Gender and rural microfinance: Reaching and empowering ... - IFAD

B. Gender questions
in product and
programme design
Gender equality of access to all rural finance products and the removal of
existing forms of gender discrimination are essential to enabling women to
achieve gender equality in power and resources. The design of products that
women and men access inevitably has an impact, positive or negative, on
power relations in the household. Product design through participatory market
research is thus a key element in gender mainstreaming. Building on the
discussion in chapter III, the boxes below suggest questions that should be
asked and addressed about different types of products, for both women and
men, in relation to gender equality of access and women’s empowerment.
General Questions
• Does the organization conduct market research? Does this research
include a concern with gender equality and empowerment? Does it use
participatory methods? Are there mechanisms facilitating ongoing
innovation to respond to the findings?
• Do any of the products have conditions of access that discriminate
against women? Are products promoted in languages that the women
understand? Are there mechanisms to enable women to graduate to all
types of products, e.g. from small group-based to larger individual loans
without discrimination, provided they have a good credit record?
• Are the gender equality and empowerment vision and commitment
reflected in the types of questions asked during application processes
for both women and men, e.g. in any questioning about family
circumstances and economic activities? In financial literacy training?
• Are any financial services directed explicitly at women?
What underlying assumptions are being made about gender
differences and inequality? Are these strategies likely to consign
women to a ‘female ghetto’ or will they help women diversify and
move to higher-level services?
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