Economic Empowerment of Women through Inclusive Finance

The expansion of microfinance, by enhancing inclusive finance, promised to address the issue of poverty alleviation, promoting women's empowerment and sustainable development. The high value attached to such interventions has been marked by the award of a Nobel Peace Prize to Grameen Bank and its founder Dr. Muhammed Yunus. Billions of dollars continue to be invested to upscale outreach. Unfortunately, such interventions, often focused only on 'minimalist' microcredit and implemented without addressing specific gender issues, risk perpetuating the status quo. Where the newly gained improved women's bargaining power pose a threat to the established societal norm vis a vis what is valued, allowed, and expected from a woman/man, and a girl/boy, such interventions even worsen existing injustice, enhancing intimate partner violence, etc, In many cases, what has started as a purely social concern has given rise to emergence of profit motivated institutions, which became the 'new money lenders' at the bottom of the pyramid. This paper undertakes a very comprehensive analysis of existing practices in various contexts, and offers some practical recommendations.