legal framework that stipulates equality in property and inheritance rights between
men and women.
3
3
Currently, women’s involvement in economic activities at the
national level has been measured at 56.4 % while men’s participation is 43.6%. Out of the 56.4% of women who are economically
active, 55.8% have office and skilled occupations as formal public
staff, and the others as supporting staff such as secretaries, accountants, teachers, and nurses. On the other hand, 87.6% of
women in rural areas are involved in animal husbandry and agricultural activities as independent farmers, wage farmers, and unpaid
family workers on the farm and 33.5% of women in urban areas
work as house helpers (Republic of Rwanda 2010, 2011).
However, some of the women involved in income earning
activities join Microfinance Institutions for financial support. For
this reason, various women’s associations have been utilised by
women to establish savings and micro-credit cooperatives (Republic
of Rwanda 2007b:8). The focus of this study is COOPEDU MFI.
1.2 Overview of COOPEDU MFI
COOPEDU MFI is a microfinance institution that offers credit and
savings services to customers who cannot usually be served by the
traditional or commercial banks and do not have assets that are accepted as being sufficient to guarantee full repayment of the loan
taken out. It was initiated in 1997 by DUTERIMBERE ASBL,
which is a Non-Profit Organization, and then approved by the National Bank of Rwanda in 2005. It is located at Kicukiro District in
Kigali City. The beneficiaries of its services include men, women
and associations, but women constitute the majority (77%) while
men represent 22% and Associations 1%. Its main target is women
with a low income in urban areas. Its mission is to provide financial
services to low income or economically active poor people in general and women in particular in order to empower them (The Global Microfinance Rating Agency 2012).
The category of ‘low income or economically active poor’ is defined
in the literature as someone who, though poor, has some form of
employment and who is not suffering severely from food-deficit or
destitution (Republic of Rwanda 2007a, Robinson 2001); in other
words, a person who engages in some form of economic activity
even if this might be at a low level. According to PRSP’s characteristics of the households in Rwanda, the low income poor are categorised among the resourceful or surviving poor (Republic of
Rwanda 2002:14). However, in COOPEDU MFI, the low income
poor are categorised in terms of income earning; thus, included are
4
those who earn a monthly income of between Rwf 30,000 and
50,000 (USD 50 and 83).
COOPEDU MFI provides financial services like savings,
credits and forex bureaux. In terms of savings, they offer three
main types: the deposits which are not paid; the saving ‘Teganya’ in
Kinyarwanda or ‘Save’ in English at an interest rate of 6% with unlimited deposit and withdrawals limited to once a month (minimum
of RWF 50 000 /USD100); and the time deposits4 of 6% to 8% for
amounts ranging from Rwf 100 000 to 10 million (USD 200 to 20
000). In terms of Credits, they offer eight types of loans, three of
which are reserved particularly for women, these being the Women's Solidarity Group Loan; Loans for Women Entrepreneurs or
individual loans, and Ordinary Loans in case a woman shifts from
all other cited types of loan to this one. The following table gives an
overview of the types of loans available to women in COOPEDU
MFI and details related to them.
Table 1
A summary of the types of loans available to women in COOPEDU MFI and details
Types of
loans
Loan size
Interest rate
Maximum
repayment period
Guarantee
Term of repayment
Group loan or
Women solidarity
Group Loan
Individual loan
or Women Entrepreneur’s Loan
Rwf 100,000300,000
(USD163-490)
Rwf 200,0002,000,000
(USD 326-3,267)
2% a month =
16% in 8 months
Ordinary Loan
From Rwf 0 to
30,000,000
(USD 0 - 49 000)
1,08% a month =
13% a year
20% a year
12 months
From 1 year to 5
years
Surety and solidarity of group members
Physical collateral
Physical Collateral
Weekly repayment
Monthly repayment
Monthly repayment
8 months
Source: Field research 2012
Though the main goal of COOPEDU MFI is empowering
women through offering them financial support including loans,
the above table primarily suggests the alleviation of poverty than
empowering women economically. This can be seen for example in
terms of repayment period for the Group solidarity Loan, which
women have to repay weekly. Although this seems to help women
in terms of encouraging them to earn a daily profit, if there are no
other interventions in terms of the gender division of labour within
the household, a weekly repayment on top of the other domestic
work of women can result in a work overload for them, and thus
4
Time deposits or Dépot a terme in French
5
more in disempowerment than empowerment of the female beneficiaries.
1.3 Problem Statement
Microfinance Programmes in Rwanda have been supported and encouraged by the government and NGOs largely as a tool for poverty alleviation and women’s empowerment, on the assumption that
economic empowerment would lead to more equitable gender relations both within the community and the household. It is therefore
important to analyse whether and how success in women’s economic activities from the microfinance financial support has resulted in their improved status and transformation of the existing gender relations within their households.
1.4 Objective of the study
The study explores the tensions that women experience in negotiating between the demands on the one hand of profitability of their
enterprise and on the other hand of patriarchal relations in the
community and household. It analyses whether and how the economic empowerment gained through accessing microfinance services and developing their own profitable enterprises has also resulted into more gender equitable relations within the household.
1.5 Research questions:
1.5.1 The main question
How and to what extent has women’s profitability in their enterprises through microfinance financial support led to gender equitable relations within the household?
1.5.2 Sub-questions
- How do women access and control their credit and other
expenditures?
- What are the problems women face in ensuring that their
businesses function well?
- To what degree has the increased profitability of women's
businesses due to microfinance changed the tensions of
maintained patriarchy within the household?
6
1.6 Relevance and Justification of the study
Various academic studies have been done about Microfinance Programmes and some of them have viewed microfinance as a tool for
both poverty reduction and women’s empowerment. In the context
of Rwanda, not much research has been conducted in that area.
This study contributes to the debates on women’s empowerment
by examining whether microfinance can be a tool for improving
gender equality within households in Rwanda.
1.7 Methodology
This study regards the feminist empowerment approach, this being
a model in which empowerment is seen as the transformation of
gender and class relations (Mayoux 1998b:236), as being relevant
for the methodology and analysis of the ways in which women have
had to negotiate between profitability and patriarchy, and what role
microfinance services have had in that. This approach will be elaborated upon in more detail in the conceptual framework of this
study.
The research was developed using the conceptual framework
of Linda Mayoux. The rationale for using that framework was that
it links both Microfinance and Women’s Empowerment, as well as
providing relevant insight into various indicators of empowerment
or disempowerment of women through Microfinance from a gender perspective. In relation to the research objective and questions,
the following indicators in table 2 have been utilised in this research.
Table 2
Research Indicators
Women’s Empowerment
Women’s Disempowerment
Increased income
Lack of or Decreased income
Control over the use of credit/income
Lack of control over the use of credit/income
Decision making and bargaining power
within the household
Lack of decision making and bargaining
power within the household/denying choice
Challenge and Change of the existing gender roles
Reinforcement of the existing gender roles
Gender division of labor
Increased workload
The research is mainly a qualitative analysis as it is difficult to capture the nature of gender relations within the household using simple indicators. The emphasis was thus placed on in-depth interviews with relevant persons in order to highlight the nuances
7
involved in understanding the different processes inherent in undertaking microfinance and women’s empowerment.
The interview guide was in English, though the local language was Kinyarwanda. This meant that communication with the
respondents necessitated the translation of questions from English
to Kinyarwanda and then translation of the responses back again
into English.
Moreover, because female informants were often busy in
their business or housework, the researcher often had to go and
meet them at the place where they were. Sometimes even then they
were very busy and were unable to attend the interview, it thus becoming necessary to reschedule the appointment for another day.
1.7.1 Sample Population and Choice of respondents
The study employed purposive sampling by which individuals presumed to possess enough information were contacted and asked to
be interviewed for the study. For the purpose of this research, the
informants were divided in two categories, one being Officials of
COOPEDU MFI, and the other being women beneficiaries of their
services. In total the sample of this study constituted 10 people.
The Officials of COOPEDU MFI consisted of one Manager
and one Loan Officer, therefore totalling two persons. They were
selected and deliberately interviewed for the purpose of obtaining
information related to the institution and the way in which they
work with women with the aim of empowering them.
Concerning the women who are beneficiaries of COOPEDU
MFI, eight women were interviewed in total. The qualitative nature
of the research influenced the choice of sample size in terms of the
respondents, based on the population profile rather than the number of people (O’Leary 2010:165). However, the researcher selected
women as informants who matched the criteria of being a married
woman with a family who has benefited in terms of income
through receiving support from COOPEDU MFI services. This
was because this research intended to explore whether an increase
in income to women can be translated into equitable gender relations within the household. Another criteria was membership of the
COOPEDU between 2007 and 2012 (5 years working with
COOPEDU MFI) in order to enable the researcher to measure
change over that period of time.
8
1.7.2 The source of data and Data collection technique
This study employed both primary and secondary data. In terms of
primary data, Semi-Structured interviews were used, as well as informal and unstructured interviews. The Interview guide of questions asked is to be found in the appendix of this research.
As mentioned above, the Semi-Structured interviews have
been conducted to both the Officials of COOPEDU MFI (Manager and Loan Officer), and women who are beneficiaries of their
services. The data obtained have enabled knowledge as to the ways
in which women have had to negotiate between profitability and
patriarchy and what the role of Microfinance has been in that. To
this end, women were asked questions related to their access to
credit; the level of their use and control over credit as well as income from it; decision making about credit and income use within
the household; and change in household relations in terms of the
division of labour. The unstructured interview was used as the basis
for conversation during which women shared their stories with the
researcher, sharing information about how they manage both market and domestic work and the problems they face.
As well as this primary data, the study also made use of secondary data which was collected by reviewing literature about Microfinance and women’s empowerment, primarily from books,
journal articles, and other relevant documents such as reports from
the ISS Library or other libraries, from the internet, or from various
other institutions including those of the Republic of Rwanda related
to this topic.
1.7.3 Limitations of the study
The main limitation of this study was the small sample size of respondents. We justify this by considering the study to be qualitative,
without enough information to provide quantifiable outcomes, but
through its format of semi-structured and unstructured interviews
which provided enough information to gain an increased understanding about tensions between women’s profitability and patriarchy within the household, and the role of Microfinance in helping
women negotiating between the two.
1.8 The Structure of the paper
This paper is organized into five chapters. The first chapter introduces the background of the study. It explains the statement of the
problem and highlights the objective, main research question and
9
the research methodology. The second chapter discusses the concepts that are used in this study, theoretical links between Microfinance and Women’s Empowerment, and the analytical framework
that is used in analyzing the study's findings. The third chapter discuses women’s negotiating between profitability and patriarchy
within the household and the role of microfinance in that. The
fourth chapter, through the illustration of the different case studies
where profitability has not translated into gender equality, looks at
why and how patriarchy continues to keep some women under its
control.
10
Chapter 2
Conceptual and Theoretical framework
2.1 Introduction
This chapter discusses the key concepts in this research such as
women’s empowerment and economic empowerment in the context of microfinance. It also looks at how the household is conceptualized and structured in the literature and its relevance to the
Rwandan setting. With regard to that, it differentiates women’s
practical and strategic needs in relation to women’s empowerment
through microfinance services. On the basis of these discussions, it
develops the theoretical framework put forward by Linda Mayoux
to understand the ways in which microfinance result in women’s
empowerment.
2.2 Women’s Empowerment
According to Mayoux (2000:18), ‘Empowerment’ is a multidimensional and interlinked process of change in power relations which
can operate in different spheres of life (economic, social, political,
and so on) and at different levels like individual, household, community, market, and so on’. Different scholars defined and discussed about this concept.
For some like Cheston and Kuhn (2002:11) empowerment is
‘a process of change by which individuals or groups with little or no power, gain
the power and ability to make choices that affect their lives’. They also pointed out three key elements of empowerment which are ‘change, choice
and power’. In relation to that, Kabeer (1999:437) saw women’s empowerment as ‘the process by which those who have been denied
the ability to make strategic life choices acquire such ability’. With
this regard, she pointed out three interrelated dimensions to measure that empowerment which are: resources, agency and achievement. According to her, ‘resources’ include access to resources and
future claims to both material and social resources which serve to
enhance the ability to exercise choice. In relation to power, this is
about getting ‘Power to’.
11
The second dimension of ‘agency’ is the ability to define
one’s goal and act upon them. It includes the process of decision
making, negotiation, deception, and manipulation or ‘Power within’. And then as a result of both resources and agency, there is a
dimension of ‘achievement’ which refers to what Kabeer quoting
Sen (1985b) called the potential that people have for living the lives
they want, of achieving valued ways of ‘being and doing’(Kabeer
1999:438).
Again, Afshar (1998:4) in defining ‘Empowerment’ supported Kabeer’s notion of agency stating that women’s empowerment is something that cannot be done to or for women but
has to begin from them - ‘power within’.
For that reason, it has been found by development practitioners that building women’s capacity (economically, socially, and
politically) is one of the prior activities on agenda. Then, increasing
women’s access to financial services through Microfinance programme has been found as one of the tools which can lead to
household wellbeing improvement as well as to empowerment. But,
as Swain and Wallentin (2009:545) mentioned, not all activities that
lead to an increase in the well-being of a woman are necessarily
empowering in themselves. From the same researchers’ point of
view, ‘empowering activities’ are those activities that reflect the changes
that women have effectively made to improve the quality of their
lives by resisting the gender based traditions and norms that reinforce gender inequality.
2.3 Women’s Economic Empowerment
UNIFEM in Carr (2000:2) cited in Mosedale (2005:247) defined
Women’s Economic Empowerment as ‘having access to and control over
the means to make a living on a sustainable and long term basis and receiving the
material benefits of this access and control’, they looked at Women’s Eco-
nomic Empowerment beyond only increasing women’s access to
resources; but they also considered the laws and policies that hinder
women participation in development as well as the power relations
within the household, community and market place for the sake of
sustainable benefits for women. Again, Swain and Wallentin
(2009:553) agreed with UNIFEM by adding that Women’s economic empowerment may lead to their greater participation in decision making and bargaining power within the household.
12
2.4 Household structure and gender needs
2.4.1 Household structure
Household has been simply defined by Rakodi (2002:7) as ‘a person
or co-resident group of people who contribute to and/or benefit
from a joint economy, in either cash or domestic labour – that is, a
group of people who live and eat together’. But as the focus of this
study is to analyse the influence of Microfinance services on gender
relations within the household; therefore, this study uses Moser’s
conceptualization of household as an entity composed by nuclear
family of a husband, wife, children and members of the extend
family (Moser 1989).
Though the nuclear family is the most dominant, Moser also
pointed out another type of household which is a non-nuclear family of Women Headed Households (WHHH). This is composed by
a woman headed, children and other members of the family either
because a male partner is permanently absent due to separation or
death and the woman is legally single, divorced or widowed; or
again when the male partner is temporally absent, due to long-term
work migration, or refugee status, but this one is not legally a woman headed household because in this case, she is often perceived as
a dependent (Moser 1989:1801).
2.4.2 Gender needs
According to Molyneux (1985), gender needs include the needs that
women may develop by virtue of their social positioning through
gender attributes. She differentiated them into practical and strategic gender needs.
2.4.2.1 Practical Gender needs
Practical Gender needs are those needs which are formulated from
the concrete conditions women experience in their engendered position within the sexual division of labour and deriving out of this
their practical gender interests for human survival (Moser
1989:1803).
According to Molyneux (1985:233), the practical gender
needs are usually a response to an immediate perceived need, and
they do not generally involve a strategic goal such as women emancipation or gender equality. She also added that they cannot them-
13
selves challenge the prevailing forms of gender subordination, even
though they arise directly out of them.
2.4.2.2 Strategic Gender needs
This notion of Strategic Gender Need/ Interests was coined for the
first time in 1985 by Maxine Molyneux. It helped to develop gender
planning and development tools such as Moser framework, which
is known and used around the world. According to Molyneux
(1985:232) the Strategic Gender Needs are those needs which are
formulated from the analysis of women’s subordination to men.
They focus on the fundamental issues related to women’s/men’s
subordination and gender inequities. Moser (1989:1803) added that
Women’s subordination varies depending on cultural and sociopolitical context within which they are formulated. Therefore, Gender Strategic Needs are contextual.
However, the strategic Gender Needs/ Interests are longterm, usually not material, and are often related to structural changes in society in terms of women’s status and equity. According to
Molyneux (1985:233), in general the Gender Strategic Needs may
include all or some of the aspects like the abolition of the sexual division of labour; the alleviation of the burden of domestic labour
and childcare; the removal of institutionalized forms of discrimination such as rights to own land; or property, access to credit; the
establishment of political equality; freedom of choice over
childbearing; adoption of adequate measures against male violence
and control over women; the sexual exploitation of women and coercive forms of marriage. For the feminists these are women’s real
interests.
Moreover, Molyneux (1985:234) indicated that the formulation of strategic gender interests can only be effective as a form of
intervention when full account is taken of these practical interests.
With regard to that, Kabeer quoted in Wieringa (1998:358) argued
that addressing gender strategic interests should contribute to
women’s empowerment. Similarly, Mayoux (2005:6) supported Kabeer’s point of view when she was linking Microfinance to women’s
empowerment, then she highlighted the necessity of taking in account the strategic needs like property rights, change in intrahousehold relations and macro-economic context.
14
2.5 Microfinance Programme (MFP)
Microfinance is defined differently by different researchers from
different point of view. Some viewed it as a tool for poverty reduction and others for women’s empowerment. According to Noreen
(2011:318), Microfinance is a type of banking service which provides access to financial and non-financial services to low income
or unemployed people. For Van Maanen (2004), microfinance is
about banking the un-bankable, bringing credit, savings and other
essential financial services within the reach of the poorest to be
served by regular banks, in most cases because they are unable to
offer sufficient collateral. In Rwandan context, Microfinance is
simply defined as ‘provision of financial services to low income clients including the self-employed’ (Republic of Rwanda 2007:14).
However, this programme of Microfinance is implemented
under the Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) which are defined by
Murdoch (2000) as Institutions which provide financial services to
the low income people who lack access to credit from the formal
banking system for lack of guarantee. Among those MFIs, there are
some which mainly target women.
The products and services of most MFIs include MicroCredits which have been defined by Bamwesigye (2008:24) as small
loans made by Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) to the poor to pursue self-employment and start small businesses for the purpose of
alleviating poverty and empowering them.
In relation to empowerment, Microfinance Programme is assumed to have the potential to transform gender power relations
within the household and to empower women (Cheston and Kuhn
2002). The literature differentiates two ways of empowering women
through Microfinance Programme; the first way is ‘Direct empowerment’ through offering to women the non-financial services including group trainings, workshops leading to the creation of greater awareness. The second way is ‘Indirect empowerment’ which is
related to providing financial services to women in order to enable
them to participate in the labour market and attain the economic
independence. Then that participation increases their choice capability, self-confidence and decision making power which will lead
them indirectly to empowerment (Swain and Wallentin 2009:545).
15
Nonetheless, Cheston and Kuhn (2002) mentioned that even
though women’s access to financial services increased in last decades, their ability to invest in and benefit from that access is still
limited by the disadvantages related to household and community
gender based traditions and norms.
2.6 Theoretical links between Microfinance and
women’s empowerment plus analytical framework
2.6.1 Microfinance and Women’s Empowerment: Mayoux’s
Theoretical Framework
This study uses the theoretical framework of Linda Mayoux. It interlinks Microfinance to Women’s Empowerment. She managed to
do so by identifying and linking the three contrasting ‘paradigms’
which are:
- Financial Self-Sustainability Paradigm
- Poverty alleviation Paradigm
- Feminist empowerment Paradigm
2.6.1.1 The Financial self-sustainability paradigm
This paradigm is related to the ‘financial systems approach’ which
offers a commercial – oriented and a minimalist package of financial services for economically active poor (Kabeer 2005). It includes
neo-liberal development model which support the provision of
credits to women as a tool for their empowerment, especially economic empowerment (Basu 2008). Economic empowerment is defined in this model as expansion of individual choice and capacities
for self-reliance (Mayoux 1998:236). It underlies the models of microfinance promoted since the mid – 1990s by most donor agencies
and the Best Practice guidelines promoted in publications by
USAID, World Bank, UNDP and CGAP (Mayoux 2005:7).
Its main policy focus is the financially self-sustainable microfinance programmes which increase access to micro-finance services to large numbers of poor people, especially the entrepreneurial poor who are the key targeted group (Mayoux 2005:4). Women
are targeted in this regard because of the high female repayments
rates and the contribution of women’s economic activity to economic growth.
16
Moreover, the main assumption in this model is that access
to Microfinance services will automatically lead to economic empowerment without other complementary interventions or change
in the macro-economic growth agenda through enabling women’s
decisions about savings and credit use, enabling women to set up
microenterprise, increasing incomes under their control. It is also
assumed that this increased economic empowerment will lead to
increased well-being of women and also to social and political empowerment (Mayoux 2005:7).
2.6.1.2 The poverty alleviation Paradigm
Microfinance Programme is viewed in this paradigm as a part of integrated programme for poverty reduction to the poorest households (Mayoux 2005:4). With regard to that, empowerment is defined as increasing capacities as well as choices, and decreasing the
vulnerability of the poor people (Op. cit.).
According to the gender lobbies practitioners, the main idea
behind targeting women in this paradigm is related to higher levels
of female poverty and women’s responsibility for household wellbeing (Mayoux 2005:6).
The main assumption in this paradigm is that increasing
women’s access to microfinance will enable them to make a greater
contribution to household income and this, together with other interventions to increase household well-being, will translate into improved well-being for women and enable women to bring about
wider changes in gender inequality (Mayoux 2000:5).
2.6.1.3 Feminist empowerment paradigm
In this model, Microfinance is promoted as an entry point in the
context of a wider strategy for women’s economic and sociopolitical empowerment which focuses on gender awareness and
feminist organization (Mayoux 2000:7). From that view, empowerment is defined as transformation of power relations throughout
society (Mayoux 2005:4). With regard to that definition, economic
empowerment is seen as more than individualist terms to include
issues such as property rights, changes intra-household relations
and transformation of the macro-economic context (Op. cit.).
In relation to gender, the fundamental concerns in this
paradigm are gender equality and women’s rights. From
17
there, women’s empowerment is seen as an integral and inseparable part of a wider process of social transformation. It
targets mainly poor women and women capable of providing
alternative female role models for change (Mayoux 2005:6).
However, this research from the feminist empowerment perspective analyses if and how the economic empowerment gained by women through accessing microfinance
services and developing their own enterprises has allowed
them also to develop more gender equitable relations within
the household.
Below is the figure linking microfinance to women’s empowerment through those three paradigms elaborated by Mayoux
(2002:22).
18
Fig. 1 VIRTUOUS SPIRALS:PARADIGMS
COMPARED
Figure 1
Virtuous Spirals: Paradigms Compared
FINANCIALSELF- SUST AINABILIT Y
PARADIGM
POVERT Y ALLEVIAT ION
PARADIGM
SAVINGS
AND
CREDIT
FEMINIST EMPOWERMENT
PARADIGM
ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT
REPAYMENT
WOMEN'S
DECISION ABOUT
SAVINGS AND
CREDIT USE
INCREASED WELLBEING
SOCIAL, POLITICAL
& LEGAL EMPOWERMENT
WOMEN'S
MICROENT ERPRISE
INCREASED
ST AT US AND
CHANGING ROLES
WOMEN'S
DECISIONS ABOUT
CONSUMPT ION
INCREASED
INCOME
INCREASED
WELLBEING OF
WOMEN
ABILIT Y T O
NEGOT IAT E CHANGE
IN GENDER
RELAT IONS
INCOME UNDER
WOMEN'S
CONT ROL
INCREASED
WELLBEING OF
CHILDREN
WOMEN'S
NET WORKS AND
MOBILIT Y
INCREASED
WAGE
EMPLOYMENT
FOR WOMEN
INCREASED
WELLBEING OF
MEN
WIDER MOVEMENT S
FOR SOCIAL,
POLIT ICAL & LEGAL
CHANGE
Source: (Mayoux 2002:22)
2.6.2 Analytical framework
Taking a feminist empowerment approach, the analytical framework of this study is based on Mayoux's framework for analyzing
women’s empowerment (1998:238), as described below, though not
all aspects mentioned in this framework are covered in this study.
The aspects of the framework include:
-‘Power within’ or increased will for change for individual women
 Increase in women’s confidence and assertiveness
19
 Changes in women’s aspirations and consciousness to
challenge gender subordination
 Increased autonomy and willingness to take decisions
about self and others
- ‘Power to’ or increased capacity for change for individual women
 Increased access to income
 Increased access to productive assets and household
property
 Increased mobility and access to markets
 Reduction in burden of domestic work including
childcare
 Improved health and nutrition
 Increase in skills including literacy
- ‘Power over’ or reduction in obstacles to change at household and
community level
 Control over loan use
 Control over income from loans and other household
productive activities
 Control over productive assets and household property
 Increased ability to determine parameters of household consumption and other valued areas of household decision-making in favor of self
 Ability to defend self against violence in the household and community
 Enhanced perception of women’s capacities and rights
at household and community levels
- ‘Power with’ or increased solidarity with other women for change
at household, community and macro-levels
 Increase in networks for support in times of crisis or
for chosen strategies to challenge gender inequality
 Participation in actions to defend other women
against abuse in the household and community
 Participation in movements to challenge gender subordination at the community and macro-level
20
 Ability and willingness to act as role model for other
women entrepreneurs, particularly in lucrative and
non-traditional occupations
Based on this framework, this research lays an emphasis only
on women’s access to credit, women’s profitability, their control
over the use of loan and its income, the decision making within the
household, and the transformation of gender relations within the
household, especially changes to the existing gender roles within the
household.
According to Mayoux (2000:8) and different gender lobbies,
increasing women's access to microfinance services (saving and
credit) has been assumed to be one way of facilitating them to gain
income, and therefore to overcome economic dependence on men
and to make decisions related to their loan and income from it. Decision making about the use of resources is thus linked to control
over those resources including credit and its income. When women
control decisions related to credit and its income, this helps them to
optimize their own welfare as well as that of their household. However, some scholars have claimed that access to credit alone is not
sufficient to enable women to influence decisions and to change the
existing gender norms and culture within the household which contribute to women having a subordinate position and place men in a
dominant position, giving them the decision making power (Swain
and Wallentin 2009).
However, the lack of decision making and bargaining power
for women can even influence the level of control over household
resources including the income from loans. For example in Bangladesh, Goetz and Gupta (1996) found that even though some women applied for loans in their names, the use and control of it was in
the hands of the husband’s relatives. Again Ofreneo (2005:374)
showed how credit could bring negative impacts on women such as
overwork for marginal gains, men’s takeover of lucrative projects
and benefits and even increased domestic violence.
In addition, though it has been assumed by some development practitioners and scholars that women's increasing access to
credit is a way of promoting gender equality and the transformation
of gender relations within the household, it is also necessary to re21
member as Scully 2005 cited in Ofreneo (2005:374) remarked that
credit by itself cannot overcome patriarchal systems of control at
household and community levels; access to credit and profitability
only are therefore insufficient tools for women to transform the existing gender relations with. In addition to that, Sabharwal 2005 cited in Ofreneo (Loc. Cit.) argued for the same view and highlighted
that some other interventions are still need to transform social relations.
22
Chapter 3
Microfinance and women’s negotiating between
profitability and patriarchy within the household
3.1 Introduction
In order to find out the ways in which women have had to negotiate between profitability and patriarchy, and the role of Microfinance in the process; this chapter begins by looking at the degree
to which women access credit, and then analyses how women from
the microfinance services support have negotiated in a way that
empower them both economically and in the decision making role
within the household. To explore that, it uses the four detailed cases of women who have successful businesses to ascertain whether
and how they were able to improve gender relations within the
household.
3.2 Women and access to credit
Various discussions have addressed the question as to whether
women's increased access to credit could be translated into their
empowerment. Some who use the Minimalist/ Neo-classical approach find that giving women access to credit automatically empowers them. Even Mayoux (1999:957) supported that idea by saying that giving credit to women can initiate a series of virtuous
upward spirals of economic, social, and political empowerment.
However, others who look at that statement from an integrated
perspective conclude that access to credit alone is not enough for
women to be empowered; some other interventions are still needed
to transform social relations (Sabharwal 2005 in Ofreneo 2005:374).
However, the field research findings show that COOPEDU
MFI uses the Minimalist approach to achieve their main goal of
empowering women through increasing their opportunity to access
credit. This has been confirmed by the Manager as she introduced
the Institution to the researcher. She said:
‘Our main goal is empowering women by increasing their capacities through
providing them financial services, we don’t go beyond that. We believe that
increasing access to financial services to women will automatically lead to
their empowerment in all other aspects, will improve their well-being and
transform their relations with their husbands as well’.
In addition to that, the Loan Officer commented that in order to encourage women to join them and access their services,
23
they have revised some of the things which hindered women from
joining them. These include: requirements to get loans for women,
reducing the interest rates, increasing the loan size, and a quick service delivery as well as easing the whole process.
On the side of women interviewed who were beneficiaries,
they were happy with the way the institution supports women financially. One of them said:
‘When you are a woman and you really want to work, it is easy to get a loan in
COOPEDU MFI because it doesn’t require much. For example when you
start with a group loan they don’t ask you for any collateral, the only thing
that is more important is what you want to do with the loan’ (A Woman H).
In relation to that, the Loan Officer explained how they
made the loan requirements more affordable to poor women. She
gave an example of the Group Solidarity Loan where the members
are only asked to form a group of eight people to then guarantee
for each other. However, although this seems to be more helpful to
many low income women in terms of gaining access to money to
earn an income, on the other hand some other women complained
about the repayment for group loans, where in some cases certain
group members neglect or delay payment and the rest are burdened
with the responsibility of paying for them. In this case, MFI can offer no help. One woman said:
‘I agree that Microfinance helps us women but sometimes a woman can find
herself working for them, especially those who use the group loan, when
some group members fail to repay; paying for them plus other expenses can
leave her with nothing though she worked hard’. (A woman A)
As this woman mentioned, cases like this can cause other
problems to women such as a decrease in personal income, change
in personal schedule including working extra hours, stress, and others. The following story goes into more depth on the same topic:
‘I started with a Group Solidarity Loan, but in my group 2 members were not
good repayers; the first time one of them delayed us and made us pay delay
penalties and another one doesn’t pay completely. That has been a burden for
all of us group members and has caused some of us a big loss. Consequently,
it has decreased my income and brought stress as well. I had to work for the
normal weekly repayment, the repayment for our member and to pay the delay penalty. That was a lot for the group and for everyone personally. Because
apart from benefiting from the loan and using it for other things, you use it
for repaying the microfinance’ (A woman B).
However, on the side of microfinance not every woman may benefit from it, though all women interviewed in this study are those
who have been successful in using their credits.
As for the interest rate, the Loan Officer declared that they
reduced this to 16%, repayable weekly over eight months for
24
Women's Solidarity Group Loans; to 13% repayable monthly over
one year for Women Entrepreneur Loans; and to 20% repayable
monthly between one and five years depending on the loan size for
Ordinary Loans. But again, considering the kind of activities in
which some loans are invested, the market for some of the products, and the condition some women work in; sometimes the repayment schedule may be another issue, especially for the group
loan entailing weekly repayment, and even for others; according to
the interviewees, women combine business with family responsibilities, so repaying the MFI punctually requires other strategies such
as working long hours in order to be able to meet the deadline for
repayment and to make their own profits. On this subject, one
woman said:
‘Committing yourself to doing business using a loan goes together with
committing yourself to forget about sleep, being sick, socialising and so on;
because it requires you to spend much of your time at your work place, looking for the money to repay the loan and make your own profit as well’ (A
Woman G).
This story shows how it is not enough for MFI to increase access to credit to women without considering the constraints related
to that; this can hinder the success of women’s activities as well as
their health.
3.3 Shift from patriarchal relations to equitable
gender relations within the household: Outcome
from Profitability
Presentation of the cases and analysis
A case where a loan and its income are used and controlled jointly
by the woman and her husband:
Case A
A woman with a household composed of her, her husband, five children and
three other orphaned children that they also take care of, following the death
of a relative of the husband. She works with her husband; they have a shop,
selling various things for women (clothes, shoes, jewellery), buying the products from Uganda, Kenya and Dubai. Before joining COOPEDU they
worked in the market, and their income was Rwf 3, 000 to 5, 000/ USD 5-8
per day. In 2007, she joined COOPEDU and took out a loan, in agreement
with her husband. This year she took a loan of Rwf 8, 000, 000/ USD 13,072
to invest in their existing activity in order to expand it. Though the loan has
been in her name and she was the one responsible for repaying it, they use
both the credit and income collectively and control them jointly. The reason
behind this, according to the woman, is that she and her husband committed
to managing their property jointly and again, in agreement with her husband
she gave their joint property (a house) as a guarantee for the loan, which
25
means that her husband is also responsible for the use of the loan though it
was officially taken out by the woman. Their income has significantly increased when compared to before; they now earn between Rwf 15, 000 and
25, 000/ USD 25-50 per day, sometimes more than that, depending on the
season. They have moved on from selling at the market, now having their
own shop in town. They have even shifted from an individual Women Entrepreneur's loan to an Ordinary Loan. In her experience, taking a loan in her
name helped her, because previously, she was not free to expose her opinions
freely, and had always felt that it is the husband's business, and that it is him
who has the right to decide; the husband sometimes did things without negotiating with her about it , whereas after taking out the loan, her contribution
in the business opened a door to her to expose her views openly. It has contributed to her husband opening himself up to her and they now work together; it has broken down the hierarchy between them. In terms of domestic
work, they hired maids to take care of the household and the children, which
enabled her to come to work regularly and reduced the extra hours she used
for household responsibilities after work. It also helped them to send their
children to a good school; they own two houses for rent, two cars, and are
able to take care of their extended families. In terms of decision making within the household, they use negotiation. In everything they have to do, they
discuss it together, and they control the loan and income jointly.
According to the woman exposed in this case, she worked
with her husband before taking a loan, and her relationship with her
husband was hierarchical. The husband was superior, the provider
and the head; he was in a dominant position, controlled the resources and made decisions, while the woman was inferior, the one
who executed the husband’s orders and decisions; she was subordinate, played a passive role in the control and making of decisions
related to their business and the household. In addition to that, she
combined the domestic and the market work. After taking out a
loan from COOPEDU MFI, she invested it in their business and
that contribution helped not only to expand their business, but also
to increase her sense of responsibility, her decision making power,
her control over the use of loan and income as well as other resources either in their business or within the household. That enabled her to participate actively in their business and in the household. In the analysis of this case, we are going to look at how the
profitability of this loan has played a role in bringing about gender
equality in this household.
Analyzing the case of this woman from Kabeer’s perspective
of empowerment and its three dimensions, namely resources, agency and achievement (Kabeer 1999:437), taking a loan and using it
has contributed to increasing her ‘power within’. For example, after
repaying the first loan, as it was the fifth time she was taking out a
loan from COOPEDU MFI, she gained the ability to make a choice
from her own initiative as to whether to take out another loan or
not, and then negotiated this with her husband. So the loan use in26
creased her power to choose, and the ability to discuss her decision
with her husband, including issues as to why to take a loan, what to
use it for, as well as how to use the income it generates, all of which
increased her active participation in the business. It also built a horizontal (equal) relationship between her and her husband in terms
of decision making and control over their resources. In addition to
that, it increased her self- confidence as well as her sense of responsibility. Because she is the one who will pay the loan, she is also the
one who has to take responsibility for it by being aware of how it
will be used. Moreover, it increased her sense of ownership: because of her contribution to the business, she no longer sees herself
as a stranger in the husband’s activities, but rather as a part of it.
Therefore, this woman, gaining 'power within' from the use of her
loan, has broken up the hierarchy in in her household in terms of
gender relations between her and her husband, has increased her
power to do business actively, and has also increased her power and
control over resources; all of this contributed to building equality
between her and her husband, both in their business and within
their household.
On the side of the husband, having a joint property (their
house), has helped the woman to get a loan, but has also increased
the husband's responsibility in terms of the use of the loan, and the
control over it. Given that, in case of debt, the whole family would
be in trouble, the loan is not for the woman's use alone - both of
them are responsible. However, the contribution of the woman has
challenged the hierarchy in their relationship, i.e. the husband’s
dominance over the wife, because he is no longer the only provider
in business and thus the household. Working together and the equal
relationship between them caused the husband to include his wife
in his plans, share plans for the business and the household, and
consult her before taking action. In other words, it changed the
husband’s mind set about his wife; he has seen her ability to do
something.
As a consequence of this, the gender relationship within their
household has also changed. For example, it has facilitated the joint
use of loan and income, joint control over that use, and joint decision making through negotiation. Again, for the woman, it has contributed to a reduction in her work overload, previously combining
domestic and market work, since they decided to hire a maid to
look after the children and to take care of the household. This reduced the woman's stress and the increased income contributed to
an increase in quality of life in their household in terms of the education of their children, nutrition, and other household expenditure.
27
To sum up, this case demonstrates how it is possible for
profitability to challenge patriarchy for some households. Also this
can be found from how this woman taking a loan in her name gave
her some control over the use of the loan, but also that giving their
joint property as loan guarantee has contributed to including her
husband in this control: it has given both of them equal power to
control their resources including the use of loan and income. This
promotes gender equality and leads to empowerment. However,
this case confirms the assumption of those microfinance institutions which use the minimalist approach, that economic empowerment of women through microfinance services can lead to gender
equality within the household. But, considering the next cases, this
assumption cannot be generalized to all women and their households.
3.4 Profitability and women’s agency towards
patriarchy tension within the household
This section contains the presentation and analysis of three different cases of women who took loans in their names, used and
controlled them and the income generated by them alone, without
the involvement of the husband, and studies what happened to
gender relations within the household.
Case B
A woman with a household composed of her, her husband, their 3 children,
her sister and a husband's relative. Her husband is a driver and his salary was
not enough for her to start a business. She was engaged in domestic work only, and then sold a part of her inheritance from her parents in order to raise
capital to start her own business. She started selling fruits and vegetables from
home, and then in 2007, joined COOPEDU MFI. As one of the conditions
for receiving a loan was to join a group loan, and to not work from home, she
found a place in the market. With the encouragement and inspiration of other
women with whom she shared the group loan, she gained the courage to
work and took out another loan, shifting from group to individual loan. Using
a loan meant that her income increased, so that she has been able to expand
her business to a restaurant. She alone uses her credit and plans how to use its
income. Using a loan has changed her self-perception and increased her selfconfidence compared to before, when she was afraid to engage herself in
business using a loan, afraid that it might fail and put her in trouble. This led
to dependency on her husband. However, when she started working for herself, she was able to use her loan successfully, and has been able to repay regularly. This contributed strongly to her completely changing her mind, as she
realised that she is able to do something. She alone controls decisions about
her loan and how to use the income it generates. However, she is also the one
in charge of family responsibilities, because when her husband saw that she is
28
working successfully, he stopped contributing to the household. Her sister,
who lives with her, is the one who helps her with the domestic work and in
taking care of the children.
This case is about a woman who managed to take a loan; after selling her inheritance, she started a business and it succeeded, and
with the help of the loan, her income increased. She worked alone;
she and her husband work and plan separately. This woman has full
power over the use of her loan and the income it generates, i.e. she
has full control over it and full decision making power over loan
use and income; she is the one who decides whether to take a loan
or not and also, what to do with the loan and her income.
As a result, in relation to Mayoux's framework (1998b:238),
the success of this woman in using and controlling her loan contributed to an increase of her ‘power within’ in terms of choice,
preference and self-confidence; it has also increased her autonomy
of decision and sense of ownership; again, it has changed her selfperception. It also increased her ‘power over’ in terms of control
over the loan and use of her income. Furthermore, it has increased
her ‘power with’ in the sense of her meeting other women and sharing with them, in turn encouraging her and enabling her to develop
‘power to’ start working for herself.
Likewise, analyzing this case from Kabeer’s perspective on
‘empowerment’, which she defines as ‘the ability to make the strategic life choices in a context where this ability was previously denied
to them’ (Kabeer 1999:437), this woman is empowered. Again this
case is similar to how ‘economic empowerment’ is defined by the
minimalist as expansion of individual choice and capacities for selfreliance (Mayoux 2005:4). In terms of this definition, this woman is
economically empowered, but does being economically empowered
change anything with regard to the existing gender roles within her
household?
In her story, the woman said that when her husband saw that
she was contributing financially within the household, he stopped
his contribution to the household. The reason for this is related to
Rwandan culture and norms stemming from the patriarchal belief
that the man is the provider for the household. Indeed, for some
men, a woman providing for the household has many negative
connotations, implying that the man is not able, or that the woman
wants to replace or compete with her husband. In other words, it is
a shame for some husbands. This can be even worse when a woman provides much more than the husband. Traditionally, there is
even a proverb which supports this way of thinking: ‘Ntabwo ibihanga bibiri bitekwa mu nkono imwe’ in Kinyarwanda, or in English,
29
‘two heads can’t be cooked in the same dish’, meaning that two powerful
people can’t live together. Looking at this proverb from a gender
perspective, it reinforces patriarchy by supporting hierarchal gender
relations within both household and community, maintaining women's subordinate position and her husband's dominant position.
This explains why, when women gain access to a resource like this,
some men may either withdraw from household responsibilities,
start fights or conflicts, or take control of the women's resources,
while others like in the first case who accept sharing, producing a
positive outcome. More resistant attitudes by men, though, explain
why some women decide to hide their incomes from their husbands.
In this case, this woman being economically empowered
didn’t change much in terms of gender division of labour within the
household. Because of male dominance, this woman has to work
extra hours; she has to combine both market work and domestic
work, and her sister also becomes a victim of that.
Case C
A woman with a household composed of her, her husband, their three children, and her cousin. This woman had her own savings set aside; she had
wanted to work for herself for a long time but her husband refused. One day
she decided to look for a place in the market and to start selling clothes. She
used the little money she had to start and then joined COOPEDU MFI in
2007, for financial support to expand her business. She started off in a group
and then shifted step by step until she was able to buy a plot in her name
which she could use as a guarantee to take out an individual loan. Her work
went successfully, her income increased, and she moved from the market to
hire a small shop where she could sell alone. This went well and she was able
to repay the loan successfully, but she hid the situation of her business from
her husband, including the loan she is using and the plot she bought because
she feared that if he knew, this might create conflict between them. Her husband does not therefore know whether she uses a loan or not, nor does he
control her business or her account, the woman doing all this herself. As she
lives with her cousin, it is she who helps her to take care of the household
and children, and when the woman returns from work she helps her cousin
with the rest. She contributes within the household in terms of some household expenditure, and even the husband contributes to some, but everyone
manages their own money.
This case is about a woman who lived under the control of
her husband; the husband was the one who took all the responsibilities related to the household, but refused to let his wife work although she wished to do so. In other words, he was denying her
ability to choose, which Kabeer (1999:438) defined as disempowerment. This woman resisted her husband’s will for her to remain at
home by starting her own business with the money she had set
aside. Kabeer (Loc. cit.) would call this 'exercising her agency'. The
30
business succeeded for this woman at the point at which she was
able to move to another place and to take out her own individual
loan by being able to buy her own plot. She is the one who decided
to take out a loan and started working for herself, and it was her income which increased; she is the main user and controller of both
her loan and her income.
In terms of the use of her income and the profitability of her
business, as in the previous case, this woman gained decision making power, her self-confidence increased, she gained financial autonomy, and her power to choose increased. In short, she gained
the individual empowerment.
On the other hand, the economic empowerment of this
woman changed nothing in terms of gender relations within the
household. She works under fear of her husband, shown by the fact
that she hid her business and its outcome from her husband. She
hid her plot, her use of a loan and the situation of her business in
order to protect herself from any violence or conflict as well as to
protect her business and property, as he might have commanded
his wife to give it to him or have used it for something she didn’t
want. Furthermore, in terms of the gender division of labour,
though her income increased, her workload also increased. She still
had to care for the household as well as for her business. To be able
to manage this, her cousin lives with her and helps her with the
domestic work. This also shows how dominant patriarchy is in this
family: even in other cases, relatives of the husband don’t care
about domestic work; the relatives of the women are the ones who
take on those responsibilities. This shows how patriarchy affects
not only a woman, but also her family, which also becomes dominated by it.
In conclusion, this case confirms the argument of Scully 2005
cited in Ofreneo (2005:374) that profitability from loan use alone is
not enough for women to overcome patriarchy control. Also, the
case shows how patriarchal control can lead to disempowerment of
women. Not only that, it has even influence on the extended family,
especially on women’s side (their relatives). Additionally, it shows
the influence that has on gender equality.
Case D
This is a woman with a household of three children and her husband. She
used to be a public servant, as is her husband, but she was then made redundant during the public service reform. With the gratuity payment she got
from her work, she started a small business of a restaurant; she also joined
COOPEDU in 2007, and took out a loan with which she has been able to
31
move from a restaurant business to a clothes shop in town. She used her
credit successfully and her income increased significantly. The woman is in
control of the use of her loan and is also the one to use it. The decision to
take out a loan as well as how to use it was her own. The income from her
business contributes a lot to supporting her household financially. Working
herself and using credit has contributed a lot to increase her decision making
power, as well as her self-confidence. She had to combine taking care of the
household with running her business, which was stressful for her. She therefore hired someone to look after the children and help her with the domestic
work during the day until she returns from work. Her husband helps neither
to pay the child minder, nor with any of the domestic work. The woman is
the one who pays her every month from her own income.
In summary, this woman started her business with her gratuity
payment, without any support from her husband. After joining
COOPEDU MFI and taking out a loan, her income increased,
which increased her decision making power as well, since it was her
who took the decision to start a business, to take a loan, to choose
what to use with it and how, and also gained the power to control
her savings and income. In other words, as the previous women,
this woman used her loan successfully, and has increased her 'power within'.
The success which arose as a consequence of the loan for
this woman increased her self-confidence as well as her financial
and decision making autonomy. In terms of gender relations, however, the increase in profitability has not changed the existing gender division of labour within the household, as she had to combine
both domestic and market work. Even though she managed to hire
someone who could help with the domestic work and she paid her,
the husband did not help to pay for this because the gender division
of labour within the household in the patriarchal system dictates
that it is the woman who is in charge of the domestic work and
even she who has to spend for it.
3.5. Conclusion of the chapter
The four cases presented in this chapter were used to analyze women’s negotiating process between profitability and patriarchy within
the household and the role of microfinance in that. Of the four
cases analyzed, the findings showed a mixed result. The first case
confirmed the assumption of those who use the Minimalist Approach, namely that increasing women's access to credit will lead
automatically to their economic empowerment and that this will
change the existing gender relations and bring about gender equality
within the household (Mayoux 2005:7).
32
For the other three cases, which share many similarities but
are also different, women initiated their own business successfully
using the loans. One used her inheritance, another one used her
own savings and the last one used her gratuity payment as capital to
run her own business. Moreover, to expand their businesses, they
used loans from COOPEDU MFI, which contributed a lot to increase their income as well as the power within (in terms of selfconfidence, self-reliance and decision making power) as well as the
power over (loan use and control). Thus, according to Kabeer
(1999) and Mayoux (1998b), these findings would indicate that
these women are economically empowered. But also, they all face
the same constraints, namely unequal gender power relations within
their household, reinforced by the patriarchal-oriented culture,
norms and values. This influences the gender division of labour
within the household as the woman has to take responsibility for
both market and domestic work whereas the husband deals only
with the market work. However, from this perspective, women are
not dealing with the husband as a person but with a patriarchal system which is a structure constructed long ago; it seems that the individual empowerment of women will not change much in this system.
Therefore, this research supports the argument of Kabeer
(1999:457), who said that the individual empowerment or economic empowerment of women is not enough to bring about change in
existing gender roles, nor to change the patriarchal dominance in
the context of Rwanda, where the cultural norms and values of patriarchy constrain women’s ability to make strategic life choices. In
addition, as she also mentioned, the structural inequalities (patriarchy as a structure) cannot be addressed by individuals alone. For
that reason, this study suggests that structural change in terms of
policies and practices will enable a societal change in attitude, as
well as gender inclusive interventions at the level of the household.
33
Chapter 4
Tensions between profitability and maintained
patriarchal relations within household
4.1. Introduction
Approaching from the angle of the minimalist approach, it is assumed by Microfinance Institutions including COOPEDU MFI
and some development practitioners that simply increasing women’s access to microfinance services will lead to their individual
economic empowerment through enabling them to make decisions
about savings and credit use, facilitating them in setting up a microenterprise, and increasing the income under their control. Furthermore, it is assumed that increased individual economic empowerment will lead to gender equality and equity within the household
(Mayoux 2002:22, 2005:7). However, this research aims to know
whether success in credit use can be translated into equality in gender relations. To find this out, this chapter explores the four case
studies in which profitability hasn’t been translated into gender
equality, and from there, examines why and how patriarchy continues to keep these women under its control.
4.2 Presentations of the cases and analysis
Case E
A woman in a household composed of her, her husband, 5 children, and her
sister, who sells clothes in the market. She joined COOPEDU in 2007; it is
the fifth time she has taken a loan. She started with a group solidarity loan,
and then shifted over time to an individual loan. Her income significantly increased after she joined COOPEDU. She started out by selling clothes from
home; her income per day was Rwf 1, 000/ USD 2. After receiving
COOPEDU MFI’s loan, she expanded her business, moving from her home
to the market and changing the quality of clothes she sold. Now her income
per day is between Rwf 3,000- 5, 000/ USD 5-8, and in the high season
sometimes even more. Her husband runs a taxi driving business with his own
car. He is the one who sponsored her at the beginning and also, he gave her
the house as a guarantee so that she could get an individual loan. It was he
who decided to get the loan, and he controls how it is used and the income
generated from it. The woman accepted that situation not only because her
husband sponsored her in her business but also in order to keep the husband,
i.e. so that he will not go to another women. This woman worked 12 hours
per day, and also has to take care of the children and the household. To manage this, she has to wake up early, arrange the household responsibilities, and
prepare her children for going to school before going to work herself. Her
sister, who lives with her, helps her in some domestic work while she is out.
34
This case shows a woman who has been sponsored by her husband
so that she may start up her business; again the husband gave her
their house as a guarantee to obtain an individual loan. This woman
works alone while her husband runs his transport business. She
used the loan successfully, and her income considerably increased.
Though the situation of this woman appears to be good in
terms of gaining profit, she has little control over the use of her
loan, as the decisions related to her loan use and its income are taken by her husband. According to this woman, there are two reasons
for this: first, the husband is the main provider in her business, he is
the one who sponsored her, and so she has to accept his command
about how the loan and the income are to be used. This is why she
let him control and make decisions related to her loan and business
income without her participation. A second reason behind this
woman's acceptance of her husband's domination of her resources
and her passive participation in this is because it represents a way of
keeping her husband; she fears that he might otherwise leave her
and go to other women. This may be related to the genocide of the
Tutsi in 1994, which took men and left women the majority of the
population; the shortage of men in the country may be one of the
reasons why some women may choose to keep their subordinate
position and ignore their rights; consequently, that contributes to
reinforcing patriarchy.
The male dominance or patriarchy which is manifested in
various ways in the life of this woman has many effects on both her
and her household. First of all, her acceptance of patriarchal control
reinforces the existing gender roles in her household: she added another responsibility to her traditional role of caring for the household, but nothing changed in terms of the division of labour between her and her husband at home. This means that although she
is increasing her income, her work load also increased. Although
she is making money, she is still dependent on her husband financially because he is the one who makes the decisions related to the
use of loan, income and other resources in the household. She is
therefore not at all independent financially. Therefore, based on this
case, a woman needs more than only financial support or an increase in income to overcome patriarchy. Furthermore, profitability
in the income-generating activity of a woman is not enough to
bring about gender equality in the household.
35
Case F
A woman in a household composed of her, her husband and 6 children. She
has a small baby of five months. She works with her husband selling clothes
in the market. She joined COOPEDU in 2007. On the initiative of her husband, she took out a loan, but her husband used it because he was in this field
of commerce before her, and has experience in the business they are doing; in
addition to that, he is more available than the woman because she has a baby
and other small children to take care of, meaning that she can only attend
work irregularly. The loan helped them to expand the business and that contributed to significantly increasing their income compared to before. They
have shifted from an income of between Rwf 1, 500 - 3, 000/USD 2, 5 – 5; to
5, 000 - 7, 500/ USD 8 – 12. In terms of control over the use of loan and income, it is the husband who manages this, as the woman is at home most of
the time because of the baby and other small children. The husband is the
one who decides what and how to use the loan and its income, how much
loan to take out, what to use the loan for and how much to use for the
household expenditure etc. The woman spends only 8 hours at their work
place, but only irregularly, and only when her husband has something else to
do. She spends much of her time at home on domestic duties, while her husband doesn’t help her with the household responsibilities at all.
Thus, having initiated the woman's taking out of a loan in order to
expand the business he already had, the husband is the one who decided how much money to borrow and how to use it; the control
over the loan and income is in the hands of the husband. This
might be seen as complementarity between them, but patriarchy
hides behind it, in the fact that why the husband does not help this
woman in other ways such as paying for a maid or sharing tasks so
that she may also have time to participate actively and regularly in
business? Or why, as she was the one who applied for the loan,
does he not include her in decision making in terms of how to use
the loan and income?
This case is reminiscent of cases mentioned by Mayoux
(2005:10), of women who take loans and invest them in their husband’s existing activities. This in itself is not bad, when they use the
loan and its income equitably; but sometimes, the husband may
symbolically include his wife in his business so that he may use her
to get a loan. This can happen when men are aware that MFIs targeting women have fewer requirements, and give them a lot of
money over a short period. In this case, this woman becomes a tool
for the husband to get a loan. A woman being a tool by itself deprives her of control and decision making power over the loan as
well as the income. This is a trap, in which dominant patriarchy can
continue to disempower women by using them as a tool rather than
women using credit which was supposed to be an empowering tool
for them.
36
The fact that the woman has so many children in a poor
community where she has to care of her children and household
plus doing business using a loan may also contribute to the lack of
control and decision making power. This is because most of her
time and energy is invested in domestic rather than market work.
This contributes to keeping a woman under the dominance of patriarchy and reinforces the existing gender roles by which a woman’s role is related to giving birth, nurturing, and taking care of the
household; while the role of the husband is to provide for the
household. However, apart from economic empowerment, as seen
in this case, women need also to be empowered in terms of reproductive health, especially family planning and birth control, since
having many children can be a major contributor to the dominance
of patriarchy dominance over women’s profitability and opportunity.
Case G
A woman in a household of her, the husband, 3 children and 2 of her husband's relatives; she has a restaurant. She started from home, selling fruit and
vegetables, and then her husband added some money, and from there she was
able to join COOPEDU MFI for a loan in 2007. She is now in her fifth year
of the loan, and works alone; according to her, her husband is more educated
than her; he is public servant. The daily schedule of this woman involves waking up at 5:30 in the morning, preparing her house, arranging everything for
the household, cooking and packing food for her children who study, preparing them for school, and preparing herself to go to work. She starts her work
at 8am, and finishes at 8pm, gets home at 9pm, and then prepares the food.
In total she spends 17 hours doing both domestic and market work. Her daily
income is between RWF 6, 000 - 10, 000/ USD 9 -16. Because she earns
more than her husband, she totally covers all the household expenditures including paying for the scholarship for the children and paying for the medical
insurance for the household members. However, her husband has the last
word on how to use her income, because he is the man of the family. The
husband’s relatives who live with them all have jobs but neither contributes
financially nor helps with anything. She lives near her mother, who looks after the children when they are back from school until their mother returns.
This woman complained about earning much money but at the end of the
month, after paying back the loan and spending on the household, being left
with little money herself.
In summary, the woman in this case is running a profitable business
with her loan. In terms of her relationship with her husband and
the division of labour within the household, her husband is a simple
public servant and his salary is not enough to cover the household
expenditures; in addition, this woman lives with the husband’s relatives who are not supportive to her, she is overworked and spends
37
many hours at home doing domestic work, and her mother supports her by taking care of the children.
This woman does not complain about a lack of money: her
business is profitable to the degree that her income is much higher
than the salary of her husband. Though her income increased, her
husband is still the one who controls its use and who takes decisions about it, for two reasons: first, it is because he is a ‘man’, the
discourse of ‘being a man’ in Rwandan context meaning that he is the
most powerful, the authority, the head, the controller, the first, the
best, the one who is able, provider, the one who cannot fail, the
one who has the last word. When a woman has shown a certain
ability in something, to express that she did something perfectly or
in an extraordinary way, they say ‘you are a man’ to her. This shows
how dominant patriarchy is in Rwandan society and in that household. The second reason which causes this woman to let her husband control the use of her income is because her husband is more
educated than her, and education in this household is another crucial element which contributes to reinforcing unequal gender power
relations in this household by building a hierarchy between them.
Consequently, this woman has to deal with the household
and her work alone. There is no division of labour between her and
her husband; in addition, the woman has accepted this as normal,
because is culturally supported that a woman has to submit by accepting a man's command in the household. This contributes to an
increased workload for the woman. The effect of patriarchy does
not stop only in their home, but rather it expands and increases the
burden of responsibility on the extended family, mainly the woman’s family. In this case, this woman left her children with her
mother who lives near them so that she may go to work. In relation
to her income, because the salary of her husband is less than her
income, the woman has to contribute more towards household expenditure, and must therefore work hard and long hours to find the
money. During the interview she said: ‘Committing yourself to do busi-
ness using a loan, go together with committing yourself to forget about sleep, being sick, socialization and so on because it requires you to take much of the time at
work place, looking for the money to repay the loan and your own profit as well’.
This shows how hard this woman works, combining both domestic
and business responsibilities.
However, from this case, this study found that a gap in the
division of labour between genders within the household is caused
by the tension of patriarchy and may also affect a woman’s income.
Furthermore, if this woman continues working such long hours per
day without any help, in the future it will create health problems
38
(mental in terms of stress and physical in terms of other disease related to fatigue) or premature death.
Case H
A woman in a household composed of herself, her husband and their four
children, and a relative of the woman. Her husband was a simple public
worker. During reform, he has been made redundant. He joined the wife in
her business of selling the cows to the butcheries. They buy cows from the
rural areas and sell them in Kigali City. To be able to perform well in her
work, she used a loan from COOPEDU MFI, which she joined in 2007; she
works together with her husband and the income has increased successfully.
The husband is the one who controls the use of the loan; he is the one who
makes decisions about what to do with the loan. For example last year, there
was an amount of money which the woman had saved to buy a house to give
as a guarantee to borrow more money. However, her husband commanded
her to give him the money or else he will leave her and the children. When
she continually refused, her husband went to her family and told them that
she is not a submissive wife, that she doesn’t listen, that she is disobedient to
him, and told her parents that one of them will leave if she continues like
that. Given that according to customary law, a woman has to be submissive
to her husband, a husband coming to tell this to her parents was a bad sign
for the woman. So the parents talked to her and she has given him the money, but even today she does not know where the money went, or what he
used it for.
This case shows a woman who had a small business, whose husband joined her in that, and took decisions related to the loan himself. Crucially, when the husband commanded her to give him the
money reserved to buy a house to act as a guarantee, when the
woman tried to resist the husband’s command because of the plans
she had for that money, which is what Kabeer called ‘exercising
agency’ (Kabeer 1999:438), her husband also resisted and went to
her parents to tell them that she is not submissive enough.
However, this case shows that this woman tried to use her
ability, her individual agency or ‘power within’ (Loc. cit.) to resist
the command or authority of the husband, but because - as has
been viewed in previous cases - she was not dealing with the husband as a person but with a dominant patriarchy, a structure embedded in the society, formed and reinforced by the culture and
norms of that society; she failed to change that though she was empowered (Kabeer 1999:457). Also from this example, we see how
the failure of this woman's individual empowerment to change patriarchy dominance resulted in oppression. When the husband went
to tell her family that one of them will leave if she does not submit,
this represented oppression and is against the rights of this woman ,
but because customary law supports patriarchy and gives women a
subordinate position in the community as well as within the household, her parents supported her husband by asking their daughter
39
to be submissive to the husband. In other words, both the husband
and her own family have been instruments of patriarchy's dominance to oppress this woman.
4.3 Conclusion of the chapter
In this chapter, through the different cases that have been analyzed,
we have seen how patriarchy is manifested in the gendered power
relations within the household and has affected the power of women’s decision making and control over the use of a loan and the income generated from it. This research finds that some of the reasons behind this are because of maintained culture norms and
values which are based on a patriarchal system, and also a shortage
of men in the country caused by the genocide of 1994 in Rwanda
which has caused women to form the majority of the population,
which could be one reason why women fear losing their husbands
and choose to accept male dominance. Furthermore, it has been
found that a lack of family planning or birth control in families also
contributes to the maintenance of patriarchy in the household.
To conclude, the research findings from the above cases
confirm the assumption of Scully in Ofreneo (2005:374) that credit
by itself cannot overcome a patriarchal system of dominance. From
this perspective, the researcher would suggest training and workshops related to gender at the household level; the integration of
gender equality policies into services for men; family workshops
about family planning and birth control. Lastly, in terms of microfinance institutions, it appears necessary not only to give money to
women, but also to include other gender inclusive non-financial
services.
40
Chapter 5
Conclusion and Policy Recommendations
Microfinance programmes have been promoted in Rwanda as a tool
for both poverty reduction and women’s empowerment. This research aims to analyze whether profitability in women’s economic
activities has resulted into more equitable gender power relations
within the household in Rwanda. The study finds that MFIs have
played an important role in improving family income and helping
women to meet the practical gender needs, defined by Molyneux
(1985:233) as the immediate perceived needs. This contributed to
improving quality of life in the household as well as to increasing
women’s self-confidence and self-reliance at a certain level, especially in those who have had the opportunity to use and control
their credit and the income generated from it themselves.
However, the empirical evidence shows that because of unchanged patriarchal relationships rooted in Rwandan socio-cultural
norms and the unresolved gender division of labour within the
household related to that, women’s participation in income-earning
activities using loans has contributed to an increased workload for
them.
This study therefore argues that mere financial support offered to women by Microfinance Institutions is insufficient in
changing the existing structural gender inequalities and gendered
power relations within the household as well as leading to women’s
empowerment and gender equity and equality.
Therefore, in the light of the above research findings analysis, this study makes the following policy recommendation to Policy
makers, Development practitioners, and Microfinance Institutions:
 Integrate supplement non-financial interventions and
strategies in order to meet the strategic gender needs within
the household such as offering trainings aimed at raising
awareness in the area of gender to male and female
beneficiaries of their services;
 Integrate gender equitable policies into services for men;
 Facilitate better implementation of gender inclusive laws and
policy set up for improving women’s status at the household
level;
 Locate sources of information in the communities and the
setting up of meetings or radio programs at convenient times
41
to women, as many women remain unaware of their rights
which allow gender subordination to be sustained. Access to
information may therefore be one solution to that;
 Mainstreaming gender by introducing gender and
empowerment issues to MFI's clients and integrating this in
staff training.
42
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Appendix
Interview guide
Guide of questions addressed to COOPEDU MFI Manager
1. What is COOPEDU MFI? Vision, Mission and objectives?
2. Which category of poor women do you target? Why that
category?
3. Which approach do you use to reach poor women?
4. With your main goal of empowering women, in which way
do you do that?
Guide of Questions asked to COOPEDU MFI Loan Officer
1. What are the products and services do you offer to women?
2. What are the requirements for women to get a loan from this
institution?
3. Do you offer loans of which size?
4. Which interest rates do you charge?
5. What the repayment conditions and Schedule?
6. What do you do in case of delay or non-repayment of loan
for women?
Guide of Questions addressed to Women beneficiaries of
COOPEDU MFI Services
1. Can you share with me a brief story of your life before joining COOPEDU MFI until now?
2. What was the requirement to get a loan from COOPEDU
MFI? Which loan did you take? Of how much?
3. In which activity did you invest your loan? And how do you
use your loan? What is the situation of your income from the
time you joined COOPEDU until now?
4. What time do you come to work and when do you close?
How many days do you work per week? What is your daily
schedule from the time you get up to the time you go to bed?
5. Where do you get repayment from?
6. Who control your loan and its income?
7. Between you and your husband who decide whether to take
a loan or not?
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8. Who decide the activity to invest in? And who decide how to
use the income from the loan?
9. How did your involvement in business from the financial
support of COOPEDU MFI improve your life as a woman
and your household? And what kind of difficulties do you
face in your home related to that?
10. After finding financial support from COOPEDU MFI and
starting your business what does it change in your relationship with your husband, in terms of decision making? Division of labor within the household? Management of the
household assets?
11. What kind of difficulties do you face in working with
COOPEDU MFI?
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