Microcredit among Slum Women in Sylhet: A Qualitative Analysis

Abstract

Poverty is multi-dimensional. However, people naturally want to escape from it. Nowadays, microcredit's didactic evidence is used in many developing countries including Bangladesh to fight against poverty. In a patriarchal society of Bangladesh, women are vulnerable in terms of security, autonomy, self-confidence, and status. Because of gender discrimination, inequality, less control over assets and income, etc. women continue to face chronic forms of poverty. Generally, the well-being of a family greatly depends on the contribution of women rather than men. Slum women have to work within and outside their family. They gather crueler experience in life when compared to their rural counterparts. This is largely because of lack of skill and education; they are confined to employment in petty works. The key purpose of this qualitative research is to examine the extent to which the microcredit programme among slum women in Sylhet has been successful in lifting women out of poverty. Microcredit program was introduced in the slum areas of Sylhet to improve the living conditions, increase awareness level, and empowerment of the poor women. Using purposive sampling techniques and seeking help from NGO workers, 35 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the women microcredit slum dwellers. The findings unravel that most women failed to understand the process and effectiveness of microcredit programs. They took loan for meeting the cash-demand of the male(s) within family. They feel microcredit as a medium to fulfill their emergency requirements. This study found that lack of education, awareness, unwillingness to join other programs of microfinance institutions, pessimistic thinking about microcredit programs, hostile family structure, negligent attitude towards repayment of loan(s), limited investing opportunities, etc. are the main causes that hinders the road to development.