"Using the case study of Bangladesh and based on a long term participatory observation method, this book investigates the claims of the success of microcredit, as well as the critiques of it in the context of women's empowerment. It confronts the distinction between women's increasing wealth as a consequence of the success of microcredit programmes and their apparent not-commensurate empowerment, and looks at two organisations operating in two localities in rural Bangladesh in order to discover how these concepts are often confused. The book goes on to establish that the success stories of the microcredit programme are blown out of proportion, and that the dynamics of collective responsibility for repayment of loans by a group of women borrowers - usually seen to be a tool for success of microcredit - is in fact no less repressive than traditional debt collectors. It is a worthwhile contribution to development debates, challenging adherents to more closely specify those conditions under which microcredit does indeed have validity, as well as providing useful research for South Asian Studies and Development Studies"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [131]-138) and index.