Description
Microfinance as a tool of poverty alleviation in the Global South has been hailed by development circuits in the Global North as a successful policy for not only bringing the unbanked bottom billion of the global population under financial inclusion, but also for harnessing the entrepreneurial capacities of poor women in the Global South. However, evidence from literature suggests that the socio-economic effects of microfinance on the poor women of the South, especially on their everyday lives and social reproduction, have been quite contrasting to what its advocates claim. Not only have microfinance loans pushed women to a cycle of indebtedness, but it has also led to the increased control of the family patriarch on resources of the family, led to increased domestic violence on women, increased unpaid labour, and intimidation from recollection officers. Although the existing literature sheds significant light on the degradation of socio-economic conditions of poor women in the South under microfinance, there lacks any significant effort to explore the effects of microfinance on women from an intersectional perspective. This project addresses this gap and investigates the case of microfinance in India and how does it – though financialisation – influence the dynamics of social inequalities based on the intersectionality of caste, class, and gender.
