Juntas estamos mejor! : a study of microfinance as a tool for female empowerment

Abstract

This thesis is based on my five-month long fieldwork conducted in the microfinance institution Pro Mujer in El Alto, Bolivia. Through a close examination of Pro Mujer s services my aim is to get a better view of how they are put into practice and how they are suited to the women s lived experiences. I argue that microfinance can be seen as a disciplinary mechanism where the goal is to create empowered, entrepreneurial active citizens. By participating in repayment meetings and training, Pro Mujer believes the women will develop their skills and abilities to be able to take an active part in their own development. I argue that despite Pro Mujer s rhetoric of participation, they still set limitations on the women s choices and actions. The women are to a certain degree constructed as passive and ignorant, or at least in the possession of the wrong kind of knowledge. Their own knowledge and practices are as a result usually disregarded. Most of the Pro Mujer clients work in the informal sector as street vendors or market women. Their lives are characterised by an uncertainty that makes it difficult for them to conform to Pro Mujer s criteria of how an empowered woman should behave and think. Despite Pro Mujer s focus on social capital as a support and control mechanism inside the communal association, the women are dependent on an extensive network of friends and family for their survival. Even though the women face multiple challenges in their every day life, they work hard to be able to salir adelante to get ahead, and create a better future for themselves and their children.