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ABSTRACT
Experts often debate global microcredit governance along two opposing spectrums: microcredit as either an emancipatory or oppressive instrument for women. Expert debates about women’s emancipation and oppression through microcredit, however, neither consider the women for whom the debate is staged as experts nor explore in sufficient detail the role and effects of expertise. Drawing on a series of interviews in rural Bangladesh, the article offers expert reflections on microcredit governance of three women, often referred to as ‘poor women’ by experts. It puts the three women’s worldviews in an analytical comparison with those of selected microcredit experts. Far from engaging with women’s agency, the article argues that well-known microcredit experts often overestimate their own knowledge and underestimate the knowledge of women, rendering the latter as docile subjects of social and legal reform. With the help of the three women, the article illuminates the role of expertise in the reproduction of knowledge and social hierarchy in global microcredit governance.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to the two anonymous reviewers and editors of the Australian Feminist Law Journal for their comments and criticisms. I benefited greatly from Fleur Johns’ guidance and comments on the paper at different stages of its preparation. I cannot thank the three women of my fieldwork enough for sharing their arguments about and insights into microcredit, which have profoundly helped shape my thoughts and arguments in this paper.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Ole Danbolt Mjøs, ‘Award Ceremony Speech’ The Nobel Peace Prize (Oslo, 10 December 2006) <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2006/ceremony-speech/> accessed 8 February 2023.
2 The Micro Debt (Heinemann Media 2011) <https://tomheinemann.dk/the-micro-debt/> accessed 8 February 2023.
3 Notably, leading feminist philosophers Martha Nussbaum and Nancy Fraser, amongst others, refer to microcredit as an example of either a liberal tool for women’s empowerment or a capitalist tool for women’s subjugation. The article will look at their uses of microcredit later in Part 5.
4 See for example, Muhammad Yunus, Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty (Public Affairs 2007); Marguerite Robinson, The Microfinance Revolution: Sustainable Finance for the Poor (The World Bank 2001).
5 See for example, Lamia Karim, Microfinance and Its Discontents: Women in Debt in Bangladesh (University of Minnesota Press 2011); Thomas Dichter and Malcom Harper (eds), What’s Wrong with Microfinance? (Practical Action 2007).
6 The theme of this particular story is taken from the biographical account of Muhammad Yunus: Yunus (n 4).
7 Lamia Karim’s rich ethnographic account, in particular, refutes all three normative claims: Karim (n 5). See the discussions in Parts 3 and 4 for my take on Karim.
8 Ananya Roy, Poverty Capital: Microfinance and the Making of Development (Routledge 2011).
9 Alongside feminist jurisprudence, there have been several movements and coordinates in law that have studied law and inequalities at a global level including, but not limited to, critical legal studies, law and society, and law and development, Third World Approaches to International Law, and lately law and political economy that I draw inspiration from.
10 See for example, Amia Srinivasan, The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2021); Oishik Sircar, Violent Modernities: Cultural Lives of Law in the New India (Oxford University Press 2021); Swethaa S Ballakrishnen, Accidental Feminism: Gender Parity and Selective Mobility among India’s Professional Elite (Princeton University Press 2021).
11 The fieldwork was conducted as part of author’s doctoral work completed at the University of Sydney Law School. The human ethics approval was obtained from the University of Sydney Human Ethics Committee prior to the commencement of the study.
12 See Jacques Rancière, The Philosopher and His Poor (Duke University Press 2003); The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation (Stanford University Press 1991).
13 A large body of his work deals with expertise but for his most detailed work on expertise, see David Kennedy, A World of Struggle: How Power, Law and Expertise Shape Global Political Economy (Princeton University Press 2016).
14 Beyond Kennedy, there is also a wealth of resources in critical international law that this article draws inspiration from. For an insightful critique and innovative account of international development expertise on the ground, see Luis Eslava, Local Space, Global Life: The Everyday Operation of International Law and Development (Cambridge University Press 2015) and for an intriguing analysis of law reform experts, see Stephen Humphreys, Theatre of the Rule of Law: Transnational Legal Intervention in Theory and Practice (Cambridge University Press 2011). International legal theorisation has long subjected expertise under critical scrutiny. For a more fundamental critique of the modes of colonial and post-colonial governance as legal knowledge, see Antonie Anghie, Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law (Cambridge University Press 2005) and Sundhya Pahuja, Decolonising International Law: Development, Economic Growth and the Politics of Universality (Cambridge University Press 2011).
15 For an account of ambivalence about positionality, see Mark Fathi Massoud, ‘The Price of Positionality: Assessing the Benefits and Burdens of Self Identification in Research Methods’ (2022) 49 (S1) Journal of Law and Society S64.
16 Gayatri Spivak, A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Toward a History of the Vanishing Present (Harvard University Press 1999).
17 These are all pseudonyms. I have changed the real names of my interviewees in order to preserve their anonymity.
18 Yunus (n 4) 50.
19 See Rehman Sobhan’s profile online: Professor Rehman Sobhan (Centre for Policy Dialogue, September 2023) <https://cpd.org.bd/board-of-trustees/professor-rehman-sobhan/> accessed 15 September 2023
20 Amitava Kar, ‘In Conversation with Professor Rehman Sobhan: The Man behind the Economics’ The Daily Star (Online, 30 May 2015) <https://www.thedailystar.net/in-focus/the-economist-and-the-patriot-75436> accessed 5 February 2023.
21 In this article, I focus on a paper written by Sobhan: Rehman Sobhan, ‘A Macro Policy for Poverty Eradication Through Structural Change’ (Discussion Paper No 2005/03, UNU WIDER 2005). However, this premise of Sobhan’s argument is consistent with his major work: Rehman Sobhan, Challenging the Injustice of Poverty: Agendas for Inclusive Development in South Asia (Sage Publications 2010).
22 Sobhan, ‘A Macro Policy’ (n 21) 7.
23 ibid 12.
24 ibid 9.
25 ibid.
26 Contra Karim (n 5) 68–70, 202 (contradicting Sobhan’s point about Grameenphone’s benefit accruing to women).
27 See Grameenphone, Connecting Possibilities: Annual Report 2020 (2020) 24 <https://www.grameenphone.com/about/investor-relations/ir-annual-report/annual-report-2020>.
28 Sobhan, ‘A Macro Policy’ (n 21) 11–12.
29 ibid 7–9.
30 BRAC is the largest non-governmental organisation based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It also runs large-scale microcredit programmes, 87% of whom are women: see ‘Microfinance’ (BRAC, 2023) <https://www.brac.net/program/microfinance/> accessed 9 September 2023.
31 See Muhammad’s profiles online: ‘Anu Muhammad Anisur Rahman’ (Jahangirnagar University, 2023) <https://juniv.edu/teachers/anu> accessed 9 September 2023; ‘Anu Muhammad’ (2023) <https://www.anumuhammad.net/> accessed 9 September 2023 (translated from Bengali by the author).
32 In this article, I pay particular attention to Muhammad’s most incisive writing on microcredit: Anu Muhammad, ‘Grameen and Microcredit: A Tale of Corporate Success’ (2009) 44 (35) Economic and Political Weekly 35. For his more elaborate work on poverty and development see: Anu Muhammad, Development Re-examined: The Construction and Consequences of Neoliberal Bangladesh (The University Press Limited 2021).
33 Muhammad, ‘Grameen and Microcredit’ (n 32) 35.
34 ibid.
35 ibid 41.
36 ibid 36.
37 ibid 36–37.
38 ibid.
39 ibid.
40 ibid.
41 ibid 38–40.
42 Muhammad emphasises this in his more elaborate work: Global Capitalism and Underdevelopment of Bangladesh (n 32).
43 This narrative is fully based on my conversations with Lisa (Noakhali, March–April 2011).
44 In Bangladesh, many people would not remember their exact date and year of birth or keep them as records until 2010s when the birth registration initiatives were undertaken more widely across the country.
45 Taka is the name of the currency unit in Bangladesh. 1 USD is equivalent to 84.9976 BD taka as of 1 February 2023.
46 Yunus (n 4) 150.
47 Nicholas D Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (Alfred A Knopf 2009).
48 Nicholas D Kristof, ‘The Role of Microfinance’ The New York Times (New York, 28 December 2009) <https://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/the-role-of-microfinance/?_r=0>; Nicholas D Kristof, ‘Women Hurting Women’ The New York Times (New York, 29 September 2012) <https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/opinion/sunday/kristof-women-hurting-women.html> accessed 15 November 2022; Nicholas Kristof, ‘Fighting Terrorism: With Microfinance’ Twin Cities Pioneer Press (Online, 15 November 2010) <https://www.twincities.com/2010/11/15/nicholas-kristof-fighting-terrorism-with-microfinance/> accessed 10 August 2023.
49 Nicholas Kristof’s online profile: ‘Nicholas Kristof’ (The American Academy of Diplomacy, 2023) <https://www.academyofdiplomacy.org/recipient/nicholas-kristof/> accessed 15 September 2023.
50 Kristoff, ‘The Role of Microfinance’ (n 48).
51 Kristof and WuDunn (n 47) xi–xxii.
52 ibid xxi.
53 ibid x.
54 ibid 185–92.
55 ibid 186.
56 ibid 185.
57 ibid 185–88.
58 ibid 187.
59 ibid.
60 ibid.
61 ibid.
62 ibid.
63 ibid 191.
64 ibid 192–93.
65 Tom Heinemann’s profile online: ‘Tom Heinemann: About’ (Tom Heinemann, September 2023) <https://tomheinemann.dk/about/> and ‘Tom Heinemann: Awards’ (Tom Heinemann, September 2023) <https://tomheinemann.dk/awards/> accessed 15 September 2023.
66 See Tom Heinemann, ‘Credit Is a Human Right. Is Debt?’ (BDNews24, 4 January 2011) (on file with the author).
67 See Thomas Dichter and Malcom Harper, What’s Wrong with Microfinance? (Practical Action Publishing 2007).
68 Heinemann (n 66).
69 ibid.
70 ibid.
71 ibid.
72 ibid.
73 ibid.
74 ibid.
75 ibid.
76 ibid.
77 This narrative is fully based on my conversations with Brenna (Noakhali, March–April 2011).
78 Yunus (n 4) 199.
79 ibid.
80 Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank, ‘The Nobel Peace Prize 2006’ (The Nobel Prize, September 2003) <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2006/summary/> accessed 15 September 2003.
81 See Muhammad Yunus’ profile online: Muhammad Yunus (September 2023) <https://www.muhammadyunus.org/post/88/cv-of-professor-muhammad-yunus> accessed 15 September 2023.
82 Yunus (n 4) 89–94.
83 ibid 94.
84 ibid.
85 The first few chapters of Yunus (n 4) depict hunger and starvation in Bangladesh. The majority of the book chapters then talk about Grameen Bank’s gradual expansion in Bangladesh and its positive influences worldwide.
86 ibid 199.
87 ibid 199–201.
88 ibid 199.
89 ibid.
90 ibid.
91 ibid.
92 ibid.
93 ibid 200.
94 ibid.
95 ibid.
96 ibid.
97 ibid.
98 ibid.
99 ibid.
100 ibid 201.
101 ibid.
102 ibid.
103 ibid.
104 ibid.
105 ibid 94, 199.
106 See Lamia Karim’s academic profile online: ‘Lamia Karim’ (Department of Comparative Literature, University of Oregon, September 2023) <https://complit.uoregon.edu/profile/lamia/> accessed 15 September 2023.
107 Karim (n 5) xxxiii.
108 ibid xxx.
109 ibid 202.
110 ibid 87.
111 ibid 86–87.
112 ibid 87.
113 ibid 88.
114 ibid 192–93. For Yunus’ account of Sufiya, see Yunus (n 4) 46–50.
115 ibid 192.
116 ibid 192–93.
117 ibid.
118 ibid 193.
119 ibid 199.
120 ibid 204.
121 ibid 204–06.
122 ibid.
123 See David Kennedy, ‘The International Human Rights Movement, Part of the Problem’ (2002) 15 Harvard Human Rights Journal 101.
124 197–99.
125 The author lived in Dhaka for several years until 2008 and has since remained a frequent visitor to Dhaka where his family lives.
126 This narrative is fully based on my conversations with Audrey (Noakhali, March–April 2011).
127 I did not contact Audrey beyond April 2011, so the views and experiences of Audrey expressed here are valid as of April 2011.
128 ‘Ukil’s notice’ here means a formal letter from the lawyer of one party to a marriage intending to serve a divorce notice to another party.
129 I did not even realise that this might be a patriarchal question until a commentator of my draft indicated so.
130 Yunus (n 4) 202.
131 Yunus points out: ‘But no matter what cataclysm, weather disaster, or personal tragedy befalls a borrower, our philosophy is always to get that person to pay back his or her loan, even if it is only at the rate of a half penny a week’. ibid 137.
132 For example, goals 1 and 5 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals championed by the UN harbour a particular vision of poverty elimination and gender equality: The United Nations, ‘The 17 Goals’ <https://sdgs.un.org/goals> accessed 25 January 2023.
133 See Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom (Alfred A Knopf 1999).
134 Martha C Nussbaum, Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach (Harvard University Press 2011) 19.
135 ibid 44.
136 ibid.
137 See the discussion on Sobhan, Kristoff and Yunus respectively in Parts 2, 3 and 4.
138 See Nancy Fraser, Fortunes of Feminism: From State-Managed Capitalism to Neoliberal Crisis (Verso, 2013); Nancy Fraser, ‘How Feminism Became Capitalism's Handmaiden - And How to Reclaim it’ The Guardian (14 October 2013) <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/14/feminism-capitalist-handmaiden-neoliberal> accessed 15 September 2023; Gary Gutting and Nancy Fraser, ‘A Feminism Where Lean in Means Leaning on Others’ The New York Times (15 October 2015) <https://archive.nytimes.com/opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/a-feminism-where-leaning-in-means-leaning-on-others/> accessed 15 September 2023.
139 Fraser, Fortunes of Feminism (n 138) 220–21.
140 ibid.
141 Gary Gutting and Nancy Fraser (n 138).
142 Fraser, Fortunes of Feminism (n 138) 241.
143 Rancière’s The Philosopher and His Poor (n 12) illustrates this point by reference to the philosophical works from the time of Plato through to Bourdieu.
144 Kennedy (n 13) 277–78.
145 ibid 8.
146 Yunus (n 4) 137.
147 Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, ‘Scattered Speculations on the Subaltern and the Popular’ (2005) 8(4) Postcolonial Studies 475, 475–86.
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Mostafa Haider
Mostafa Haider is a Lecturer at the Law School of Curtin University. Mostafa works on topics in international law, global politics and social justice.