Microcredit and Third World Women: Panacea for Poverty or Delusional Development?

13 Feb 2014

pittadmin

Microcredit (small loans to start small enterprises in the informal sector) has been praised in many quarters as a panacea for the poverty and patriarchy that poor women in Third World countries confront. Securing poor women access to credit, for enterprises in the small-scale agricultural sector and the urban informal sector is at the center of a significant chunk of “women and development” agendas today. The circle of current friends of microcredit for informal enterprises includes international and national financial institutions, Western and Third World nation states, international and national NGOs, the UN, and a variety of academics and intellectuals. They all contribute to the widespread “positive perception” of microcredit and informal sector work as arenas for Third World women’s empowerment. Narayan will present a picture of microcredit and informal sector work that is more sobering, and admittedly bleaker than what seems to be the dominant picture at present.

Join speaker Uma Narayan on Friday, February 14, 2:30–4 p.m., Humanities Center, 602 Cathedral of Learning for a Colloquium discussion on “The Politics of Rescue and the Politics of Forgetting: Exploring the Contemporary Allure of Rescue Agendas in Feminist Politics.”

This event is part of the research theme Gender and the Global sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Women’s Studies Program. Cosponsors of the event include: Consortium for Educational Resources on Islamic Studies, Department of Political Science, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and Humanities Center.

Event Date: 
Thursday, February 13, 2014 - 4:00pm
Institution(s): 
Sponsored By: 
University of Pittsburgh Women’s Studies Program, Consortium for Educational Resources on Islamic Studies, Department of Political Science, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and Humanities Center
Location: 
4500 Wesley W. Posvar Hall
Presenter Type: 
Visiting Scholar/Faculty