Syed Hashemi

Rural credit programs and women's empowerment in Bangladesh

Abstract This paper presents findings from a study of Grameen Bank and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), two programs that provide credit to poor rural women in Bangladesh. The programs were found to have significant effects on eight different dimensions of womens empowerment. The authors use a combination of sample survey and case study data to argue that the success of Grameen Bank, is particular, in empowering women is due both to its strong, central focus on credit, and its skillful use of rules and rituals to make the loan program function.

Credit programs, patriarchy and men's violence against women in rural Bangladesh

Although violence by men against women in Bangladesh occurs in most cases within the home, in a larger sense it does not originate in the home nor persist only within the home. It is simply one element in a system that subordinates women through social norms that define womens place and guide their conduct. This paper uses ethnographic and structured survey data from a study in rural Bangladesh to explore the relationship between domestic violence against women and their economic and social dependence. It describes some of the common situations in which violence against women occurs in Bangladeshi society, analyzes its larger context, and identifies factors that appear to lessen its incidence in this particular socio-economic setting. The study findings suggest that group-based credit programs can reduce mens violence against women by making womens lives more public. The problem of mens violence against women is deeply rooted, however, and the authors argue that much more extensive interventions will be needed to significantly undermine it.

Credit Programs, Women's Empowerment, and Contraceptive Use in Rural Bangladesh

This article presents findings of research addressing the question of how womens status affects fertility. The effects on contraceptive use of womens participation in rural credit programs and on their status or level of empowerment were examined. A womans level of empowerment is defined here as a function of her relative physical mobility, economic security, ability to make various purchases on her own, freedom from domination and violence within her family, political and legal awareness, and participation in public protests and political campaigning. The main finding is that participation in both of the credit programs studied, those of Grameen Bank and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), is positively associated with womens level of empowerment. A positive effect on contraceptive use is discernible among both participants and nonparticipants in Grameen Bank villages. Participation in BRAC does not appear to affect contraceptive use.

The influence of women's changing roles and status in Bangladesh's fertility transition: Evidence from a study of credit programs and contraceptive use

Abstract Multivariate analyses of data from a recent study in rural Bangladesh suggest that womens access to credit provided by two organizations, Grameen Bank and BRAC, augments use of contraception. This effect increases with the duration of the womens involvement in the credit programs. Although three of eight measures of womens empowerment have statistically significant effects on contraceptive use (womens economic security and contribution to family support, freedom of mobility, and relative freedom from domination by the family), these variables account for surprisingly little of the effect of credit on contraceptive use. The authors present qualitative data describing how the credit programs empower women, and speculate about other paths through which participation in them may influence contraceptive use.

The advent of family planning as a social norm in Bangladesh: women's experiences

Abstract In Bangladesh family planning has broadened womens space within the family and society. Based on findings from ethnographic research in six villages, this paper describes how family planning came to be defined as a domain in which women are encouraged to take initiative, in contrast to other spheres of life. It traces womens experiences and perceptions of family planning in the context offertility transition, and examines some of the effects of family planning on womens lives. The results suggest that by bringing contraceptives to women in their homes, the family planning programme has empowered women within the reproductive sphere. At the same time, however, the patriarchal system that keeps women isolated and dependentis being reinforced. To counter this, a shift in emphasis towards clinic-based family planning services, improvements in quality of care, and interventions specifically aimed at reducing womens social and economic dependence on men are advocated.