Microfinance and Violence Against Women in Rural Guatemala

Abstract

Violence against Women (VaW) has come to be recognized as a serious human rights abuse with important consequences not only for women but for whole societies. Since VaW has several manifestations, it is possible to differentiate among different types of violence. In this article, a broad theoretical framework with different dimensions of gender violence was adapted to a Latin American social and cultural context to measure three out of the five main types of violence: economic violence, emotional psychological violence, and coercive control. The goal of this article is to provide empirical evidence to determine whether access to microfinance services plays a role in reducing VaW. To this end, we designed and performed a cross-sectional study with a treatment and a control group in rural Guatemala. A sample of 883 rural women in the "Altiplano" area of Guatemala (448 women with microfinance services and 435 without) was surveyed from May to November 2012. The results of the bivariate logistic regression showed evidence of association between access to microfinance services and reduction of VaW. After adjusting for covariates, global, economic, and emotional psychological violence maintained a negative and statistically significant association with microfinance, while only coercive control showed no statistical association with microfinance services. Access to microcredits showed a very clear relationship to reducing economic and emotional violence but not coercive control, a factor that may be determined by social and cultural norms. In contrast to Status Inconsistency Theory, which has been tested primarily in Asia, our study of Guatemala showed that increased status and economic independence of women due to their participation in microfinance services reduced VaW.

Women economic empowerment via cash transfer and microcredit programs is enough to decrease intimate partner violence? Evidence from a systematic review

“…The literature on the repercussions of MP on levels of psychological violence against women remains scarce, precluding any conclusion. There are only two studies evaluating this relationship 13,40 . Compared to research on physical abuse, the small number of studies focusing on psychological violence emphasizes the need to expand the debate.…”

“…Only two surveys assessed the repercussions of MP following psychological violence. One found a protective effect 40 , whereas the other suggested that women attending the program five or more years tended to experience less victimization 13 . Two studies examined the relationships between MP and sexual violence.…”

Trick or Treat: Does a Microfinance Loan Induce or Reduce the Chances of Spousal Violence against Women? Answers from India

“…Our main motive in the present paper was to reiterate the impact of microfinance on spousal violence in India vis-a-vis to look into the potential determinants of spousal violence. While on one hand, studies indicate a reduction of spousal violence due to credit program participation (Cepeda et al, 2017; Kapiga et al, 2019; Nawaz, 2015), on the other hand, few supports the opposite notion (Bajracharya & Amin, 2013; Dalal et al, 2013). Though largely our bivariate and multivariate result conforms with the latter proposition that microfinance participants are more likely to experience spousal violence, the results of our GIS analysis reveal that credit program participation reduces violence (although for a few states only).…”

“…However, by analyzing the panel data of Rojiroti, a small organization that runs microfinance programs for the weakest section of women in Bihar, India, Gordon 2016 concludes that microfinance results in the reduction of domestic violence. Similarly, studies based on South Africa (Kim et al, 2007;Pronyk et al, 2006), rural Guatemala (Cepeda et al, 2017), and Tanzania (Kapiga et al, 2019) show that microfinance based intervention reduce IPV.…”

Measuring Violence Against Women: A Global Index

“…Previous empirical research has studied this type of violence through analysis at the micro level. Individual women were asked about their opportunities to make free decisions on family planning, education, health, clothes to wear, leaving home, travel, speaking with other men, or visiting friends (Cepeda et al, 2021; Panda, 2014; among many others). There is also research at the macro level, using indicators such as “Percentage of women having experienced psychological violence” (EIGE, 2020a); “Marital control,” “Freedom of movement” or “Obligation to obey their husbands” (Krug et al, 2002, p. 95); “Laws relating to gender inequality” (Krug et al, 2002, p. 161); and “Coercion suffered by women to freely make decisions regarding the family planning” (Bloom & Gates, 2015).…”