By: I Mutalima
Published by: Microcredit Summit Campaign, 2006
Via: Eldis
Why isn't the microfinance industry (MFI) doing better at contributing towards gender equality? This paper provides case studies of institutions from the USA, Zambia, and Ethiopia. It argues that MFIs that are fully engaging in gender issues need assistance in both structural set-up and in establishing a mutually compatible focus of gender differentiation and organisational sustainability.
It finds that some MFIs have not fully integrated gender issues in their practical operations. This tends to be due to pressures to survive as an organisation, the responsibility of women to support their families, their business skills and training, and existing market conditions. MFIs increasingly have to consider the impact of their activities on themselves as well as on their clients. Donors have been reducing subsidies to push MFIs towards economic sustainability and have imposed greater regulatory expectations on them, requiring more time and money.
Approaches to mainstreaming gender in MFIs will not be taken seriously if there is no clear indication of how this will add to the MFI's economic performance in the short-run. Gender is often seen as an added responsibility that might even be costly. Until a business case is made for mainstreaming gender, some MFIs will not buy into it.
(http://www.microcreditsummit.org/papers/Workshops/28_Mutalima.pdf)
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