Maclean, Katie; (2008) Women’s Use of Microfinance in Luribay: Citizenship and Social Inclusion in Bolivia. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), University of York.

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Abstract

This thesis aims to investigate from a feminist perspective whether women in a rural community in Bolivia can use microfinance to negotiate better terms for their citizenship rights. Citizenship frames debates on inclusion and development as Bolivia struggles with the demands of market reform and the imperative to include marginalised citizens. Drawing on participant observation, focus groups and interviews, I consider microfinance as a rural development strategy and examine whether or not access to credit may provide a space for rural Aymaran women to negotiate better terms for their citizenship within a market led development trajectory. My fieldwork took place in the Aymaran-speaking municipality of Luribay, Bolivia, from February to September 2006. I visited 43 credit groups in 11 different localities in the municipality. Of these I focussed on six groups in four different locations. I held two focus groups of nine women in two locations. I then held interviews with 25 women, 12 of whom had also participated in focus group discussions. The uses to which women put credit and their concerns regarding investment and debt shed light on different ideas of citizenship and priorities occurring in the mainstream and rural areas. My analysis highlights the importance of identity, interdependence and the moral economy to market activity. Cooperation and reciprocity, upheld by tradition and community norms and sanctions, make economic activity possible. There is tension between the competitive demands of a liberal market and women’s lives in cooperative, land-based, rural communities. Microfinance Institutions’ provision of credit may address this tension by recognising ‘social collateral’ and so, despite being market and production focussed, may be more compatible with the cooperative dynamic of rural areas. However, the competitive entrepreneurial activity encouraged by the MFI could threaten co-operative, reciprocal relations within the community that are vital to economic activity.

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