ABSTRACT This article seeks to probe the influence of microcredit on the development of agency and empowerment of poor women in rural Bangladesh. The study was conducted on the clients of two leading NGOs—Grameen Bank (GB) and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC)—in Bangladesh. The qualitative findings of the ethnographic study confirmed that poor women’s involvement in microcredit programs does not contribute to the development of their agency and empowerment in a transformative sense due to structural problems in the programs and the patriarchal social structure of Bangladesh. It is true that microcredit has increased the mobility of women through group networks and organizations, but it has not added to their broader empowerment by easing their access to market transactions, unlike their male counterparts. An overwhelming majority of women do not have control over loans and credit-driven activities, although repayment responsibility rests entirely with them. In some instances, microcredit leads to spousal conflicts regarding repayments. Therefore, microcredit has not been very effective in promoting rational economic choices by women that would lead to their empowerment in the true sense of the term.

中文翻译：

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孟加拉国的代理、赋权和家庭内部性别关系：以市场为导向的小额信贷有贡献吗？

摘要 本文旨在探讨小额信贷对孟加拉国农村贫困妇女的代理发展和赋权的影响。该研究是针对孟加拉国两个领先的非政府组织——格莱珉银行 (GB) 和孟加拉国农村发展委员会 (BRAC) 的客户进行的。民族志研究的定性结果证实，由于方案中的结构性问题和孟加拉国的父权社会结构，贫困妇女参与小额信贷方案无助于变革意义上的机构发展和赋权。的确，小额信贷通过团体网络和组织增加了女性的流动性，但与男性同行不同，它并没有通过简化她们进入市场交易的机会来增加她们更广泛的赋权。绝大多数妇女无法控制贷款和信贷驱动的活动，尽管还款责任完全由她们承担。在某些情况下，小额信贷会导致关于还款的配偶冲突。因此，小额信贷在促进妇女做出理性的经济选择方面并不是很有效，这将导致真正意义上的赋权。