1st Edition
Women and Credit Researching the Past, Refiguring the Future
Credit can be instrumental in equalizing opportunity and alleviating poverty, yet historically men and women have not had the same access. Partly because of this, women have been excluded from many previous economic histories. This book fills a significant gap in exploring the vexed relationship between the women and credit across time and space.Providing examples of credit agencies and initiatives in both the developing and developed world, Women and Credit raises important policy issues and makes valuable suggestions for reconfiguring the relationship between women and credit. It also answers questions previously ignored by scholars, yet of vital significance to women's studies and economic history. What contribution did women make to the development of industrial capitalism? How does women's access to credit vary across time and cultures? How has the development of mico-credit initiatives affected women's economic position and what role will such initiatives play in the future?This book is an invaluable resource for anyone in the fields of Women's studies, economic history, anthropology or development.
Part I Exploring the Western History of Women and Credit 1 Introduction. Women, Credit and the Creation of Opportunity: A Historical Overview 2 Women's Economic Spheres and Credit in Pre-industrial Europe 3 Petty Debts and Family Networks: The Credit Markets of Widows and Wives in Eighteenth-Century Amsterdam 4 Lending Women, Borrowing Women: Middle-Class Women, Investments and Credit in Northern France in the Nineteenth Century Part II Bridging Past and Present 5 Women and Micro-credit in History: Gender in the Irish Loan Funds 6 Stokvels and Economic Empowerment: The Case of African Women in South Africa, c .1930-1998 Part III Pioneering Projects 7 Women, Institutional Roles and Economic Opportunity 8 A Personal Perspective on the Evolution of Micro-credit in the Late Twentieth Century 9 Banking with Poor Self-employed Women 10 Micro-credit as a Path from Welfare to Work: The Experience of the Full Circle Project, UK Part IV Impacts and Issues 11 Credit Options, Human Resource Development and the Sustainability of Women's Projects: Case Study of the 'Association of Creative Teaching - Women in Development Projects' in the South-West Province, Cameroon 12 Negotiating Financial Autonomy: Women, Income and Credit in Urban Java 13 Poor Female Youth and Human Capital Development in Bangladesh: What Role for Micro-Credit Programmes? Part V Policy Perspectives 14 Women's Empowerment Versus Sustainability? Towards a New Paradigm in Micro-finance Programmes 15 Linking Formal and Informal Financial Intermediaries in Ghana: A Way To Increase Women's Access to Financial Services? 16 Financial Arrangements Across Borders: Women's Predominant Participation in Popular Finance, from Thilogne and Dakar to Paris. A Senegalese Case Study, Continuity and Change: Towards a Conclusion
Biography
Beverly Lemire Professor of History and University Research Professor,University of New Brunswick, Canada Ruth Pearson Professor of Development Studies, University of Leeds Gail Campbell Professor of History, University of New Brunswick
