Debates on whether microfinance remains an effective measure to eradicate poverty and empower women have continued with a bigger question of if an alternative model is available to outweigh the problems of group-based solidarity-based lending scheme. This dissertation aims to study if and how a Lembaga Perkreditan Desa (LPD) – a community owned microfinance – affects women's agency in household and society, and most importantly to observe if it has long term effects on the reconstruction of gendered roles and relations.
This study employed participation observation and semi-structured interviews for data collection because each method allowed the exploration of multi layered information and tacit values that other data collection methods do not provide. I spent four months conducting participant observation with female LPD clients from four villages and eight semi-structured interviews around Bali.
This study concludes that social capital affects LPD's performance. Impacts of social capital on LPD are posited to occur through the immersion of LPDs into the village governance system that renders members' loyalty, trust, and respect, and the adoption of shared customary laws to name a few. LPD is also proven to strengthen social capital by increasing interdependence among community members; boosting the members' sense of belonging, trust, and responsibility for community development. However, LPD does not necessarily foster women's social capital.
This study also found that access to LPD corresponds to women's agency in the household decision-making process. Three features of cooperative decision-making in household are 1) the ability to switch roles in the loan application process, 2) any LPD related financial decisions will involve women's opinion or approval in it, and 3) women have the control over the allocation and repayment of the loans from LPD. Furthermore, I argue that LPD facilitates women's social mobility by ensuring that their access to LPD remains intact. Moreover, LPD causes intergenerational impacts when women are involved in the lending-saving mechanism. Lastly, this study argues that LPD has long-term effects on the reconstruction of gendered roles and relations in Balinese society. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation investigates the impacts of Lembaga Perkreditan Desa (LPD) – a community-owned village bank – to Balinese women from the perspective of four female LPD clients residing in various villages in Bali. In general, the study aims to gain understanding about rural Indonesian women in navigating their opportunities in male-oriented microfinance system.
The study found that members of society – female and male – develop a shared understanding, norms, trust, and resources to strengthen their ties among each other called as community capital. My dissertation found that there exists a two-way relationship, instead of one way, between social capital and LPD. Derived from those reciprocal relationship, I argue that LPD may empower women in household and society, though it also may disempower them due to the LPD’s rules.
Furthermore, LPD affects women’s capacity to make decisions in their households. These decisions including the ability to choose the right and most practical role when applying for loans and most importantly the capacity to manage the use of loans.
LPD corresponds to women’s economic attainment and mobility across villages, yet, it does not correspond to the development of their professional networks. Moreover, LPD creates impacts across generation due to its lending mechanism, payment procedures, and financial benefits from allocating the loans for income generating activities.
Lastly, if the LPD transforms the current and future relationships among men and women in household and society? my study found that LPD, through its immersion into the village system and customary values that guide the life of all community members, paves the way for women’s empowerment today and in the future.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/102033 |
| Date | 02 August 2019 |
| Creators | Apriliani, Putu Desy |
| Contributors | Public Administration/Public Affairs, Rothschild, Joyce, Breslau, Daniel, Matheis, Christian, Hult, Karen M. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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