Balancing Gender Relations: A research about the role of micro credit on female empowerment at the household level in Puno, Peru

Abstract

Demographic growth, globalization and the related spread of neo-liberalism and scarcity of land have caused changes in the socio economic situation of Puno men and women. Their traditional agricultural lifestyle was not sufficient anymore for the family’s maintenance, which caused huge migration and an increasing amount of people found work in the lively trading economy. Widespread poverty and an, in western eyes, unequal gender balance provided the ingredients for the arrival of micro financer Promujer, who has provided many poor women with small loans to start or expand their micro businesses. They believe that a woman’s income will benefit her family directly and therefore reduces poverty. Moreover Promujer expects that the economic power of a woman will lead to more gender equality in the household’s decision-making. By taking the particular socio-economic and cultural context as a framework, this thesis gives an answer on what changes female micro credit clients in Puno perceive in the gendered household relations, as well as how they relate these changes with the micro credit program.