According to the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) framework, three sets of factors are believed to constrain the ability of women to participate in society: lack of access to assets and resources, lack of voice, and the bias of societal norms and institutions against them. In order to bring about equality and inclusion, action is therefore needed on all three fronts (GESI Working Group, 2017). BRAC Microfinance has decided to introduce a Gender Transformative Microfinance Program (GTMF) based on an integrated approach to gender equality and social inclusion. This study aims to explore and assess changes in women’s condition and position through women’s increased economic involvement through GTMF.
Researchers: Maheen Sultan; Khandker Wahedur Rahman; Razia Sultana; Marjan Hossain; Farhana Kabir; Fariha Tasnin; Afsana Alam
Timeline: 31 January 2022–30 September 2023
Status: Ongoing
Method: Mixed methods
Contact: Maheen Sultan; maheen.sultan@bracu.ac.bd
Context
According to the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) framework, three sets of factors are believed to constrain the ability of women to participate in society and are considered as the three domains for development action for inclusion. For all excluded groups, the framework espouses that they not only lack access to assets and resources, but also lack voice, and the norms and institutions in the society are biased against them. BRAC Microfinance has decided to introduce a Gender Transformative Microfinance Program (GTMF) based on an integrated approach to gender equality and social inclusion. Based on this framework, the research design formulates a theory of change about the impact of microfinance through the following: (1) access to assets and services; (2) increased voice, influence, and agency; and (3) changes in policy in favour of women.
Objectives
The aim of the study is to explore and assess changes in women’s condition and position through women’s increased economic involvement through Gender Transformative Microfinance programs. With the help of this multi-method research, the BRAC Microfinance program wishes to find out what is needed to make microcredit gender transformative. The research will be able to identify the changes in outcome of the target group in two years from the roll out of the intervention. It is also hoped that some of the processes of change (as well as the barriers to change) will be captured and documented.
This study is relevant to SDG 5 (Gender Equality), particularly to achieving gender equality and empower all women and girls.
Methodology
The research utilizes both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative part involves a before-after comparison of borrowers from intervention villages. It is part of a larger cluster-level randomized controlled trial (RCT) that the program will implement. The study will randomly assign 250 BRAC branches from 25 districts of Bangladesh into four groups: three treatment groups and one control group. The qualitative part involves in-depth case studies of different categories of women participating in the project, to understand in greater detail the impact created by the Gender Transformative Microfinance program in achieving the aim of accelerating women’s economic empowerment. Through repeated in-depth interviews over the period of the project, case studies of 20 women across five different categories—entrepreneur, aspiring entrepreneur, job holder, job seeker, and homemaker—will be developed.
Findings and Recommendations
Study ongoing.
