CREDIT CAN BE instrumental in equalizing opportunity and alleviating poverty yet, historically, men and women have not had the same access. Partly due to this, women have been excluded from many previous economic histories. This book fills a significant gap in the literature by exploring the erratic relationship between women and credit across time and space. It does this predominantly through a range of case studies covering both the North and the South – in the past and the present – arising out of an interdisciplinary, international conference on Women and Credit held in Canada in September 1999.

This edited volume demonstrates the long relationship between women and credit in a variety of different economic, political and social contexts. Part I begins by exploring the Western history of women and credit, including case studies of eighteenth century Amsterdam and nineteenth century France, to provide evidence that women have always been involved in commercial activity, thus pointing to historical continuities. Part II bridges the gap from the past to the present through case studies of the Irish Loan Funds, a charitable microcredit institution that operated from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries and which made millions of loans to the “industrious poor” of Ireland, of which one-quarter of all borrowers were women. It also contains a case study of the Stokvels of South Africa and their impact on the economic empowerment of African women.

Part III presents cases of pioneering projects in the present day, from both North and South, that go beyond the mere provision of microcredit to women, to include a range of microfinance services that include savings, loans, insurance, financial counselling and business development training. Part IV considers impacts and issues that arise, again through case studies of microcredit programmes in Africa and Asia. The main conclusions caution against assuming a homogeneity in credit activities among all women, as well as a realization that the ability of women to use credit in an empowering way depends very much on the economic and social context in which it is offered and in which it can be deployed to take advantage of economic activities.
Finally, Part V concludes with policy perspectives that raise issues around women’s empowerment versus the sustainability of microcredit, and how the development of microfinance initiatives has affected women’s economic position and what role such initiatives can play in the future.

This book will be of interest to researchers and policy makers in the areas of women’s studies, economic history, anthropology and development studies.