Microfinance Participation and Domestic Violence: Experiences of Women in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Background and Purpose: Microfinance, a gendered anti-poverty tool, is accessed by approximately 30 million poor women in Bangladesh to provide cash for business development. But there is limited research on the relational impacts of microfinance participation, including how the dynamics of marital relationships may change when women in low-income households become entrepreneurs. Bangladesh evidences many patriarchal traditions, with high rates of domestic violence, averaging 50%. Status inconsistency theory suggests that the higher incomes and independence that may accompany microfinance participation may threaten or destabilize marital norms, with implications regarding increased violence. 

This paper examines the narratives of women who participate in microfinance to understand how they decided to access microfinance, changes in their economic status, how their husbands responded to their increased status due to microfinance, and their perceptions of changes in marital dynamics and violence following microfinance participation.

Methods:Thirty in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with married women ages 18 to 49 who access microfinance in an urban slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Participants were recruited using purposeful sampling, utilizing the ‘known sponsor’ method. Interviews elicited rich descriptions of how respondents came about accessing microfinance, the impact that microfinance had on their personal and relational lives, and the changing nature of their lives’ problems due to microfinance. The interviews were conducted in Bengali by the principal investigator, and translated and transcribed to English.. Atlas ti was used to code and analyze the textual data using pattern and thematic analysis and a hybrid of inductive and deductive approaches.

Findings:Microfinance businesses initiated by respondents included tea sales, vegetable stalls, and sewing, and all generated needed extra family income. Almost all of the women had experienced domestic violence over the past 12 months, and most spoke matter-of-factly about violence as a household norm. Equal proportions of the women described that microfinance had a positive, negative, or no effect on their marital relationship and experiences of domestic violence. For many, microfinance participation changed the context and the rationale for the violence in their lives. Some said their increased economic status increased violence at home; some who shared business ventures with their husbands reported enhanced relations. Those who were among the poorest respondents often reported less violence, saying that the stress of making ends meet was the focus of household efforts and anxieties, and that their added income did not represent much of a status change (and, indeed, sometimes garnered a positive response).  

Conclusion and Implications: Findings of this study underscore the need to attend to relational as well as economic impacts of microfinance participation. Future research can further explore ways in which status and economic changes among participants affect marital dynamics. Microfinance organizations may examine ways in which policies, program structures, and interactions with participants can address gendered inequality and the norms of violence within the context of entrepreneurial opportunities aimed at supporting women’s economic and social mobility.