Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, and Department of Sociology, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd. NE, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.
Department of Psychology, Emory University, 36 Eagle Row, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2021 Feb;270:113686. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113686. Epub 2021 Jan 5.
The health and social effects of women's microfinance participation remain debated.
Using propensity-score methods, we assessed effects of microfinance participation on novel measures of agency; intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure; and depressive symptoms in 930 wives in Matlab, Bangladesh interviewed 11/2018-01/2019.
Participants, versus non-participants, were married younger (16.7 vs. 17.4 years), more often Muslim (90.7% vs. 86.2%), less schooled (5.4 vs. 6.8 grades), and more often had husbands (27.0% vs. 19.6%) and mothers (63.2% vs. 50.5%) without schooling. Participants and non-participants had similar unadjusted mean scores for prior-week depressive symptoms, prior-year IPV, and intrinsic attitudinal agency (gender-equitable attitudes; non-justification of wife beating). Participants had higher unadjusted mean scores for intrinsic voice/mobility; instrumental agency (using financial services, voice with husband, voice/mobility outside home); and collective agency. Average adjusted treatment effects were non-significant for depressive symptoms, IPV, and attitudinal intrinsic agency, and significantly favorable for other agency outcomes.
Microfinance participation had no adverse health effects and favorable empowerment effects in Bangladeshi wives.
Microfinance can empower women without adverse health effects. Social-norms programming with men and women may be needed to change gendered expectations about the distribution of unpaid labor and the rights of women.
女性参与小额信贷的健康和社会影响仍存在争议。
我们使用倾向评分法，评估了小额信贷参与对新型代理措施、亲密伴侣暴力（IPV）暴露和孟加拉国马特拉布的 930 名妻子抑郁症状的影响，这些妻子在 2018 年 11 月至 2019 年 1 月接受了采访。
与非参与者相比，参与者结婚年龄更小（16.7 岁对 17.4 岁），更多是穆斯林（90.7%对 86.2%），受教育程度更低（5.4 年级对 6.8 年级），更多的丈夫（27.0%对 19.6%）和母亲（63.2%对 50.5%）没有受过教育。参与者和非参与者在前一周的抑郁症状、前一年的 IPV 和内在态度代理（性别平等态度；不 justifies 打妻子）方面的未调整平均得分相似。参与者在内在声音/流动性、工具性代理（使用金融服务、与丈夫的声音、家庭以外的声音/流动性）和集体代理方面具有更高的未调整平均得分。调整后的平均处理效果在抑郁症状、IPV 和内在态度代理方面不显著，而在其他代理结果方面则显著有利。
小额信贷参与对孟加拉国妻子没有不良健康影响，反而有赋权作用。可能需要对男性和女性进行社会规范编程，以改变关于无偿劳动分配和妇女权利的性别期望。
小额信贷可以在没有不良健康影响的情况下赋予妇女权力。
