Microcredit: Empowerment and Disempowerment of Rural Women in ...

World Development Vol. 66, pp. 335–345, 2015 0305-750X/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.08.027

Microcredit: Empowerment and Disempowerment of Rural Women in Ghana JOHN KUUMUORI GANLE a, KWADWO AFRIYIE b and ALEXANDER YAO SEGBEFIA b,* a University of Oxford, UK b Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana Summary. — Microcredit for women is a commonly used strategy for women empowerment. Based on longitudinal qualitative research with rural women who are involved in an NGO-run micro-lending program in Ghana, this paper examines the empowerment effects of rural women’s access to microcredit. We found that some women are empowered as a result of their access to credit; some have little control over the use of loans and are not better off; and some are subjected to harassment and are worse off due to their inability to repay loans in time. The implications of these findings for policy and practice are discussed. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Key words — microcredit, women, empowerment, disempowerment, Ghana

1. INTRODUCTION

of microcredit are to reduce poverty and empower women (Norwood, 2005). Indeed, Mohammed Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank’s microfinance program in Bangladesh, has suggested that microcredit is one simple idea that can eradicate global poverty among women (Hulme & Mosley, 1996). It is within this context that the micro-lending activities of World Vision Ghana in the Nadowli District are to be understood. World Vision Ghana is an international Christian relief and development NGO dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty. In Ghana, World Vision began operation in 1980, and started the Nadowli Area Development Programme in October 1993. The extension of microcredit to women for micro-enterprise development is one of World Vision’s strategies for women empowerment. World Vision Ghana’s microcredit program is modeled on the approach of the Grameen Bank. It lends to very poor individuals, all of whom are women. At the time of this research, 3,042 women were benefitting from the scheme. Lending was based on groups rather than individuals, although loan sizes vary from one group member to the other, usually depending on loan managers’ evaluation of the capacity of each group member to effectively manage the loan. A typical group consisted of 10–20 borrowers, and lending to individuals within the group occurred in sequence. The average loan size was 15 Ghana cedi (then approximately US$15 and now approximately US$ 5). Loans to groups were usually for a period of 6 months, with potential for increasing loan amounts in each cycle. In principle, the size of loan should steadily increase with regular and timely monthly interest payment by all group members. In practice however, delays in payment of interests often make it difficult for group members to receive additional funds at the end of each loan cycle. No collateral was required, and a flat interest rate of 20% per loan cycle (of 6 months) was charged on loans. Borrowers are expected to start making their monthly interest payment after a grace period of one month. The central feature of the program is the joint-liability

Limited savings and lack of access to credit make it difficult for many poor people, particularly women in low-income countries, to become self-employed and to undertake productive employment and income-generating ventures (Khandker, 1998). Microcredit programs for women have thus emerged and are currently being promoted as both a solution to women’s limited access to credit and a strategy for poverty reduction and women empowerment (Hashemi, Schuler, & Riley, 1996). Based on data generated from original longitudinal qualitative research we conducted in five rural communities in Ghana with women who are involved in a popular local microenterprise development program run by a big international nongovernmental organization (NGO), this paper investigates how rural women’s access to microcredit empowers them or otherwise. Findings show that some women have become more empowered, while others have also become disempowered as a result of accessing the loan. 2. BACKGROUND OF RESEARCH This paper forms part of a larger, original research that sought to explore the relationship between microcredit and the socio-economic empowerment of women in rural Ghana. Microcredit is simply the extension of a small amount of collateral-free institutional loans to jointly liable poor group members for their self-employment and income-generation (Rahman, 1999). The strategy is based on a creative grassroots alternative to reliance on informal lenders as the source of credit in situations where people, especially the poor, cannot get access to formal credit such as loans from banks (McDermott, 2001). In low-income countries worldwide, microcredit for women is increasingly used as a strategy for poverty alleviation and women empowerment. Currently, there are arguments that micro-lending to poor women holds the key to 21st century’s sustainable economic and social development (Norwood, 2005; UN, 2011). The argument is that the biggest promises

* Final revision accepted: August 20, 2014 335

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condition. That is in the event of any group member defaulting, no group member is allowed to borrow again, and group members are also collectively responsible for paying up the debt of any single group member in case of default. In view of the fact that World Vision Ghana’s microcredit program aims to empower women, it is important to know the extent to which women have been empowered as a result of their access to these loans. Strikingly, 30 years into the microcredit movement there is little solid evidence of how microcredit affects the lives of clients in measureable ways (Roodman & Morduch, 2009). Some studies from Asia suggest that participation in Grameen Bank and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee micro-lending schemes is positively associated with a woman’s level of empowerment (Hashemi et al., 1996; Sinha, 1998). Beyond the context of Bangladesh and Asia more generally, few detailed studies have been undertaken (Roodman & Morduch, 2009; UN, 2011). In Ghana, although there are few studies that have examined different aspects of microcredit (Afrane, 2002; Arku & Arku, 2009; Schindler, 2010), to the authors’ knowledge, none of the existing studies focused on women empowerment. Yet, it is unclear whether empowerment is an automatic outcome for all women everywhere, particularly in Africa where economic, political, and socio-cultural circumstances may differ. It is from the void of solid evidence to explain how microcredit affects the lives of women in Africa that this paper becomes relevant. As the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa observed in 2011, this is a good time to reassess the role of microcredit in Africa’s development (United Nations, 2011). 3. DEFINING EMPOWERMENT AND INDICATORS OF WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT For various reasons, the concept of empowerment is elusive to define (Mason, 1987). Common to most conceptualizations, however, is that empowerment is about change, choice, and power. In this paper, we defined empowerment as a process of change by which individuals or groups (in this case rural women) with limited choice, freedom, and power are enabled to gain and leverage power that enhances their ability to exercise choice and freedom in ways that positively contribute to their well-being. That conceptualizations of empowerment are diverse makes the identification and delineation of measureable indicators to assess women’s empowerment very difficult (Mayoux, 1998). Particularly problematic is the possible disjunction that may arise between women’s own aims and notions of empowerment and externally derived empowerment criteria established apriori. Similarly, behaviors and attitudes that might be used to measure women’s empowerment in one society may have no relevance in another (Hashemi et al., 1996). Moreover, women are not a homogeneous group, so that it might not be possible to identify one or two sets of criteria for women’s empowerment that are equally relevant for all women. Therefore, we agree with Mayoux (1998) that women’s own aspirations and strategies are a central element in explaining program outcomes, and must therefore be included in any empowerment analysis. To explore the level of women’s empowerment as a result of their involvement in World Vision’s micro-credit program, three main pathway matrixes of women empowerment were used: Material, Relational, and Perceptual. Under these matrixes are a total of seven indicators and specific actions that characterize women empowerment. These indicators were

arrived at through extensive preliminary discussions with women and loan managers using participatory learning and action approaches (Mayoux, 1998) and pre-testing. (a) Material pathway matrix The material pathway matrix to women empowerment encapsulates both measureable and non-measureable material elements, possession and/or ownership of which are deemed necessary in the determination of whether a woman is empowered or otherwise. In the study communities, the following specific indicators were identified. – Engagement in income-generating activity: A woman was asked whether before and after she was given the credit, she engaged in any economic activity or employment that generated income. – Having disposable income – to make small purchases, pay children’s school fees, buy food and medicine, and give ko kuo (small amount of money given to support community members when they are bereaved). A respondent was asked whether before and after she got involved with the credit scheme, she had any cash savings or disposable income that she could use to make small purchases on her own, buy food and medicine as well as give ko kuo. (b) Relational pathway matrix The relational pathway matrix describes the relationship and interaction between women and other members of their household and community. Indicators here include: – Control over loan use and income from loans: Once a respondent was established to have received credit from World Vision, we asked to know who controlled the loans, funded enterprises, and any incomes or assets that may accrue from the loan investment. A respondent was specifically asked whether she exercised full, significant, partial or no control over any profits or income that accrued from investment made with the loan. A woman was also specifically asked whether her husband or any other member of her family has ever forcefully taken away income from her loan investment. This was particularly important because our preliminary engagement with both loan officials and women to determine what counts as empowerment for women revealed that having control over funded enterprises is a very important firststep toward empowerment. – Involvement in major family decision-making: We also asked women whether before and after they received the loan, they participated in decision-making (individually or jointly with husband or other kinsmen) within the family on such issues as sale of family land or livestock, sending children to school or the clinic and marrying out of their daughters. – Relative freedom from domination and abuse: A woman was asked whether before and after she had access to the loan, money, jewellery, or livestock had been taken away from her against her will. The respondent was also asked whether before and after she received the loan, she had suffered any physical, emotional or verbal abuse from her husband or any member of her family. (c) Perceptual pathway matrix The perceptual pathway matrix of women empowerment is based on a woman’s own rough assessment of her status in the household, family and community. In other words, this

MICROCREDIT: EMPOWERMENT AND DISEMPOWERMENT OF RURAL WOMEN IN GHANA

aspect of empowerment seeks to shed light on women perception of well-being and the changes that they have experienced since their involvement in the micro-credit scheme. Specific indicators that were identified include: – Reduced economic dependence on husband: Women were asked to compare their level of economic dependence on their husbands or other family members before and after receiving the loan. Specifically, respondents were asked whether before or after receiving credit, they depended more on the earnings of their husbands or other family members to make small purchases (e.g., food and clothing) for themselves or for other family members such as children. – Mobility and self-confidence/assertiveness: A respondent was presented with a list of places and events – market, clinic, and naming, wedding and funeral ceremonies in or outside the community – and asked whether before and after she received the loan, she had gone to any of these places and events, whether she needed the permission of her husband or another person, and whether she went there alone. A respondent was further asked whether she felt her self-confidence or level of assertiveness had increased or decreased before or after she accessed the loan. We acknowledge that although these empowerment indicators resulted from discussions with women and loan managers, they might not fully capture the phenomenon of women empowerment. This is all the more so in the context of Ghana where women’s disempowerment is rooted in a number of factors including: limited political participation; low levels of female education; poor health including high maternal morbidity and mortality, and female genital mutilation; less supportive legal environment that promotes gender equality and women’s right; patriarchal and hegemonic masculinity norms that view women as inferior to men; limited economic opportunities; and cultural practices such as forced marriage (Anyidoho & Manuh, 2010). Indeed, as the indicators we identified above are only paths out, it is possible that women empowerment might be rooted in something that microcredit is unable to adjust for. Nevertheless, our research with women suggests that these indicators fairly approximate the concept of women empowerment in the study communities. 4. METHODS (a) Research design This study was designed as a longitudinal qualitative research, involving an initial research phase and two additional phases of follow-up research. The first phase of the research (December 2006–January 2007) was a baseline survey to identify loan recipients and to enroll them in the qualitative study. This phase also aimed to work with women and loan managers to identify and delineate relevant indicators of women empowerment. The second research phase (December 2009–January 2010) was used to gather data on the incomegenerating activities of loan recipients and the effect of the loans on their empowerment. The last research phase took place in December 2011, a period during which World Vision was preparing to fold-up its operations in the Nadowli district in line with its normal programing cycle. The aim of this last research phase was to evaluate changes in women empowerment overtime. The data reported in this paper however focus on and compare findings from the first research phase to the final round of research. This is because no significant

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differences were observed between the results of our mid-term research and those of final round. The choice of a qualitative study design was informed by the fact that the inherently limited potential for structured surveys to contribute to understandings of women empowerment has been widely acknowledged in the literature (Mayoux, 1998; Roodman & Morduch, 2009; Sinha, 1998). Mayoux (1998) and Sinha (1998) believe it is unlikely that existing quantitative methods can realistically assess the impact of women’s access to credit on their empowerment. Thus although a quantitative design such as a survey with a large sample could have been used in this research, such a design offers limited space for an in-depth exploration of local narrative accounts on the effects of microcredit on women empowerment. Qualitative research, however, attempted to provide access to the opinions, aspirations and power relationships that helped to explain how people, places, and events (e.g., women empowerment) arose in identifiable local contexts which privileged individual’s lived experiences (Karnieli-Miller, Strier, & Pessach, 2009). The qualitative methods used in this research generated rich, contextually detailed, and valid process data that left the participants’ perspectives minimally altered and enabled indepth exploration of the topic. Because majority of the women in this study could not read and write to answer written questions, qualitative research using interviews was indeed a better option. (b) Study setting and research participants Field research was conducted in five rural communities in the Nadowli District of the Upper West Region of Ghana. Participants were women drawn from the 3,042 rural women-loan recipients and workers from the Nadowli Area Development Programme of World Vision Ghana. In all, there were 232 participants. Of this number, 230 were women-loan recipients, and this represented eight per cent of all women borrowers at the time. The remaining two were local staff of World Vision. The ages of the women varied between 18 and 46 years. The majority of the women had no formal education. Several of the women were married or living with a partner. The majority of the women also had between one and five surviving children. In comparison with Ghana’s 2010 Population and Housing Census data for the Upper West Region, the socio-demographic characteristics of our study participants were generally very typical of the women population in the region (see Ghana Statistical Service, 2012). We chose World Vision Ghana’s microcredit program mainly because of its emphasis on women empowerment. We also chose Nadowli District because it is the first district in the region where World Vision Ghana started its microlending program. The five communities were also chosen because they were among the oldest program areas of World Vision Ghana in the district. (c) Sampling procedures The strategy for recruiting participants involved both probability and non-probability sampling procedures. For the women, a simple random sampling procedure was used to select participants. This involved a three-stage procedure. First, we obtained the individual files containing names and personal records of each of the women-loan recipient from the five study communities from a central registry. In the second stage of the sampling, we made a blindfolded person to randomly select the required number of participants from the pool of files for each community. Third, we then contacted

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each of the randomly selected persons in their various communities to discuss the study as well as conduct interviews. Where any of the randomly selected participants was not available or declined to participate in the study (and there were only two such cases), we repeated the process to get replacements. A purposive sampling technique was however used to select staff of World Vision Ghana. This was a judgmental selection based on the participant’s perceived role or knowledge of the subject of study. (d) Data collection methods To reproduce rural women’s experiences about their participation in World Vision’s micro-lending program, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were employed to collect data. This was however complemented with the development of a structured instrument to collect detailed demographic and socio-economic organizational information about the participants. Five focus groups (involving a total of 80 women borrowers) and 150 in-depth interviews were conducted. In each study community, one focus group was conducted in addition to completing at least 25 individual in-depth interviews. Focus groups consisted of 12–20 women and all discussions were held in the communities, usually at venues chosen by the women and were organized on non-working days. All focus groups were conducted in the local dialect (Dagaare) of the study communities. Each focus group lasted for 90 min. In all groups, participants’ verbal consents were gained and the discussions were audio recorded using a digital recorder. This consent was attained in addition to ethical clearance obtained from management of World Vision, traditional and opinion leaders of the study communities, and women group leaders. (e) Research instruments Two main instruments were used. For the focus groups and in-depth interviews, an open-ended thematic topic guide and question guide respectively were designed to ensure that the same themes were covered in each interview. The instrument allowed questioning to flow naturally while permitting us to probe more in-depth on certain pertinent issues. These instruments focused primarily on documenting use of credit in household economy, interactions between women-loan recipients, and borrowers’ interaction with members of their household. Some of the questions explored include: how did you become a member of World Vision’s micro-lending scheme – did you make the decision by yourself; before you received the credit, were you engaged in any economic activity or employment that generated income; did you have any cash savings or disposable income that you could use to make small purchases on you own; presently, do you have any cash savings or disposable income on your own; what did you do with the loan you received; are you making profit from any investments that you made with the loan; before you received the loan, did you participate in decision-making in your family/household, and on what kind of issues; currently do you take part in household decision-making; who controls the profit or income that you generate from your loan investment; and has your husband ever forcefully taken away income from your loan investment? In addition, a more structured instrument or what Hashemi et al. (1996) called the ‘household survival matrix’ was developed and administered to all 230 women. This instrument sought to collect detailed information at several points in time about economic activities and earnings of

members and processes of change in women’s role and status within and outside the household. To ensure that the final research instruments were reliable, a pre-test was done in the study communities prior to actual data collection. The pre-test enabled us to refine questions and use appropriate concepts. (f) Analysis Following the completion of interviews, we analyzed the data using the Attride-Stirling’s (2001) thematic network qualitative data analysis framework. This involved several steps. The first step involved transcription and reading of transcripts and field notes for overall understanding. The first author and an independent language (Dagaare) specialist transcribed all tape-recorded interviews from Dagaare to English. All the authors then reviewed the transcript for overall understanding and comprehension of meaning. This first step was completed with a separate summary of each transcript outlining the key points participants made. Second, the interview transcripts were exported to NVivo 9 qualitative data analysis software, where the data was both deductively and inductively coded. Codes are labels, which are assigned to whole or segments of transcripts and interview notes to help catalog key concepts (Miles & Huberman, 1994). We continued coding the data until theoretical saturation was reached (i.e., when no new concepts emerged from successive coding of data). Third, we applied the code structure to develop and report themes. Themes simply represented some level of patterned response or meaning within the data set (Boyatzis, 1998). Finally, all the themes identified were collated into a thematic chart to reflect basic themes, organizing themes, and global themes. To ensure that the thematic chart reflected the data, we went through the data segments related to each theme. Where necessary, refinements were made. Where appropriate, we used verbatim quotations from interview transcripts to illustrate relevant themes. In few instances too, qualitative responses are aggregated and presented in a quantitative fashion to facilitate easy understanding. 5. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION (a) Targeting women We begin the presentation of our findings by briefly reflecting on why women are the targets of World Vision Ghana’s microcredit program. The official policy position of World Vision Ghana for targeting women with credit is that empowering rural women through the provision of microcredit would enhance their productive capacity, and increase their economic security and their confidence in demanding continued and expanded opportunities for themselves (Sam, 2005). Targeting women is further founded on the assumption of women’s greater contribution to family welfare. The argument here is that the priority of women is always to first invest their earnings in their children, then subsequently, accompanied by spending on their household necessities. The organization therefore believes providing women with credit in order to increase their earnings would generate more qualitative and quantitative direct transformational benefits to family welfare. However, interviews with loan managers suggest other reasons that directly raise questions about the sincerity of the program’s commitment to women empowerment. One loan manager said:


Why we give the loan to only women? Well, you know [that] in the communities we work in, the men are not correct. When you give them loan they will spend it or they will refuse to pay back. It is very hard to work with them. . .you know most of them are very mobile and so can easily disappear with the loan. But with the women, they are ok, they are always around the community and they are reliable. If I call a meeting today, they will all come and they are also ok when it comes to paying back the interests on their instalment. That is why we work with them. (Loan Manager (Woman), IDI, Nadowli ADP).

In this way, the idea of targeting women, apart from it being seen as the ‘rational thing to do’, is also a strategic one, meant to facilitate easy recovery of loans. But World Vision’s approach also highlights an important lesson about how poorly adapted microcredit methodologies applied without sufficient understanding of the socio-cultural context can have some unexpected, adverse consequences, even while achieving some good outcomes. Thus having an understanding of the nature of potential loan recipients and the socio-cultural context within which they live could be vital for the survival, effectiveness and long-term success of any microcredit program. (b) Volume, adequacy, and timing of loan Table 1 shows the length of time respondents had benefited from the scheme and the amount of loan received. Most of the women (70%) we interviewed had been in the program from between six and 10 years. In an earlier study in Bangladesh, Hashemi et al. (1996) suggested that the longer a woman stayed as a member of either BRAC or Grameen Bank, the greater the likelihood that she will be empowered. Our focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with women revealed no such relationship. Thus the fact that one had benefited from the scheme for long did not mean that one would be empowered socially and economically. This, the women reported, was because the ability to be empowered depended on other more important factors such as the type of investment the loan was put into and whether a woman even had control over the loan use and the income accruing thereof. From the time they joined the scheme till the time of this research, most women had received a cumulative loan amount of between GH¢11 and GH¢30. While World Vision considered the various amounts it loaned to women appropriate for rural women empowerment at the time, our interviews with women regarding the adequacy of the loan amount they received showed that most (92%) believed the amount was woefully inadequate to engage in any meaningful income-generating activity. Participants noted that the small size of the loan did not allow for investment in different ventures or investments in business ventures that were high profit-yielding Table 1. Years of involvement in scheme and loan amount received Characteristic

Response

Number of years involved in the scheme 1–5 48 6–10 161 11–15 21 Total 230

Percent 21.0 70.0 9.0 100.0

Cumulative Amount of Loan Received (GH¢) P10 3 1.0 11–30 221 96.0 31–60 7 3.0 Total 230 100.0

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but requiring larger capital investment. Although some women managed to improve their incomes nevertheless, as we show below, the small sizes of the loan that most women complained about is part of the reason why some women failed to invest their loans in economically rewarding ventures, faced considerable difficulty repaying their loans, and had even become more vulnerable and disempowered. One other related problem our study documented was the timing of the loan. Usually, loans are disbursed to women annually in the month of June. About 56% of the women interviewed said this timing was inappropriate mainly for two reasons. First, the time coincided with what the women described as the ‘‘hunger gap’’ in the district, during which time food is difficult to come by. One widow illustrates the point: . . .Ah, time? This was a time I had nothing to feed my children with. So when World Vision gave me the loan, I used it to buy food! Should I invest this money in selling salt or pepper while my family starve to death? (Woman, FGD).

Second, respondents noted that during this time of the year, there is usually a shortage of agricultural produce such as guinea corn – commodities women either trade-in directly or use as raw materials for the production of other goods such as pito (local beer brewed using maize or guinea corn). As a result, many loans are either mismanaged or channeled into direct consumption. By showing how disbursing loans for business start-ups in the hungry season leads to non-investment, nonrepayment, and disempowerment, the findings here not only raise questions about the specific methodology of World Vision Ghana, but they also suggest that lack of appreciation of the local economic context within which a microcredit scheme is implemented could easily contribute to ineffectiveness. (c) The impact of World Vision Ghana’s microcredit program (i) Women’s involvement in income-generating activities As a first step toward empowerment, World Vision provides credit to women so that they might engage in income-generating activities and thus bring about meaningful socio-economic changes in their lives. Once loans are granted, borrowers must invest their loans in productive activities and start paying their installments every month using the profit earned from the loan investment. Data were elicited to evaluate whether women were actually involved in income-generating activities, the proportion of loan recipients who already had income-generating activities before receiving the loan, and how many of those who did not have a business activity at the beginning succeeded in starting one after receiving the loan. Table 2 shows respondents’ involvement in income-generating activities before and after the loan. Before receiving the loan, only 29% of our study respondents were engaged in some business activity. This figure rose to 62% after the loans were given, suggesting that 38% of women who received the loan were unable to start any business activity. While we discuss the reasons for this in Table 3 below, two issues need pointing out. First, given that a large proportion of women were not already engaged in any income-generating business but World Vision nevertheless gave them loans for the purpose of starting up one, one could applaud the organization for enhancing these women’s access to finance. However, the fact that a considerable number of these women failed to start-up any business suggests that World Vision’s approach did not adequately appreciate what women’s access to microcredit can do or not do in a context

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WORLD DEVELOPMENT Table 2. Involvement income-generating activity before and after loan

Involvement in incomegenerating activity Yes No Total

Involvement before loan

Involvement after loan

Percent before loan

Percent after loan

Change in percentage

67 163 230

143 87 230

29.0 71.0 100.0

62.0 38.0 100.0

33 (+ve) 33 ( ve)

Table 3. Loan investment patterns Loan use type Farming (food crops) Pito (local beer) brewing Frying and selling koose (bean cakes) Petty trading in agricultural products e.g., maize Petty trading in other consumer goods e.g., salt Shea butter extraction and sale Hairdressing Sewing/dressmaking Pigs rearing Poultry farming Direct loan consumption Loan seizure by husband/loan given to husband or another family member to use Total

Response Percent 5 37 19 13 17 21 5 8 8 9 27 61

2.2 16.1 8.3 5.6 7.4 9.1 2.2 3.5 3.5 3.9 11.7 26.5

230

100.0

where economic opportunities for women are limited and where women faced other economic necessities such as poverty and hunger. Second, our interviews with loan recipients revealed that most of the women who hitherto were not engaged in any business activity but managed to start one after receiving the loan were actually doing so for the first time. Although exposure to income-earning activities in a single generation might not be sufficient to wipe away long periods of cultural conditioning, for these women, the fact that their involvement in the NGO’s micro-lending program has enabled them to be involved in economic activities that might generate income was itself empowering. It is very good that I got this loan. I used to stay at home and do nothing. Things were very hard, but now, at least I feel better because at the end of the day I will get something [money] from my pito business to support my family (Woman, IDI).

Table 3 shows the patterns of loan utilization among the 62% of the women who were engaged in some form of business activity after they received the loan. Most women invested their loans in one of ten different economic activities including pito brewing and food crop farming. Our research however revealed two problematic issues as regards women’s loan investment decisions. The first is that most women invested their loans in activities that yielded little profit. In our discussions with loan staff, it was clear that World Vision simply assumed that there were profitable income-earning ventures out there that rural women could engage in if only these women had access to finance. However, our interviews with women found that male dominance in the local economic sphere tended to push most women into less profitable economic activities such as those described in Table 3. But some women also reported that they invested their loans in these types of activities because of the small size of the loan they received. That women are investing their loans in low-profit businesses suggests that the prospects of paying the 20% interest on loans could be unrealistic. Indeed, as we show below,

this is one primary reason why many women are unable to pay the 20% interest on their loans, which then leads to several undesirable outcomes including verbal abuse from other group members. The second issue is that a significant number of women (38%) have even failed to invest their loans in any venture that could generate income. Two main reasons accounted for this. First, the initial loan capital went into direct consumption. Several accounts were given about loans being used to meet immediate household needs such as purchase of food and medicine. Second, the loan was forcefully seized or in some instances women themselves voluntarily handed over the loan to their husbands or another family member. For all these women, losing the initial loan capital often initiates a process of dispossession and indebtedness that culminates in a gradual but profound socio-economic privation and disempowerment. The fact that a substantial number of the loans are used for purposes other than investment in income-generating activities could be related to the fact that World Vision’s loan operation policy does not focus on women who already have an income-generating activity neither does it emphasize a strong supervisory role for loan managers. Rather it relies on mutual trust and the joint liability clause to ensure that borrowers use their loans for income-earning activities and to pay monthly interest from the income earned. Unfortunately, these management mechanisms are not always effective as loans are rarely monitored. Thus lack of focus on women who are already engaged in viable economic activities, breakdown of the monitoring mechanism within the household economy, low level of loan investment supervision, and limited household resources, often intermingle to force borrowers – who are usually faced with other economic necessities – into diverting loans into uses other than those sanctioned by the organization. Of course the exact use of the loan should not be so relevant if the purpose of World Vision’s microcredit program was only to enhance women’s access to finance. However, given that many loan recipients do not usually have any form of business activity before receiving the loan, and the fact that the program emphasizes the investment of loans in incomegenerating activities, an outright use of loan funds for such activities as school fees or food clearly raises questions about the appropriateness of extending loans to women to start-up new businesses. Our interviews with women suggest that in a context such as the Nadowli district where economic opportunities are limited and hunger and poverty very rife, a focus on women who are already involved in income-generating activities has a better chance of succeeding due to the high potential for small business start-ups to fail, and the fungibility of loans among starters. (ii) Impact on women’s income and contribution to household welfare Figure 1 is a representation of women’s own valuation of their income status since accessing the credit, while Table 4 shows the distribution of changes in income between women


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say I am bad. So in the past I have had to take part of the initial loan capital to go and pay the interest. I have even borrowed from two of my friends to pay the interest. Now I am in big debt (Woman, IDI).

Clearly, our findings here suggest that microcredit programs for women are likely to have a more positive impact on household incomes if such programs are targeted at women already engaged in some business venture. Figure 1. Credit impact on women’s income.

who already had an income-generating activity before receiving the loan and those who did not. These results are the outcome of a question that asked women to describe their income after they had accessed the loan. Figure 1 indicates that 41% (94), 43% (99), and 16% (37) of the women sampled, respectively, reported that their income levels have improved, worsened and not changed. Table 4 however shows that majority of the women who had income-earning activities before receiving the loan reported increases (49) or no change (16) in income. On the contrary, majority of our respondents who reported decreases in incomes (97) were women who did not have any income-earning business before accessing the loan. Our interviews found that most women who reported improvements in their income had invested their loans in one productive activity or the other or had expanded their existing businesses and were making monthly profits of between GH¢1 and GH¢10. Although these women admitted that the income they were earning were rather meagre due in part to the low profit-yielding nature of their investments, most were particularly proud of the financial contribution they now make to their family welfare and children’s education. A few of these women reported how they were using their loans and the incomes accruing from their loan investment to provide better quality and quantity food, pay expenses of their children’s education and clothing needs. However, for the majority of women whose incomes worsened or remained stagnant, the situation is opposite. Such women were found either not to be making any profits from their investments or to have lost the initial loan capital to non-productive ventures such as direct consumption. For the majority of this category of respondents, not only were they not able to contribute to their family welfare but also they found it extremely difficult paying the monthly interest on their loans. These women painfully tell of how they often have to borrow from friends and other moneylenders to pay the monthly interest on their loan in order to avoid defaulting and escape the social pressures and shame that comes with defaulting. . . .Right now I really don’t know what to tell you. . .I don’t know because this loan has made things difficult for me. My business is not doing very well but you know. . .every month I have to pay interest. I don’t have the money to always do that. But I don’t want to default in paying the loan. . .they will

(iii) Control over loan and income from funded enterprises World Vision Ghana provides credit to women on the assumption that women will – individually or collectively – exercise full control over both the loan and the investments that they make. However, in reality, this assumption usually does not apply. Findings show that in more than half of the cases women had no control over funded enterprises. Figure 2 illustrates this. Forty per cent of the women sampled indicated that they exercised no control over the loan they received, including funded enterprises as well as incomes and assets that may accrue. Only 16% were able to fully control their loans and enterprises while some 21% and 23% exercised significant and partial control, respectively. Our in-depth engagement with participants revealed that while women are the loan recipients, decisions about how these loans are used and who might exercise control, take place within the household economy. In the study communities, the household generally operates as both a cooperative productive unit and political entity where economic decisions are made and power and control is exercised. Focus group discussions with women found that in the majority of cases men (mostly husbands) controlled the loans and funded enterprises in whole or in part as well as supplied installments for the monthly interest payment. Two main reasons explain this. The first is related to the fact that in more than half of the cases, husbands and other male relations in the household made the initial decision for a woman to join the credit program by either sending or influencing her to become a member of World Vision Ghana’s micro-lending program. In a few cases, women gave graphic accounts of how their husbands not only asked them to join but also literally forced them to join in order to acquire funds for their (husbands) usage. In part, this explains why husbands will either completely seize the loan or exercise total control over the loan and funded

Figure 2. Women’s control over loans and funded enterprises.

Table 4. Distribution of changes in income after loan Participant categories Already had an income-generating activity Didn’t have an income-generating activity Total

Income increased after loan

Income decreased after loan

No change in income after loan

Total

49 45 94

2 97 99

16 21 37

67 163 230

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enterprises. Indeed, there were several accounts of husbands forcefully taking away income or selling out assets acquired by women from their loan investment. The second reason why very few women were able to exercise control over the loans and funded enterprises is that existing patriarchal and socio-cultural norms restrict women’s ability to own or exercise control over assets. In the existing socio-cultural milieu of the Nadowli district, women may own assets through inheritance or self-purchase. However, fewer women are able to claim ownership and control over these assets because men usually exercise management and use rights even if it is the woman who acquires the assets legally. One participant makes the point: . . .Control assets in the house? Don’t you know our tradition? When a man marries a woman, he owns and controls her, her children, and everything the woman has! How will a woman own and control anything in a man’s house? (Woman, IDI).

In focus groups, some participants related personal accounts about how they willingly handed over their loans, assets, and resources to their male counterparts thinking that men are better in handling and managing monetary transactions. Todd (1995) suggests that since men’s enterprises are often more profitable than women’s, investing loans in men’s activities may be a rational strategy. While this may be true, the women in our study reported how men often misappropriate these resources or utilize them in a manner that greatly disfavours them (women). In our interviews, women’s qualitative accounts suggested that lending to women who have full or significant control over proceeds from their loans was more likely to enhance their incomes and empowerment, while lending to those who have no control over the loan and income from their investments only make things worse. I think the loan is only good for those women who take care of themselves. . .I mean women who are in-charge of their businesses and can determine what they want to use the loan for. For others like myself who do not control how the loan should be used, and our husbands determine everything, things are really not good (Woman, IDI).

(iv) Credit and women’s involvement in major family decisionmaking Access to credit and participation in income-generating activities are assumed to strengthen women’s bargaining position within the household, thereby allowing them to influence a greater number of strategic decisions (Hashemi et al., 1996). In poor Ghanaian communities in particular, men’s domination over women is strongest within the household. Women’s ability to participate and influence decisions that affect their lives at the household level is therefore considered one of the

principal components of empowerment. While it is less clear exactly what types of decisions and what degree of participation and influence should be classified as empowerment, this study records marginal increase in women’s levels of participation in making important household decisions after access to credit. Table 5 compares respondents’ participation in household decision making before and after their access to the loan. Of particular significance is the general drop in the percentage of women who were hitherto non-participants in household decision-making from 50.4 to 23. Of course correlation here does not mean causality. However, based on women’s own accounts, their involvement in World Vision Ghana’s micro-lending program appears to have contributed to an increase in the number who now participated in making various household decisions. One woman recounted: Ah World Vision! World Vision has made it possible for me to have a say in whatever happens in the house. Before then, I had no say. My husband never respected my opinions (Woman, IDI).

Accordingly, if for nothing at all, and even if they (women) ceded control over their loans and funded enterprises to their husbands – voluntarily or forcefully – the fact that they (women) have become means through which new resources (loan funds) could be pulled into the household has greatly increased their status and bargaining power within the household. (v) Credit and women’s relative freedom from domination and abuse While World Vision Ghana’s credit program might have had marginal empowerment benefits in terms of women’s participation in household decision-making, domination and abuse against women borrowers have escalated in all study villages. Our in-depth interviews with women revealed that the increase in abuse came from two main sources: group members and husbands. Abuse from group members emanated from the program’s reliance on the joint-liability condition. Because of the jointliability condition, the credibility of a particular women-borrower-group to World Vision Ghana and the potential for new loans for its members is often greatly jeopardized when even one member in the group fails to maintain regular monthly payment of interests. Indeed, in the event that one member delays payments or totally defaults, all the other group members who paid their interests in a timely manner must wait until such a time that every member in the group pays up. This often generates enormous conflict among group members as pressure is often exerted on defaulting members to pay. Several women borrowers in our study lamented over how other group members used moral coercion, verbal

Table 5. Women’s participation in household decision-making before and after access to loan Decision type Sale of family land Sale of family livestock Use of household income Schooling of children Sending family member for medical care Giving out daughter/son in marriage None Total

Participation before loan

Participation after loan

Percent before loan

Percent after loan

Change in percentage

13 27 30 19 17 8 116 230

23 35 50 31 28 10 53 230

5.7 11.7 13.0 8.3 7.4 3.5 50.4 100.0

10.0 15.2 21.7 13.5 12.2 4.3 23.0 100.0

4.3 (+ve) 3.5 (+ve) 8.7 (+ve) 5.2 (+ve) 4.8 (+ve) 0.8 (+ve) 27.4 ( ve)


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aggression and physical assault to compel them to pay their monthly interest.

the process, the wrath of angry husbands who feel their authority is being threatened by their wife’s behavior.

Have I had any problems? Yes. . .Yes. Recently, I was almost wounded at the borehole! Why?. . .because when it was time to pay the interest on my loan, I didn’t have money. So on the day of interest payment, all my group members went to pay except me. In fact I was busy going from one market to the other at that time hoping that I would get the money. But when I returned to the village, the group leader and other members confronted me to pay the interest. I told them I didn’t have the money yet, but they would not listen to me. They used very bad words on me . . . very abusive language and hurled insults on me. Some said I was lazy; others said I was very irresponsible; and some even threatened to beat me if I failed to pay. . .and there are several others like me in this village who also feel this pressure and suffer this abuse because they are unable to pay (Woman, IDI).

Are you asking whether we have had any problems with our husbands since we were given the loan? That one. . .I can personally say I have had a lot. Every now and then my husband would fight me. This happened anytime I asked him to pay me back monies he has taken from my business. I really don’t know, but any time I asked, he would just be angry. . .he would insult me and if I asked further questions he would just beat me up. (Woman, FGD).

Others tell of how their peers violently confiscated their saleable household items and personal assets including cooking pots and sold them out in order to collect monthly installment. What makes the situation worse according to most accounts is the fact that very often, the confiscation and abuse take place in the public sphere such as in the market. This brings shame, embarrassment and emotional trauma to victims and their household. Clearly, these are the hidden costs of the Grameen-style group liability approach; but perhaps without such enforcements too the group methodology would not work and women would not have access to the loans because the program would not be sustainable if clients did not repay. In this regard, it is worth pointing out that the ways in which the groups enforce the joint liability makes the loans not entirely as collateral-free as they appear. Given that the groups are largely able to enforce the joint liability condition among themselves – loan repayment performance rate was estimated to be above 65% – we would argue that the NGO does not even have to impose any collateral on loans. But it is not only women borrowers who perpetrate abuse on defaulting group members. Within the household too, the majority of the loan recipients interviewed said they experience both physical and verbal assaults of some kind from their husbands and other male guardians, albeit for different reasons. Findings here suggest that abuse against women borrowers results mainly from disagreement over loan use or control. As argued earlier, men control the management and use of most loans that women bring into the household. But before men are able to establish full management or use control, abuse is often involved. The incidence of domestic abuse against women loan borrowers arises as a result of some women challenging the legitimacy and/or propriety of men’s attempt to exercise management and use rights over loans and funded enterprises. In the majority of the cases, respondents reported that women questioned their husbands’ management or use of the loan or funded enterprise, incurring in

In this way, our findings here sharply contradict one study on the Grameen Bank which found that credit programs reduced domestic violence by channeling resources to families through women (Schuler, Hashemi, & Riley, 1997). They are however consistent with those of Rahman’s (1999) study in the Tangail region of Bangladesh where abuse against women borrowers was found to have escalated following their access to credit. For most of the women surveyed in this paper, abuse against them within the household furthers their disempowerment – a development that is complete anathema to the original intent and purpose of World Vision’s micro-lending program. (vi) Credit and women’s economic dependence on husband Women’s economic independence is another major factor that can enhance their empowerment. Traditionally, women in the study area are engaged in household activities that are non-wage earning such as working in their husbands’ farms and caring for children. This renders them economically dependent on their husbands and other male kin. World Vision Ghana is of the opinion that if women had opportunities for gainful employment outside the household through their access to credit, their contribution to household wellbeing would help reduce household poverty as well as reduce women’s overall economic dependence on their husbands. In our research, women’s economic independence was evaluated both before and after their involvement with the loan program. The results are presented in Table 6. Generally, women’s access to credit appears to have a very limited effect on their dependence on the earnings of their husbands or other relatives. Apart from food purchases and expenditures from payment of children school fees, which experience marginal decline in terms of the number of women depending on their husbands or other kinsmen earnings, women’s economic dependence has increased for the rest of the evaluated variables. Qualitative analysis identified two main reasons why this is the case. First is the limited control women have over their loan and funded enterprises. Generally, husbands control women’s loans and funded enterprises. Consequently, not only do women depend on their husbands for the supply of installments to pay their monthly interests, but they have also become chronically dependent on the same husbands for procuring certain basic necessities and personal effects.

Table 6. Women’s economic dependence on husband’s/kin’s earnings before and after access to loan Expenditure/purchase type Food Clothing Medicine Jewelry Child school fees Hair cream and other body accessories Ko kuo

Dependence on husband’s/kin’s earnings before loan

Dependence on husband’s/kin’s earnings after loan

Percent before loan

Percent after loan

205 190 198 155 223 148 98

196 197 201 174 187 163 119

89.0 83.0 86.0 67.0 97.0 64.0 43.0

85.0 86.0 87.0 76.0 81.0 71.0 52.0

Change in Percentage 4 3 1 9 6 7 9

(+ve) ( ve) ( ve) ( ve) (+ve) ( ve) ( ve)

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I think things have gone from bad to worse. I used to ask him [referring to husband] for money to buy ingredients for making soup, clothing and other things. But now, I have to even ask for more. . .money to pay the interest on the loan. (Woman, IDI).

The second reason is that the income-generating activities that are primarily controlled by women such as pito brewing typically yield modest income compared with the earnings of men in wage labor. In this vein, most women are not self-sufficient in terms of personal income and therefore still have to depend on the earnings of their male counterparts to make various purchases and meet different household expenditures. (vii) Credit and women’s mobility and self-confidence/assertiveness Fernando and Porter (2002) have argued that increasing women’s mobility can empower them to exercise greater control over their lives by increasing their access to markets, education and information. We therefore evaluated the effects of microcredit on women’s social and economic mobility and how they promote women’s self-confidence or assertiveness in the Nadowli district. Findings from qualitative interviews with women suggest that prior to their involvement with the loan scheme, most women were consigned to the private sphere and the affairs of the home. This heavily restricted women’s mobility and self confidence to be actively involved in market transactions, thereby providing them with limited opportunity and ability to meet different people and gain new experiences for their empowerment. However, many of the women-loan-recipients reported several important changes after they joined the scheme. One participant recalled: Me. . .before I had this loan to start my pito brewing business I was the home type, poor and very timid. Anytime I wanted to go anywhere, I needed to ask my husband for money, and anytime he said he didn’t have money, it means I couldn’t go. But now that I am doing this business and I am making small money, I feel very confident, I don’t fear. . .I can go to Nadowli market, Sankana market, Tangasie market, Bussie market, and even Wa (the regional Capital) without depending on him to give me lorry fare (Woman, FGD).

Also, few women noted that through their travel to do business or participate in weekly group meetings, not only is their mobility greatly enhanced, but also these movements do ‘open their eyes and ears to the outside world’. They therefore gain exposure to new ideas as well as opportunities for their empowerment. Furthermore, by participating in weekly meetings, these women are able to acquire a degree of selfconfidence. At the same time however, a substantial number of borrowers noted that sometimes the shame and embarrassment associated with defaulting and having to be confronted by other borrowers, prevented some women from moving into the public sphere. For such women, access to credit has actually profoundly limited their mobility beyond the home. 6. CONCLUSION AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS The extension of microcredit to women has the potential to impact powerfully on women’s empowerment. Our aim in this paper was to examine the empowerment effects of the microlending operation of an NGO-managed microcredit program to poor women in a rural district of Ghana. Findings show that some women are empowered along several dimensions as a result of their access to loans; several other women have

little control over the use of loan funds and are therefore no better off due to receiving credit; while some women are subjected to harassment and abuse due to their indebtedness and inability to repay loans, and are therefore worse off. Our findings suggest that those women who became more empowered as a result of their access to credit were women who either were already engaged in some business venture before receiving the loan or they exercised full or significant control over proceeds from their loans. On the contrary, women borrowers who became vulnerable and even disempowered were those who either received loans to start-up new businesses but who actually failed to do so due to loss of loans to other unapproved loan uses such as direct consumption, or those who had no control over investments and earnings from their loans. Of course, these results must be interpreted with the understanding that identifying microcredit impact on women empowerment is a rather problematic enterprise due to the fungibility of credit, non-randomness in program participation (selection bias), and non-randomness of program placement (Khandker, 1998). Moreover, it might be too ambitious to expect that years of male domination over women will be removed by a few years of women involvement in a microcredit program. Nevertheless, the evidence presented in this paper clearly exposes the gulf that can exist between the vision for promoting women’s access to microcredit and its actual operation and impact on women empowerment, and called into question some of the specific methodology used by World Vision Ghana as well as the general notion that microcredit empowers women. Our findings show that the impact of any microcredit program depends on the socio-economic and cultural contexts in which it is implemented, and that women might experience both great advantages and disadvantages from accessing credit, depending on their situations and whether they are able to service their debt or not. In some cases, access to credit might be the only input needed on the road to women empowerment. At the same time, our findings also suggest that in a culture in which women have little control over their loans and income from their investments, it is a singularly poor environment to give out credit to women to start-up new businesses. This would suggest that World Vision’s and other similar microcredit schemes need to revise their lending approach to focus on a number of things. First, it might be better to focus on clients already having an income-generating activity that generates sufficient income to repay the loan. This would not only help loan recipients to grow their existing businesses and generate more income, but it would also ensure the sustainability of the schemes themselves. Second, it might also be useful to first screen and determine which clients have adequate control to be able to use a loan productively. This might require moving beyond individual women to focusing also on families and communities to redress powerlessness and genderbased discrimination against women. But in addition to the above recommendations, the loan size, timing of initial disbursement, and monitoring, are issues that must be relooked at. Our study indicates that small loan sizes, inappropriate timing of loan disbursement, and general laxity in the supervision of how disbursed loans are managed within the household economy led not only to the use of credit for untended purposes, but also to an increase in the debtliability of borrowers. Also the low profit-yielding nature of women’s investment activities contributed to undermining the spaces for women empowerment, while struggles over loan use and control over loan-funded enterprises within the household as well as increasing debt-liability of individual


borrowers created new forms of abuse, dominance, and control over borrowers. These findings from our research clearly support the need to increase the sizes of loans to levels that are sufficient enough to be invested in high profit-yielding incomegenerating ventures. Similarly, we recommend that the timing of loan disbursement should be changed to be in a season where economic opportunities and food are abundant rather than scarce, while effective loan monitoring mechanisms should be put in place to address the high potential for loan fungibility. Finally, and with regards to how the joint liability condition is enforced when one group member is unable to pay the interest in time, we recommend that groups should be encouraged to build-up their own emergency savings/funds through small contributions at their regular meetings. Such funds could be loaned out (and to be replaced later) to group members who might have legitimate reasons for being unable to repay at the time of collection. This could reduce the harassment, abuse, and seizure of assets that insolvent borrowers often

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experience due to other group members having to cover for them out of their own pocket. In conclusion, empowerment cannot always be assumed to be an automatic outcome of women’s access to microcredit particularly in contexts such as Ghana where women still face considerable socio-economic disadvantages relative to men. Although microcredit could be a first step in a process that could take 2–3 generations, it is unrealistic to expect women’s access to microcredit to instantly change a pattern of male domination as well as other social and cultural conditions – that may have existed for time immemorial – that deprive women of control over their economic activities and the proceeds thereof. However with adequate loan size, appropriate timing, effective monitoring, and better screening methods that avoid giving loans to those who are not likely to be in a position to repay through the determination of which women have inadequate control to be able to use a loan productively, women’s access to microcredit can enhance their empowerment.

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Mayoux, L. (1998). Participatory learning for women’s empowerment in microfinance programmes: Negotiating complexity, conflict and change. IDS Bulletin, 29(4), 39–50. McDermott, P. (2001). Globalization, women and development: Microfinance and factory work in perspective. Journal of Public Affairs, XIII, 65–79. Miles, M. B., & Huberman, M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: A sourcebook of new methods (2nd ed.). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Norwood, C. (2005). Macro promises of micro-credit: A case of a local eSusu in rural Ghana. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 7, 1. Rahman, A. (1999). Micro-credit initiatives for equitable and sustainable development: Who pays?. World Development, 27(1), 67–82. Roodman, D., & Morduch, J (2009). The impact of microcredit on the poor in Bangladesh: Revisiting the evidence. Centre for Global Development Working Paper, No. 174. Sam, A. (2005). Partners: A magazine of world vision Ghana. Accra: World Vision Ghana. Schindler, K. (2010). Credit for what? Informal credit as a coping strategy of market women in Northern Ghana. Development in Practice, 46(2), 234–253. Schuler, S. R., Hashemi, S., & Riley, A. P. (1997). Men’s violence against women in rural Bangladesh; undermined or exacerbated by microcredit programmes? Paper presented at the 1997 population Association of America annual Meetings, Washington, DC, March, 1997. Sinha, S. (1998). Introduction and overview. IDS Bulletin, 29(4), 1–10. Todd, H. (1995). Women at the centre: Grameen Bank borrowers ten years On. Malaysia: CASHPOR. United Nations. (2011). Microfinance in Africa: Overview and suggestions for action by stakeholders. New York: United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa.

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