Resource description:
Based on the philosophy of Yunus—founder of the Grameen Bank model and Nobel Prize laureate— microfinance has been globally upheld as a neoliberal panacea for addressing poverty and income disparities. Despite these advances, microfinance—as a key policy tool for increasing well-being,social mobility, and capital markets in the underserved communities of the Global South—has not yet been evaluated for its effects in empowering women with disabilities. I draw from disability studies, feminist studies, and social work to examine the ethnographic phenomenon of disabled women who, despite dire poverty, take the unexpected strategic step of collectively refusing to accept microfinance loans.
Author – Vandana Chaudhry